How Do I Use Cink?

1. What is Cink?

Cink is a strategic selling tool that allows you to build deeper connections with clients and prospects by identifying and visually mapping the people in your professional network whose passions intersect with yours. From here, you can work your own unique business development strategies to enhance sales success.

2. How much does it cost?

Pricing is dependent on whether you are a for- or non-profit business, as well as how many licenses you purchase, among other factors. Visit our product page for a breakdown of available options, or contact us for additional details.

3. Is Cink easy to use?

Yes, we designed Cink to be very intuitive. As you input your clients, prospects and connections, our system will identify and map overlapping relationships for you.

4. If I already use a CRM, why do I need Cink?

Cink offers numerous benefits that a CRM can’t compete with. Among its key differentiators are the ability to identify warm leads, clearly organize all data in a single location and visually pinpoint clients and prospects within a specified vicinity, allowing you to make the most efficient use of your time.

5. What are some other advantages?

With a database, inputting, managing and analyzing large amounts of data quickly becomes complex and time consuming. Cink, however, lets you easily and efficiently create and manage data that means something, helping you close sales.

Here’s how:

• User Friendly – Cink provides you with an easy framework and stores only the information you need to get in front of the right people, whereas databases promote collecting any data that’s available—regardless of its relevancy—and can be cumbersome to navigate.
• Intuitive – It brings untapped opportunities to light by identifying other professionals with similar interests, or with whom you share commonalities, such as associations you’re a member of like a chamber of commerce or professional and special interest organizations.
• Working Strategy – By cultivating groups of quality contacts around each of your interests, you’ll have a predefined and manageable amount to pursue over the short term. And, all of them will be warm contacts due to the shared interests you have with them.
• Improved Efficiency – After you’ve defined your prospects, you also have the capability to view them on vibrant multi-colored maps, allowing you to best manage your territories and travel time and, ultimately, get in front of more people each week.

6. Can I export my current system data into Cink?

Yes, whether you’re using a database, Excel or Outlook, simply save and export your contacts as an Excel file (.xls or .xlsx), and upload it into Cink.

7. Can I input proprietary data?

Yes, you can always input new information as you expand your network and meet new people. Your contacts don’t need to be in a database before you can add them.

Tips & Definitions

Every Contact input into Cink must have two Identifiers filled in. One is “Category” and the other is “Layers”.

Category

There are four defined Categories to choose from: Client, Active Pipeline, Targeted Prospect or Connection. You will see a drop down menu to choose from when entering each new contact. Everyone in your Cink database will fit into one of these Categories when initially entered into the system. Some will migrate from Targeted Prospect to Active Pipeline and ultimately could migrate to Client.

Layers

Layers are all uniquely created by each Cink user. These are tags by which you group contacts who share a mutual interest with you, an activity, a common membership or other definition. Essentially, any Layer you create also relates to Strategies for future business development.
Some examples include:

• Alumni of Your University or other school or program
• Members of an organization you are very active in and who you want to track
• People who share an activity like golf, sailing, culinary arts.
• Individuals in an industry vertical that you pursue
• People associated with a defined Geographic region that you want to routinely refer to as a group both in
• Cink Maps and in list form.

Tip

Two of the first groups you might want to enter into your Cink will be your current Clients and your current Active Pipeline prospects. Getting all of these into your Cink will bring them to life in your Cink Maps and start the benefits of geographic management to add more meetings to each week. When entering each individual, you will have to define at least one Layer for each one. You might think of two or more Layers for many of them. For instance, you might be entering a Client who graduated from your University, who plays golf with you, who is in an important industry vertical, and who offices in a defined region that you like to concentrate in. You could create four Layers and tag this Client with all four. As you enter more Clients and Active Pipeline prospects, your group of Layers will start to unfold and you will begin to see how Cink will help you focus on target rich groups.

Tip

Work Email Addresses are required to enter Clients, Active Pipeline & Connections. Only the Targeted Prospects Category can accept a contact without a work email address. If you have a personal email address but not a Work email address, put it in the Work Email Address block so your contact entry will be accepted by Cink

Tip

Regarding Categories; temporarily, you will only be able to move contacts in one direction, from Targeted Prospect to Active Pipeline to Client. If you move a contact to Active Pipeline and later want to move them back to Targeted Prospect or to Connections; you cannot do that just yet. We will modify Cink in the near future to allow free re-assignment among the four Category Levels.

Management Center - Administrator

Tip

Strategies can be short term such as two weeks or 30 days or they can be longer term and more ongoing in your business development program.

Tip

Strategy lists are created from a combination of the Categories and Layers you seek to define those who should be in one Strategy. You can have multiple Strategies defined at all times to support the variety of business development approaches you have.

Tip

Don’t forget to upload each new strategy to the Action Center by clicking on the “Add to Action Center” tab

Tip

Strategies containing more that 25 to 30 contacts might prove unwieldy. Be selective and focus on the highest potential individuals within each Strategy Group and whittle the list down to workable quantities.

Tip

You can uncheck either “Unassigned” or “Assigned” to view only those contacts who fit the remaining checked category.