A1 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) &
Sales Force Management Guide
What is CRM?
A business that sells a product or service has a need for Customer Relationship Management or CRM. This App was the sister app to A1 CRM & PM, and users requested a more powerful business to business sales force app. The original CRM app was redesigned to be a powerhouse sales app with the following?
• This app is designed for a business to business sales force.
• The screens now allow unlimited numbers of inputs using portal records.
• The client screen now has a primary contact for a company and a portal for an unlimited number of related business contacts for the company.
• Contacts may be imported into the app or exported to a number of file formats for use in other apps.
• The new design has a Google web object to provide maps based on the company address for all companies, and access to Google Calendar for entering appointments. • The leads screen has a system that builds a master list of requirements for new
proposals, proposal requirements verification, and requirements action items. • In the process of doing business there are many documents that are created and
received from clients. The Document track screen documents theses files and tracks their usage.
• Contacts interact by email, phone, mail, and meetings, and the meetings tracks the interaction where decisions are made and action items are assigned. The meeting screen tracks all of this activity.
• The marketing screen is used to manage sales force activity where the steps to a
business proposal are developed. The sales force contact with clients is recorded with a portal where unlimited activity may be tracked.
• The business track screen is the place where any dispute, change of scope, and after contract issues are tracked. The history of issues will assist your firm to resolve disputes and to document the way the solution/s were made.
• The proposal screen is the collection point for the proposal development where a bid or no bid decision can be made based on the return on investment. The individual cost groups can be individually cost loaded to determine the client price.
• Can your company generate reports for any or all of the items above? The companion computer app included with the iPad app has tables, and reports to get summary data from selected screens.
• Do you have a method to assign action items, and track them to completion? This app includes a action item memo that can be emailed and tracked for completion.
A1 CRM & Sales Force is designed to track, process, and manage customer relationship
management. All the items are included in this program. In addition to the items listed above, the program operates on a Macintosh or Windows computer. In addition this program also works on the iPad, provides the mobility to allow the sales force to manage sales from any location.
The CRM program is a part of a series of programs being developed for serious business applications. This app will build on the A1 CRM base, and include a Sales Force Management system. This program will offer all of the general CRM features;
• Customer management
• Web Objects for Google Maps & Google Calendar • Leads management
• Sales Force team management • Marketing management • Business document tracking
• Business support & dispute tracking • Meeting and Action assignments • Proposal development and tracking
A1 CRM & Sales Force Getting Started:
A1 CRM (Customer Relationship Management & Sales Force Management)
What is the best CRM product available in the market? It is the one that fits all of your needs at a reasonable price.
A1 CRM & Sales Force covers 99% of the needs of most users. Where it exceeds the others is its ability to be portable. The iPad application is an important new capability for a sales force that allows them to use this app anywhere.
As you read this help file it will become clear that A1 CRM & SF has an easy to use interface, and the content of the screens make it easy to manage data. It is best to use the user guide and the app together while you are learning these apps.
Program Overview:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) & Sales Force Management may be the key to generating new, and maintaining existing business. The business that tracks customer relationships will win more business than those who do not.
What is involved with customer tracking? The customer relationship is dependent upon the service needs of the customer. The sales force using this app documents every client contact, and adds insight for the marketing team as to the client needs requirements. In some cases the relationship may have disputes and issues that if ignored will destroy the relationship. The immediate response to issues and maintenance of contract terms will help to improve the customer relationship. There are conditions in the relationship that when tracked reveal customers who are taking unfair advantage of your firm. This normally occurs when payments are delayed or stopped without cause. Both parties should adhere to contract terms to bind the relationship. The clarity of proposed business requirements for the client can make or break a relationship. Time spent in the proposal development and contract terms will pay back over the term of the contract. When the CRM & SF process tracks all of the details of the business
transaction, the possibility of disputes and disagreements will be minimal.
A1 CRM & SF Top Down Description:
The development of A1 CRM & SF was bound by the following set of requirements;
• Provide a cost effective product that has all necessary tools to perform the CRM & SF process.
• Provide the connectivity and ability to sync data to portable devices, and to the user computer system.
• Give the CRM & SF user an interface that is easy to use, and allows for the simple export of data to excel for graphing and data management.
• Allow user to use wireless access to and from the computer and portable devices. • Provide screens that allow for interpreting cost of proposed business, and summary
data that can be used to define accurate costs.
• Since tracking is essential to the success of the product, the program will maximize the user’s ability to add edit and display data for tracking the customer relationship process. • Provide screens for scheduling meetings, assigning action items and tracking the
completion of assignments.
