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Sage SalesLogix
NEWSLETTER
Volume 4 Issue 4, April 2006 |
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Technology Marketing Corporation
(TMC®)'s Communications
Solutions magazine online
(www.tmcnet.com/comsol) has
named Sage CRM SalesLogix as a
2005 Product of the Year Award
recipient. TMC editors recently
issued the results of their thorough
product examinations and
cited Sage CRM SalesLogix for
database administration and Web
server scalability enhancements. |
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| Marketing Tune-Up Tools
Version 7 Adds Power
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| The SalesLogix iReports business
intelligence tool provides a variety of
graphical views of Sage SalesLogix data. |
Do you know how much it costs your company
to acquire a new customer? In today's
crowded marketplace finding new
customers is harder than ever. Many companies
are competing for the same customers and messages
coming from email, direct mail, Web popups,
television, and the radio overwhelm and desensitize
prospects.
That's the bad news. The
good news is that Sage CRM
SalesLogix can give you a step up
on the competition. The Marketing
component of Sage CRM
SalesLogix has become even
more powerful in Version 7, and
by leveraging its features, you can
tailor your marketing efforts to
maximize their impact. The new
Marketing features in Version 7
fall into six major areas:
Easy ways to capture sales
leads and import lists
Separate Lead Database
Lead Qualification Tools
Campaign Management
Targeted Lists
Email Marketing
Let's take a detailed look at each of them.
Capture Sales Leads And Import Lists
If you're like most companies, prospects for your
products and services come in from many different
sources. In Sage CRM SalesLogix Version 7,
Sage has made it very simple to retrieve leads
from multiple sources and add them to your
Sage CRM SalesLogix database.
Often the best sales leads are the ones in
which the prospect has located your products
or services on the Web. In Version 7 you can
use a simple, standardized Web form to record
these leads and merge them into the Sage CRM
SalesLogix database later. A big benefit of this
new tool is that no live connection to your Sage
CRM SalesLogix system is required.
The form can be placed
anywhere you need it, such as a
remotely hosted Web site.
Another common source
of leads is a text or delimited file
from trade show leads or purchased
lists. Trade show leads in
particular can be very time sensitive.
Now you don't need to
depend on your IT department
to get these prospects loaded
into Sage CRM SalesLogix on
a timely basis. A simple set of
screens guides you through the
process. The system presents the
information in a way even non-technical users
can easily understand. Your sales leads are imported
into your Sage CRM SalesLogix system
with a click of a button.
Separate Lead Database
Rather than import leads into the same data tables
as your existing Accounts and Contacts, new
leads are now imported into a separate lead database
so they can be properly qualified before
converting them to Accounts or Contacts. The Leads main view in Version 7 provides a convenient
view of the newly imported leads, and will
be the main dashboard from which your lead
qualifiers will work.
Lead Qualification Tools
Now that you have your sales leads in the Sage
CRM SalesLogix database, they need to be
qualified. Your lead qualifiers' job is to answer
the question "is it worth converting this
lead into a sales opportunity?" Sage CRM
SalesLogix Version 7 has new tools to help
lead qualifiers be more effective and efficient
in their jobs. The new Leads main
view includes a checklist which guides the
lead qualifier through the questions that
need to be asked via telephone, email, or
whatever your standard method of qualifying
leads may be. Different checklists can
be defined for each product line or service
your company offers. Up to eight questions
can be included on each checklist, such as:
Is this a real person and is the contact
information correct?
What is the business need?
Is budget available?
In what time frame do they wish to purchase?
Who is the decision maker?
Are they considering any other companies
products or services?
What is their preferred communication
method?
Once these questions have been answered,
the lead qualifier can process the lead. If the answers
to the questions indicate this prospect is
a bona fide sales opportunity, the user simply
clicks on the Convert Qualified Lead button.
The Convert Prospect window is displayed, allowing
users to see existing Accounts, Contacts,
or Leads that are potential duplicates, and determine
whether the lead is new or a duplicate. If a
contact already exists for that lead, the lead can
be merged with that contact. If only the account
exists, the contact can be added to the account.
Once a lead has been qualified and converted
to an account and contact, the lead is automatically
purged from the system. Leads not meeting
the criteria defined by the checklist can be deleted,
which also purges them from the database.
We've seen how new features in Sage CRM
SalesLogix Version 7 lets you quickly get new
prospects into the system, qualify leads, and
merge them into your Accounts and Contacts
without creating duplicates. Now let's see how
Sage CRM SalesLogix Version 7 helps you manage
targeted marketing campaigns to your wellqualified
leads.
