Podio Customization for Lead Management - Approach & Tips

[Alexander Berger]

If you are an established multi-family investor or wholesaler considering automating and improving aspects of your current process with Podio it could initially appear prohibitively intimidating. While it is a large undertaking, based on my recent experience configuring Podio for my lead management, it is VERY doable, and I encourage you to explore it further. 

 I am not affiliated with Podio, Zapier or any other apps mentioned in this post. I am not a technology consultant. I am not selling anything. Etc, etc, etc. Thank you, now back to the post: 

I have held a digital transformation role @ a Fortune 500 organization and I have a knack for optimizing technology process flows. I'm familiar with large enterprise systems like Oracle Hyperion and more startupy tools like Alteryx & Tableau so I have a good sense of how practical and easy to use different business process automation tools are. I recently set up my own Podio for lead management and was really impressed with the amount of flexibility available, while maintaining a surprising ease of use (these are generally direct trade-offs).

Quick Tips (Sorry @Brandon Turner, had to borrow the catchphrase)

#1 MAP YOUR BUSINESS PROCESS ON PAPER/WHITEBOARD FIRST! This applies to Podio or any technology implementation project. It will save you hours of fumbling around aimlessly in the tool. For me I simply drew out my lead funnel, the different stages and branches of the funnel, and then was able to begin methodically creating apps within Podio and connecting them accordingly. It's too difficult to try and mentally map your process while simultaneously learning how to build in a new tool.

#2 Explore Zapier for connecting Podio to all your other apps (and even itself). As far as I can tell so far, most Podio "automation" is actually Zapier driven.

#3 Make sure to import or create a "Contacts" app early on and use the Relationships field in other apps such as "Leads" or "Conversations Log" to link back to a contact. Podio doesn't by default enforce this behaviour, but trust me, there will be significantly reduced value if you build a "Customer Relationship Mamagement" (CRM) app that doesn't center around the Customers or "Contacts" that you are trying to maintain a relationship with. This may not make total sense before you start building, but as you start to use it you will get how important this approach is.

Best of luck to everyone looking to improve their operating efficiency!