The case for building your CRM in @RoamResearch. Here are three reasons, with examples, for why I moved my CRM from Notion to Roam. 1/
First, the bi-directional links in @RoamResearch are IDEAL for focusing on relationships. This is the killer feature: if I type, e.g., "Talked to [[Tom Smith]] about a [[collaboration with Roam Research]]," that will show up on Tom's page. 2/
Wherever I am, I can make a note (or a to-do, or whatever) that develops my relationship with Tom. When I need that information, it's in the [[Tom Smith]] linked references, and it's easy to filter to the info I need. 3/
Second, closely related, most CRMs require me to navigate to Tom's record to document our interactions, or at the very least, add something to a table associating an interaction with Tom. In Roam, I just log it with my Daily Notes. 4/
For example: To record Tom's coaching session for today, on [[May 3rd, 2020]] I would type "11:30 [[Tom Smith]] [[coaching]]", then indent, and take any notes underneath (using tags there, too). All of that is accessible from Tom's references, easy to find and filter. 5/
Third, @RoamResearch frees me of the "rows & columns" mindset—no more empty entries in columns that only pertain to certain people. I include as many attributes as I need (and I use quite a few!), but only ones that are relevant to the person. 6/
I'll have, for instance, only Phone: or Email: attributes for some people, but have Company:, Role:, Relationships:, and more on others. You have to be consistent with the attributes you DO use, but otherwise, it's nice not to have excess clutter of unused columns. 7/
Summary: I create a page for each person, using attributes as needed to store their specific information. Then I log interactions in Daily Notes, tagging liberally (as simple as journaling!). To access information, I go to the person's page and filter linked references. 8/
Having my CRM in @RoamResearch means never feeling constrained. Information about a contact will expand organically, and it will be easy to tell—by the number of mentions—which relationships are the most productive. 9/
Of course, some people may WANT rows & columns & records, and I get that. But for me, the power of bi-directional relationships, the speed of filtering for information, and the ease of adding attributes as needed make @RoamResearch the perfect CRM. 10/