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| The new Lead Management Main view displays the customizable
qualification questions and has a the button to convert a lead to
an opportunity. |
Campaign Management
Like Leads, Campaigns is now a main view in
Sage CRM SalesLogix Version 7, offering your
organization's marketing manager a dashboard
from which to manage a broad range of campaign
activities. You can create a fresh campaign
or copy an existing one and modify it to suit
your needs. From the Campaigns view you also
add all the stages associated with the campaign,
such as copy writing, design, production, and
mailing. Within each stage you can track individual
tasks with their associated costs, and roll
these costs up to the overall campaign budget.
Once you've rolled your campaign out, another
window allows you to track the responses,
so you can both track the effectiveness of the
campaign, as well as make sure appropriate follow
up takes place.
Targeted Lists
Perhaps the most powerful new group of features
in Version 7 surrounds the process of selecting
your target audience for a particular campaign.
Using the new Manage Target List screen,
you can pull in records from Leads, Accounts,
or Contacts with a straightforward filtering process.
For example, you can select by state, ZIP
code, or SIC code. The list of selected records
appears in a grid view with a record count, so
you can easily select or remove records to get to
your target quantity. Segmenting your prospects
into logical groups allows you to create specific
targeted messages that will be more effective in
getting the prospect's attention.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most costeffective
ways to communicate a targeted
message to prospects. Sage CRM
SalesLogix has partnered with Empulse,
one of the most powerful email marketing
services available. The Target Lists you create
in Sage CRM SalesLogix can be easily
exported to Empulse, which incorporates
email marketing best practices directly
into the software to help any size organization,
across all levels of technical ability,
build more effective campaigns every step
of the way. Special Empulse pricing for
Sage CRM SalesLogix customers begins at
$99 for 1000 emails. Contact us for more
details on this powerful marketing tool.
Putting It All Together
We've shown you how the Sage CRM SalesLogix
Marketing features in Version 7 deliver a powerful
tool set, allowing you to:
Load new prospects
Guide lead developers through the qualifying
process
Track prospect status and upgrade them to
opportunities at the optimum time
Use a single interface to track your marketing
campaigns from concept through budgeting,
execution, and response rates
Easily filter your prospects to create highly
targeted lists so you can customize your
message to the audience
Leverage a cost effective and powerful
email marketing service
Call us for more details on Marketing with
Version 7. |
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| Version 7 Raises The Customer Service Bar |
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Equally important to getting a new customer
is making sure you keep them. Sage CRM
SalesLogix Version 7 can help.
Previously the Support features of Sage
CRM SalesLogix were available separately as
part of the Support client. In Version 7, those
features have been rolled into the base Sales client
and new enhancements have been added.
You now have a very powerful set of customer
service tools at your fingertips to make sure you
keep your customers happy. Depending upon
your business processes and the individual customer
needs, your service representatives can
quickly access the information they need:
Handle tickets for either service or support
from the same window;
View service contracts to quickly verify eligibility
for service and support;
Retrieve detailed information about the
products a customer owns;
Access a problem/resolution database to
quickly find answers to common customer
questions;
Expeditiously handle customer returns; and
Determine if a product defect has already
been reported and the expected time frame
for resolution.
Service And Support Tickets
Tickets can be used to enter and track detailed
information about a customer issue. You can record
the status, nature, and urgency of an issue,
and assign it to appropriate personnel. Time
spent by your staff researching and resolving
the issue can be tracked. Activities such as telephone
or email follow up can be scheduled to
make sure you are meeting your customers' service
level expectations. Once issues are resolved,
they can be archived in the knowledgebase.
Service Contracts
With Version 7, Contracts are a main view in
Sage CRM SalesLogix. All your contracts, whether
Support or Service related, can be managed
from this single window. The display of contract
terms such as expiration date and grace period
has been simplified and is available in the main
Contract window. When a customer calls for
service or support, your customer service representatives
can quickly verify eligibility and move
on to resolving the issue or scheduling service.
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| Version 7 gives you a powerful set of customer
service tools at your fingertips to help
you keep your customers happy. |
Customer Assets
The Assets view (formerly known as Account
Products within the Support client) allows you
to store important information about products
that have been sold to a customer. Serial number
and warranty information is available to establish
eligibility for service or support. You can
also access vendor and pricing information and
associate a particular Ticket with the Asset.
Problem Resolution
The Problem Resolution Assistance view offers
a quick way to respond to common customer
questions, usually product related. Resolutions
to these questions are incorporated into
a knowledgebase. One problem may have multiple
resolutions that the service representative
can review to find the answer relevant to the
current customer's situation.
Streamlined Returns
Let's face it, an important part of customer service
is the ability to easily authorize, accept, and
process credits, exchanges, or repairs for merchandise.
The Returns system is now included
within the Customer Service component so
your staff can handle these inevitable transactions
expediently.
