Well, now that I'm (finally) getting on top of next actions a little better, I'm trying to do the same for the people I meet. Like many engineers/tech folks, networking is about as natural to me as interpretive dance. When I do manage to make a contact, it would be helpful to have a system to deal with it, roughly analogous to how GTD provides a trusted system to deal with next actions.

That said, has anyone used such a system and found it helpful? This is important to me, so I'm not opposed to shelling out a couple of C notes for something like ACT! if it's the appropriate tool. It may be too big a hammer, though, for someone who's not in sales and doesn't actively track hundreds of contacts. I'd rather try a free system first to see if it's sufficient for my needs.

Any glowing reviews, warning signs, or other thoughts from the assembly?