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Your Daily BD Workflow

Five habits that make the CRM work. These aren't rules — they're the muscle memory that separates teams who use a CRM from teams who have a CRM.

The Five Golden Rules

1. Company First, Then Contact

Every new person you meet — create their company first, then add the contact and link them. Never orphan contacts (contacts without a company).

Why: The company record is your single source of truth for the organization. The contact record is your source of truth for the person. Linking them means you can see everyone at a company and every company a person is connected to.

2. Fill in the Custom Fields

Company Type, Tier, Fund Type — these aren't optional. They're what makes filtering and reporting work.

What to fill in immediately:

  • Company Type — You know this the moment you add the company
  • Tier — Start at 2 if unsure, upgrade to 1 when qualified
  • Fund Type — PE, VC, Both, or Other
  • Target Investment Range — If they've mentioned a range, capture it

What to update over time:

  • Money Raised — Update as deals progress
  • Last Contact Date — After every interaction
  • Next Contact Date — Your follow-up trigger
  • Outstanding Items — Clear as completed, add new ones

3. Note Everything

If you talked to them, write it down. Five sentences. Date at the front, next steps at the end.

The rule: If it was a real conversation — phone call, meeting, even a substantive email exchange — it gets a note.

What good notes look like:

2/15/2026 — Called Sarah re: Q1 allocation. They're reviewing 3 funds this quarter. Healthcare PE is a fit. Wants updated track record by March 1. Will schedule follow-up after IC review.

What bad notes look like:

Talked to Sarah.

4. Task Every Next Step

A note without a task is just history. A task is what moves things forward.

The reflex: Write the note → Create the task. One motion, every time.

You Discussed Create This Task
"Send me the pitch deck" "Send pitch deck to Sarah at Kaiser" — due tomorrow
"Let's talk after Q1" "Follow up with Kaiser post-Q1" — due April 1
"I need to check with our IC" "Check in on Kaiser IC timeline" — due in 2 weeks
"Can you send the DDQ?" "Send DDQ to Sarah" — due this week

5. Use Tags for Context

Active, Warm, Cold. Follow-Up-Needed. Met-In-Person. Tags let you slice and dice your pipeline.

Daily tags to maintain:

  • After a meeting: add Met-In-Person or Multiple-Meetings
  • After sending materials: add Proposal-Sent or Send-Materials (remove after completion)
  • When status changes: update Deal Status tags (Active → Committed, etc.)
  • For follow-ups: add Follow-Up-Needed, remove when completed

Your Morning Routine (5 Minutes)

  1. Open Tasks — Check what's due today and overdue. Handle the overdue items first.
  2. Check the Pipeline — Glance at your opportunities. Anything stuck?
  3. Review Today's Calendar — Any calls coming up? Open those contact records and review the timeline before the call.

After Every Call or Meeting (2 Minutes)

  1. Open the contact record
  2. Add a note with date, key points, and next steps
  3. Create a task for whatever you promised
  4. Update tags if anything changed (new status, new engagement level)
  5. Update custom fields — Next Contact Date, Outstanding Items, Money Raised status

Weekly Check (15 Minutes)

  • Filter by "Follow-Up-Needed" — Are there records you've been putting off?
  • Check "Awaiting-Response" — Anyone you should nudge?
  • Review Next Contact Dates — What's coming up next week?
  • Pipeline review — Are stages accurate? Any cards need to move?

The Discipline

The trade-off

Five minutes of data entry saves hours of searching later. The CRM is your second brain — but only if you feed it.

Here's the thing about CRMs: they only work if you use them. The tool doesn't matter. The discipline matters. Put in 5 minutes of data entry, get hours of saved time later. That's the trade.