Returns are usually touched by many different
people. They are likely to be initiated by a
support or customer service person. When the
product arrives or leaves, it will be documented
and tagged by a shipping clerk. A technician
may repair it. Or, in a field service situation, a
remote technician may be providing a product
from personal inventory, and shipping the defective
product back to the main office. Returns
must be tightly tracked and monitored through
the repair process.
The Returns system allows your staff to:
Enter Returns against particular Tickets,
and view returns in Accounts;
Send a replacement part or product to the
customer with or without waiting for the
defective product to be returned;
Add detailed notes regarding the return;
Relate the return to particular customer
Assets;
Specify specific ship-to addresses and contacts
for Returns; and
Track shipping information related to the
return.
Defect Tracking
If your organization sells complex products
such as electronic components or software, you
need to track defects reported, the time to resolution,
and note new customer tickets associated
with that defect. The defect tracking capability
in Sage CRM SalesLogix supports all of this,
with the ability to specify the version found,
problem type, source, and more. The ability to
track defects effectively and resolve them on a
timely basis plays an important part in customer
satisfaction.
The Tools Your People Need
The Customer Service component of Sage CRM
SalesLogix, with the added combination of features
from Support and the new capabilities of
Version 7, combine to create a powerful set of
tools to handle virtually any customer need that
may arise.
Call us to discuss how your organization
can leverage this solution. |
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| Spotlight On
Sage CRM SalesLogix
Usability Features In Version 7 |
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Sage CRM SalesLogix Version 7 includes a number of general capabilities for greater
ease of use, flexibility, and speed. It all adds up to making it easier to get your
job done.
User Interface
The user interface has been updated to the Windows XP look and the calendar behaves
more like Outlook. This helps make navigation more intuitive, since Sage CRM Sales-
Logix works the same way as the other familiar Windows applications.
Windows XP themes apply to the Windows Client
Controls and tab highlighting now have the Windows XP look and feel
The NavBar can be resized
Groups can be added to the NavBar, making it easier to organize tasks and minimize
scrolling
Calendar Enhancements
Not only does your Sage CRM SalesLogix Calendar now look more like Outlook, the
Activities capabilities have been enhanced to make them more useful. A new dialog
box for viewing Activity Alarms and Activity Reminders has been added. For each Activity,
you can choose to Ignore, Delay, Snooze, Reschedule, Complete, or Cancel, right
from one single interface, eliminating multiple alarm pop-ups. Activity Reminders will
also display unconfirmed Activities so you can readily see any new appointments
that have been made, and a Complete as Scheduled button
lets you quickly close the Activity with the values already defined.
Activity Customization
A number of the forms surrounding Activities may now be customized
to better reflect your workflow. You can add custom fields to the
Activities Main View Summary pane, the General tab and the Complete
To-Do dialog box . You can now also set events to occur at various
points when working with an Activity. For example, a Complete as
Scheduled action might be programmed to launch a reminder email to
the person responsible for the next phase of the project.
Lookup Improvements
While you are working within Sage CRM SalesLogix, you probably
spend a good deal of your time in the lookup dialog box, seeking information
related to your current sales opportunities. Enhancements to
this dialog box will be great time savers for you. In Sage CRM SalesLogix
Version 7, you can resize the lookup to see more fields and scroll horizontally
if you need to. You can sort by any column in the lookup, such
as phone number or ZIP code. You also can use multiple layouts for one
lookup, so different users can view the lookup the way they need it.
Intuitive Reporting
With Sage CRM SalesLogix Version 7, it is easier to find and organize
your reports and also specify the desired sorting and filtering of each
report. A report snapshot reminds you of the filters already in place,
while a new dialog box allows you to choose fields for filtering, such as
Contact Group.
Copy/Move Contact
If a contact was created under the wrong account, or has moved from
one customer to another, you can now move not only the contact, but
all the associated information, including Opportunities, Tickets, Attachments,
and RMAs.
Leads
Version 7 has a lot of powerful new features surrounding Lead tracking.
Several productivity enhancements for leads also have been added. A
new Leads table is available for analysis on converted and deleted leads.
Putting It All Together
Taken all together, the productivity enhancements in Version 7 can add
up to significant time savings. Call us to schedule training to ensure
your staff is using Sage CRM SalesLogix at peak efficiency. |
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© Copyright 2004-2010 Tango Marketing, LLC. www.tango-marketing.com All Rights Reserved. This newsletter and its content have been registered with
the United States Copyright Office. This content is licensed by Tango Marketing LLC and can be distributed by licensee until 07/31/2010 at which time the licensee must cease
distribution and use of this content unless permission in writing is obtained from Tango Marketing LLC. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
The capabilities, system requirements and/or compatibility with third-party products described herein are subject to change without notice. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product
and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
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