The program “Main Screen:
As described in the prior help information, this program has two methods of delivery. The access to companion computer app and iPad app. The two apps are able to sync data from the iPad sync button. The sync capability allows a backup of data where hardware failure will not eliminate the data in the app.
Although the two apps use the same basic screen map and order of input, the two apps have some differences in the use of tables and reports. The computer version has additional screens that are not compatible on the iPad.
NOTE: the sync to computer button on the iPad main screen. The help icon on the app screens is a direct link to the support site where you can find support information.
The Customer Input Screen:
This screen is found on the computer and iPad.
The customer screen is the starting point for the data input for the app.
• IMPORTANT: the customer screen is the first input screen and sets up a sequence of screen links where data entered here is used but sub screens that follow this screen. • As you add a new customer to the (Parent Record) the child records that follow will use
• Be aware that some screens require a new record to be added and others are created at the same time the customer record is added. The screen description will address this as they are described.
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A good rule to follow is if you create a customer record, and then click on any icon in the icon area if the screen opens with customer data at the top this is a child record.•
If a portal is present in a screen that portal will create portal child records.•
On the customer screen at the top left, these fields are passed to child screens. They are added here and then they reflect that data to child records.•
The customer fields are clearly marked for the data to be added. Add this data for all of the customer fields.•
Be Aware: if you change customer data in any child screen it will also change the parent record data.•
The address data added to the customer record is used to find the location on the Company Location screen. The location screen uses Google Maps to display the company location.•
When you have the company address added click on the company location to see themap data.
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The record date field is added as you create the new record.•
The two photo fields on the right side of the screen are used to show the primary contact photo, and the business photo that may be taken from Google maps street view.•
Important: The photo fields should be used with a lower resolution image to conservefile size. Large photo files will slow the screen opening.
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The Contact Group Portal:Portals are scrolling data entry areas. They can contain an unlimited number of records.
• Important: you added the primary contact in the parent record, but you will repeat that entry in the contact group portal. This portal has additional data for each client contact you add.
• The group portal is used to add any contact that your firm may interact with. This could be admin people, and anyone that will be a part of the contract process.
• Sales Force team members should include and decision maker in this portal. • Also add any marketing, and accounting contacts that are responsible for payment
• Each group contact has a comment area to add additional information about the contact.
• By adding detail information to each contact, you help your firm understand key individuals in the proposal and contract preparation.
• The large comment field at the bottom of the screen is a general comment about the company that describes the type of company they are and how they fit into the business forecast for your firm. This data may be copied and pasted from their company web site. Include the company URL’s of interest in this area.
The company Location Screen:
Google Maps has several features available in this screen. The help link in the upper right of the screen describes the features.
The Sales Force may receive a lead or may by using cold calls or other forms of canvassing to find leads. The documentation of leads by the Sales Force is very important. Without a system for tracking leads, sales may be lost due to lack of follow-ups.
• A lead may be for a current customer or for a new customer.
• A new customer record will be entered before a lead is added. The customer data will come from the customer parent record.
• Important a new lead for a current or new record for a current customer will
require a new record in the lead screen for that customer. Enter a current record for and old lead and click the new record icon in the program menu.
• This will open a new blank record.
• With the new blank record on the screen shown, click or tap on the yellow company name field. A drop down list will appear with the current company names in a list. Pick the current customer, or pick the new customer you added for a new customer. • When you select the company name the fields from the customer record will fill in
the customer fields.
• In the computer app the list icon will show all customer records that are in the app.
• The list table allows you to move between lead records. • The iPad leads screen uses a select portal to move to lead records.
• The select portal is just below the “Proposal Review” field. The gray square icon in each row is used to move between records. In this example above there are two leads for the John Smith Co.
• The customer lead is a invitation to new work. The customer may provide a formal Request For Proposal RFP, or they may provide a set of requirements and ask you to define the way to provide the end product.
• Be aware that screens for the "Document Track, Business Track, and Proposal" will be assigned a record when the "marketing" client company is assigned. This will populate these records with the client information. When you access the records after assigning the client these records will show the client data.
• The leads screen uses the drop down list in the leads screen to populate the client data for a new leads record. This screen needs a new record assigned for each new client lead.
• The leads screen is a systematic approach to document requirements no matter where the requirements originate.
• The Requirements Field: In this field you will list the requirements provided by the client. You would add comments to the requirements for use in developing the
proposal. The information in this field may be copied and pasted into a word processor for additional editing.
• The systematic approach is used to define, interpret, and review requirements. You want to use the requirements verified field to resolve any incomplete information that the customer omitted. As requirements are added the individual requirements need to be verified that they are accurate, complete, and possible to obtain the required outcome.
• Some companies provide requirements that if not verified will result in scope changes and possible cost disputes over who missed the needed scope required to complete the contract requirements.
