What do you want to know a year from now?

I write weekly about the strategies, habits, and tactics around cultivating the connections that matter to you.

Stop me if this sounds familiar: You've got contact after contact loaded with more details than a CIA dossier. Birthday. Dog's name. College alma mater. Coffee preference. The name of their third-grade teacher.

Or at least, you’ve tried to do that, and then… squirrel.

Yet when you bump into them at a conference six months later, you're frantically scrolling through your phone trying to remember literally anything meaningful about them.

Here's the truth most CRM crazies won't tell you: More data doesn't equal better relationships. It just means you have more data.

I've seen people spend twenty minutes updating someone's profile with every tidbit from a casual lunch conversation. Meanwhile, they haven't actually reached out to anyone in their database for three months because they're too busy being digital archivists.

The collector's trap

In Relatable, we've built tons of fields because people keep asking for them. Location, expertise, interests, related contacts, notes that could fill a novel. And yes, you could spend your entire afternoon cataloguing someone's life like you're preparing for a stalker competition.

But here's what actually matters: When you see their name pop up in your reminders (again, from Relatable, right?) a year from now, what one thing would make that interaction more meaningful?

Maybe it's remembering they're going through a divorce so you don't ask about their spouse. Maybe it's knowing their kid just started college so you can check in about empty nest syndrome. Maybe it's simply their dog's name because they light up when talking about that rescue pit bull.

The one-year test

Here's my ridiculously simple filter for what deserves capturing in your contact tool of choice: What do you want to remember about this person next year?

Not next week. Not next month. Next year.

This question cuts through all the noise. You don't need to remember their coffee order unless you're planning to surprise them with their exact latte at next year's conference. You don't need their college unless it actually matters to your relationship.

But you absolutely should remember that they lost their mom last spring if genuine condolences would strengthen your connection.

Action steps that actually work

Every week, review your recent interactions. For each meaningful conversation, ask yourself that magic question: What do I want to remember about this person next year?

Write down one thing. Maybe two if you're feeling ambitious. Then stop.

Your future self will thank you for the clarity instead of cursing you for the clutter.

Remember, your CRM isn't supposed to be a comprehensive biography. It's supposed to help you be more human, not more robotic.

Until next week, Zvi

P.S. Always go with quality > quantity. Unless we’re talking about tacos!

If you found this valuable, you might love Relatable. It’s the CRM built from the ground up to help you grow your network, not your business pipeline (but it does that too).