Building Blocks and CRM
15 Sep 2014
Often in these blog posts we write about some of the great new features that we are working on, or we will mention an existing feature to encourage users to revisit this, whether it’s an entire module to help you with project management, or action plans to help automate activities to give you a couple of examples.
But often, the key is simply to determine which features will help you reach your organisational objectives.
One thing I tell projects time and time again, is to focus on what you need, and worry about the rest later. Especially in the early phases, it often makes sense to turn multiple modules and fields off. Having a system that is simple to view, navigate and use is a great starting point towards getting user buy-in. It will focus attention on figuring out one part of the system, and knowing the ins and outs of that aspect as well as you can, instead of the mind and eye getting diverted by all these exciting and mysterious other modules and features that are out there.
The great thing is that by learning how to use one or two modules, you are inadvertently learning how to use the whole system. If you think of the modules as a series of building blocks – once you have figured out how to use those blocks, it doesn’t matter if there are two or ten of them, you’ll know what to do.
The way the data is entered is more or less the same across the board. The way in which users interact with different parts of the system, and how the modules link together, follows standard processes. Once you have learnt how to log activities and send emails to a contact, you can use those same principles to communicate with Leads, Companies, and to log your interactions against Opportunities, Quotes, Orders etc. When you are able to use the Quotes module, you will, by default, also know how to manage your Orders and Invoices.
Like physical structures, your CRM solution is built up from different components, and with help from a system architect you are free to go ahead and create a structure which is perfect for you.
My role is to build our Customer Success team and I work with our clients and prospects helping them get the most from their subscription – it is a fun challenging role as no two days are the same. When not in the office I’ll be either making a noise on my guitar or getting my trainers on for a run out in the Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors or the Lake District.