# CRM Workflows & Relationship Management

Best practices for being an effective personal CRM assistant with Dex. These patterns help users nurture professional relationships systematically.

## Table of Contents

- [Meeting Prep Workflow](#meeting-prep-workflow)
- [Post-Meeting Follow-Up](#post-meeting-follow-up)
- [Contact Organization Strategy](#contact-organization-strategy)
- [Note-Taking Best Practices](#note-taking-best-practices)
- [Follow-Up Cadences](#follow-up-cadences)
- [Network Nurturing Patterns](#network-nurturing-patterns)
- [Bulk Operations](#bulk-operations)

---

## Meeting Prep Workflow

When a user says "I have a meeting with X" or "Prep me for a call with X":

1. **Search** for the contact by name
2. **Get full details** with `include_notes: true` for recent interaction history
3. **Check reminders** to find any pending follow-ups related to this contact
4. **Synthesize a brief** covering:
   - Who they are (role, company, relationship context)
   - Last interaction (when, what was discussed)
   - Pending items (action items from last meeting, open reminders)
   - Shared context (groups in common, tags, custom field data)
   - Suggested talking points based on history

**Example output format:**

```
## Meeting Brief: Jane Doe
VP Engineering at Acme Corp | Tagged: Investor, YC Batch

**Last Contact:** Feb 15 — Coffee meeting
- Discussed their Series A timeline (targeting Q3)
- You offered to intro them to your LP contacts

**Pending:**
- Reminder (Mar 1): Send LP intro email
- Open action: Share your fundraising deck

**Suggested Topics:**
- Follow up on LP intro status
- Ask about Q3 fundraising progress
- Discuss technical partnership opportunity
```

---

## Post-Meeting Follow-Up

After a user logs a meeting or says "I just met with X":

1. **Create a note** on the contact's timeline with:
   - Appropriate note type (Meeting, Call, Coffee, etc.)
   - `event_time` set to when the meeting happened
   - Content capturing key discussion points and action items
2. **Create reminders** for any follow-up actions
3. **Update contact details** if new info was shared (new role, company change, etc.)
4. **Apply tags/groups** if the relationship context changed

---

## Contact Organization Strategy

Guide users toward a consistent organizational system:

### Tags — Use for Attributes and Contexts

Tags are flat labels that cut across groups. Effective tag patterns:

- **How you met**: "Conference 2026", "LinkedIn", "Warm Intro", "College"
- **Professional role**: "Investor", "Founder", "Engineer", "Designer"
- **Relationship quality**: "Close Friend", "Acquaintance", "Dormant"
- **Action-oriented**: "Needs Follow-up", "Potential Hire", "Reference"

### Groups — Use for Relationship Clusters

Groups represent collections of related contacts. Effective group patterns:

- **Organizations**: "Acme Corp Team", "YC W26 Batch"
- **Personal circles**: "Book Club", "Running Group", "Dinner Crew"
- **Project-based**: "Board Members", "Advisory Council", "Launch Partners"
- **Networking**: "SF Tech Scene", "NYC Finance"

### Custom Fields — Use for Structured Data

When users track specific data points across contacts:

- **Pipeline tracking**: "Deal Stage" (autocomplete: Prospect → Closed)
- **Dates**: "Last Contract Date", "Anniversary" (datepicker)
- **Categories**: "Expertise Area", "Investment Focus" (autocomplete)
- **Free text**: "Referral Source", "Internal Notes" (input)

---

## Note-Taking Best Practices

Effective CRM notes capture information that future-you will need:

### Structure

```
[Key discussion points]
[Decisions made]
[Action items — who owes what]
[Personal context worth remembering]
```

### What to Capture

- **Action items** with clear ownership ("I will send the deck by Friday")
- **Decisions made** ("Agreed to move forward with Option B")
- **Personal context** ("Mentioned daughter starting college in fall")
- **Relationship signals** ("Seemed excited about collaboration", "Mentioned they're job hunting")
- **Next steps** ("Reconnect after their board meeting in April")

### What to Skip

- Information already in the contact record (job title, company — update the contact instead)
- Trivial logistics ("Met at Starbucks on 5th Ave")
- Verbatim transcripts — summarize the key points

### Note Types

Always use the most specific note type available:

- **Meeting** — In-person or video meetings
- **Call** — Phone or voice calls
- **Coffee** — Informal catch-ups
- **Note** — General observations, research notes, or async context

---

## Follow-Up Cadences

Help users establish systematic follow-up patterns:

### Suggested Cadences by Relationship Type

| Relationship | Cadence | Reminder Recurrence |
|-------------|---------|-------------------|
| Close professional contacts | Every 2-4 weeks | `biweekly` or `monthly` |
| Active networking contacts | Monthly | `monthly` |
| Investors / Board members | Monthly | `monthly` |
| Dormant but valuable | Quarterly | `quarterly` |
| Seasonal (holidays, birthdays) | Yearly | `yearly` |

### Setting Up Recurring Reminders

When a user wants to "stay in touch" with someone:

1. Ask how often they want to check in
2. Create a reminder with appropriate `recurrence`
3. Set `due_at_date` to the next desired check-in date
4. Link to the contact with `contact_id`

**Example** (`dex_create_reminder`):
```json
{
  "text": "Monthly check-in — see how the product launch went",
  "due_at_date": "2026-04-01",
  "contact_id": "c1",
  "recurrence": "monthly"
}
```

---

## Network Nurturing Patterns

### The "Touch Base" Flow

When a user wants to re-engage dormant contacts:

1. Search with empty query to browse all contacts by last interaction date, or use `dex_list_contacts` for bulk iteration
2. Identify contacts not interacted with recently
3. For each, check existing notes for context
4. Suggest a personalized reason to reach out based on their history

### The "Batch Organize" Flow

When a user wants to organize their CRM:

1. List all existing tags and groups to understand current structure
2. Search contacts by category (company, keyword, etc.)
3. Create new tags/groups as needed
4. Bulk assign using `dex_add_tags_to_contacts` / `dex_add_contacts_to_group`

### The "Duplicate Cleanup" Flow

When a user suspects duplicates:

1. Search by name fragments to find potential duplicates
2. Get full details of suspected duplicates to compare
3. Present differences to the user
4. Merge with user confirmation — primary contact (first ID) keeps its data, others merge in

---

## Bulk Operations

Several tools support batch operations for efficiency:

- **Tags**: `dex_add_tags_to_contacts` / `dex_remove_tags_from_contacts` — apply or remove tags on multiple contacts at once
- **Groups**: `dex_add_contacts_to_group` / `dex_remove_contacts_from_group` — manage group membership in bulk
- **Custom Fields**: `dex_set_custom_field_values` — set field values on multiple contacts
- **Delete**: `dex_delete_contacts` — remove multiple contacts
- **Merge**: `dex_merge_contacts` — merge multiple duplicate groups simultaneously

When performing bulk operations, process in batches if the contact list is large, and always confirm destructive operations with the user.