• Since the Sales Force is leading the contact effort they are responsible for the initial lead requirements. The detail work will require additional team members to do the
verification and cost estimates.
• Requirement actions field is for the pass down of the requirements to other team members, and the documentation of who will provide the necessary verification and cost estimate.
• The proposal review is the process where all requirements are converted to proposal text and the proposal team generates the contract scope and contract terms for the proposal. This field can be copied and pasted into a word processor for editing. The final text can be pasted back into the lead screen as boiler plate for future proposals. • The remaining fields on the leads screen.
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• These fields are used to track the lead itself. These fields may be used in a Find to group records by date or any other combination of field data.
• The Leads Listing Screen: Computer only:
• This screen is a listing of lead records. This list may be used in a find to locate or group records for review or printing.
• The gray button in each row is used to access the record for that row.
The Marketing Screen: found on the iPad and computer apps.
The Marketing screen icon.
The marketing screen is the collection point for the customer sales and proposal development documentation.
• This screen is the customer proposal library where all proposals for a client originate. • The customer data fields will populate a new record if there is not a current record
available. The drop down list is used in the company field to select a company name for a new record.
• Be aware that screens for the "Document Track, Business Track, and Proposal" will be assigned a record when the marketing client company is assigned. This will populate these records with the client information. When you access the records after assigning the client these records will show the client data.
• The leads screen uses the drop down list in the leads screen to populate the client data for a new leads record.
• The Record select portal at the upper right of the marketing screen is used to locate a current customer in the marketing screens. The select portal green icon in the row will take you to the required screen for the listed clients.
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• The Proposal Track tab:
• The track tab is a multi use tab where current proposals are shown for this client. • The customer proposal for the current record may be blank when you enter the screen.
If you need to add a new proposal to the client record do the following:
In the proposal track tab there are 2 portals, the top is the portal for this client record. The smaller portal is the list of current proposal issued in all records.
• Locate the last proposal number that was used. In the screen above it was P0000202. The next number is the one you will use to add the new proposal for this client marketing record. P0000203 will be added to the Job / Prop. Number field.
• The addition of the new proposal number will be reflected in the current history portal. • Add the date data to complete the proposal track assignment.
• The addition of this assignment will create a new proposal screen record for this new proposal.
• To see the proposal assignment in the record you just added click on the gray square in the row for the new proposal. The screen will change to the new proposal record. • If you want to view any other current proposal from the marketing screen, use the
proposal history row icon to go to that record.
• Getting back to the marketing screen. The sales force has additional data to add to the client interaction.
• The Sales Force Tab:
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• NOTE: this is not used to track meetings and email traffic. This record is an internal tracking portal where sales force team member’s document the assignments and
internal tasks for the development of the leads, and the marketing tasks that need to be done to document the marketing effort. This may involve one or more sales force team members.
• This example would be used in the tracking; the customer wants brochures to learn about your firm. This would assign may be a secretary to mail the media to the client. • The assignment to track documents that are to be finished and mailed by your firm
would be another assignment.
• If you click on the gray square in the lower left of the screen tab, the listing screen will be shown
• List screens are on the COMPUTER ONLY.
• IMPORTANT: use the tabbed area and buttons on the portals to navigate to the proposal screen/s to have the record/s you want to open.
• This is the sales force portal assignment records. If you place the cursor in a row and then use the layout select drop down to return to the marketing screen, the record for that row would be found on the sales force tab.
• The Marketing List Screen:
• This screen is also a computer only screen that is used to do Finds and grouping of marketing data records. Note the summary of the proposal value on the bottom of this screen.
• Again the gray square button in the row will open the record for that row. • On the iPad the screen select portal:
• The iPad cannot display formatted lists like the computer, so a select portal is used to access records in the app.
Next page:
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• The last field on the marketing screen is the marketing comments. This field is for the marketing team to add notes for the client marketing aspect of this record.
It’s human nature to have communication problems. The pace of work and deadlines often cause misunderstandings. CRM is an approach that tries to minimize the damage from miscommunications and disputes.
There may be a tendency for people to cover up disputes or issues that affect the business relationship. The big problem is that overlooking problems only make the problem get larger.
• There is a long list of possible events that can occur that will damage a customer relationship. The best way to stop the problem is to face it head on and solve it.
• The business track screen is a history screen for issues that may be critical in managing business relationship.
• The entire company should be aware of the possibility of damage to the business to business relationship, and they need to bring any incident to the attention of management.
The screen above uses a portal with “action” items as a format. The portal record contains one action per record.
