Articles in this section

What is CRM

Avatar
Orderbot Support Clan Leader
Updated
Follow

Customer Relationship Manager (CRM)

What is CRM?

CRM is a common shorthand for Customer Relation Manager. It allows you to keep track of customers and follow up with them for sales deals and promotions. Using CRM notes, your team can share information to be sure they're on the same page.

Go to Customer > CRM Notes to access this feature.

The CRM page has two functions:

  • Internal administration: TO DO lists of actions and tasks
  • Sales: Lead generation and follow-up

By entering information in the form of a CRM Note, you create visibility for other users. Because you can create your own actions and statuses, you can customize the system to fit your own flow.

The Basics

The two main terms you'll want to remember in CRM are Action and Status.

Action: Basically, this is what has to be done (and who has to do it.)

  • Example Internal Actions: Ship, Follow-up on Order, Email
  • Example Sales Actions: Call, Fax, Email, Send Sample

mceclip0.png

Status: This defines the state of the action, so you can see at a glance where it is in a process.

  • Example Internal Statuses: Awaiting Approval, No Response, Done
  • Example Sales Statuses: Active, Inactive, Lead, Client, On Hold

mceclip1.png

Setting Up CRM Functions

Go to Prefs > Customer Setup > CRM Settings

(warning) NOTE: If you don't see this option on your menu, that means that you don't have the permissions to view it. You'll need to get an Admin User within your company to help you with this step. For more information about user levels, take a look at our Users guide.

There are three tabs on this page: CRM Status, CRM Action, and CRM Variables. Generally, these would be things that you would set up only once, when you first start using Orderbot. But you can also add new statuses, actions, and variables at any time.

mceclip2.png

CRM STATUS: To add a new CRM status, just fill each field and then click Submit.

  • STATUS NAME: This is what will display on the CRM Notes page, as well as on your customer's account.
  • ABR: This field is for an abbreviation (a shorter name).
  • FONT COLOR and BG COLOR: These determine the colour-coding of your CRM Status. You can click on this field to bring up a colour-picker or enter the Hex value of the color you would like to use. Assigning different colours to statuses helps you differentiate between them at a glance.
  • IN SEQUENCE: This is for a future feature that will allow you to change sequence. Just pick 'No' for now.

CRM ACTION: To add a new CRM Action, just fill all the fields and click Submit.

  • WORK ORDER TYPE NAME: This name will display on the CRM Notes.
  • ABR: This field is for an abbreviation (a shorter name).
  • FONT COLOR AND BACKGROUND COLOR: These determine the colour-coding of your CRM Action. You can click on this field to bring up a colour-picker or enter the Hex value of the color you would like to use. Assigning different colours to actions helps you differentiate between them at a glance.

CRM VARIABLES: Variables allow you to sort your CRM notes by different values. For example, you might wish to assign a 'Timezone' variable to your CRM notes so that your reps know when they should make calls. Generally, these variables will be set up at the time you go live on Orderbot, but you can add additional variables at any time.

To add a new variable, enter your variable name, and select your variable type. Then simply click Submit. (Tick 'add new' when saving a dropdown menu item.)

  • VARIABLE NAME: The name for your variable, which will display on your CRM Notes. e.g. Timezone, Estimated Close Date, Grocery
  • VARIABLE TYPE: You can choose between these options:
    • text
    • currency (a number field that allows decimals)
    • date
    • numerical
    • dropdown (a preset list of options: see below for info on dropdown fields)

DROPDOWN FIELDS

  • STATUS NAME: This refers to individual variables. For example, under Timezone, you might want to enter a status for EST, PST, etc.
  • ABR: An abbreviation or short name.
  • FONT COLOR AND BG COLOR: These determine the colour-coding of your CRM Variable. You can click on this field to bring up a colour-picker or enter the Hex value of the color you would like to use. Assigning different colours to actions helps you differentiate between them at a glance.
  • IN SEQUENCE: This is for a future feature that will allow you to change sequence. Just pick 'No' for now.

If you're unsure what to do on this page, please check out our video on CRM setup.

Related articles