• The business BTaction is a marketing tracking function. The sales force is directly in contact with the client and therefore they act as the primary contact with the client. • Marketing can tack direct action to work on an incident or they can refer it to another
department for their action. For example marketing would be told that a client is past due on paying accounts. Marketing can work with accounting to define what action is required to resolve the late payments.
• Contracts are often the place where incidents arise. The client may try to expand the scope of work and want your company to work for free. This is very common in the business world. Marketing and the project manager would need to combine an effort to resolve the incident action.
• The new BTaction is started by adding a new record to this screen. You would then use the drop down list for the company name to assign the client to this record.
• The client fields will be populated with the client data when the company is selected. • At any time you can use the record select portal to change to a different record by
clicking on the green button in the row for that client.
• The first row od fields in the portal for BTactions is to identify the date, type of action, description, proposal number, and due date to resolve the action.
• The action requirement field is used to describe the problem, and to enter the action to be taken. The next step would be to take the corrective action and then document the steps taken.
• The project manager who keeps the history of this kind of incident will learn to avoid repeating the same problem in the future.
• The next best this about this history of incidents is that any repeat problems with a client will provide you with the actions taken in the past to solve the next incident. • The action memo form:
• Found on the iPad and computer.
• The action memo form is used to send a notice to the person for the assignment to resolve the incident. It serves as a reminder and a tracking memo with a due date to solve the incident action.
• The icon above will take you to the action memo form.
• The action form can be sent as a PDF file via email to the assigned person.
• To make a PDF file on the computer go to the preview mode and click on the save as PDF icon. Then email the save file to the action person.
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• The action form uses drop down lists and type in entry to fill out the form.
• On the iPad you can use the screen snap shot feature to capture a filled out form. Then use the email option to send the image of the action memo form in an email to the action person.
The Document Track Screen: found on the iPad and computer;
In the process of business development and developing proposals there are many documents that are generated. Managing these documents is critical to your firm. The accidental
misplacement of a document or the use of a superseded document can be embarrassing and damaging to a customer relationship. I recall one instance where a proposal draft was mailed to a client with cost numbers on the margin. The senior engineer had a project manager on the carpet for this mistake.
The Document Track Screen:
Found on the iPad and computer.
This screen acts as a library index of documents. The documents are related to a specific company so that they can be tracked more accurately.
• Assuming that your firm has development copies of documents, these documents would be marked as “Dev” at the end of the document description.
• The final version of the deliverable document would be marked with a “(F)” to indicate the final version.
• There may be a process in your firm where development documents are destroyed after the final is completed. If this is true put “Destroyed” in the file location field.
• The delivery date would be blank for any document that is not sent to the client. • The selection portal:
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• The iPad does not allow the use of tables, so a record select portal is included on the iPad version app. This portal is used to move between client document track records. • The List Table:
• The computer app has a listing table icon on the screen to access the list table.
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• The table allows the use of Finds and grouping of records by selected field Finds. • The gray square icon will take you to the record for that row.
The Meeting Screen: Found on the iPad and computer:
The meeting screen is used to document contact where you have a voice or email communication with the client (staff).
• The contact with the client and their staff is an important part of the business development and contract management process.
• You firm should have all employees who have contact with the client use this screen to comment on the contact.
• This screen is used to schedule meetings for upcoming contact events.
• The screen is also used to document actions and meeting points that were covered.
• The examples above were both face to face meetings, but this record could have been for a phone call, an office contact where a document was dropped off, or a call from a client or staff member.
• The Send Action Memo:
• The send action memo form.
• This was covered on a prior screen and has all of the same features described on that page.
• Found on the computer only. • The Meeting Table; computer:
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• This table will show each contact record on the meeting tab. Use the gray icon in the row to access the record.
• The iPad has a record select portal to access client records for meetings by clicking on the green square icon in the row. This icon will take you to that record.
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• The example records use a numbering format to show the relationship of the field notes in the record portal.
• The field notes may be copied from or pasted to the fields from other word processing programs.
• The records are also synced from the iPad to the computer app. It would be necessary to consolidate the notes if more than one iPad is keeping notes at the meeting.
• One person should be used to keep notes at meetings to avoid the need to consolidate the notes.
The sales force team would combine efforts with the production team to do the cost proposal. I would suggest that you look at the A1 Project Planning app help to see the use of this app to continue the development of the proposal budget.
If this app is used to generate a cost budget for the proposal and a price proposal the input from the team members would be used to come up with the cost budget. Marketing and management would determine the overhead factors to use for the price proposal.
The iPad view of the proposal screen:
• The proposal screen is generated when a proposal is assigned in the marketing screen. • The client data entered in the marketing screen would be reflected in this screen. The Computer view of the Proposal screen:
• In the computer version the record select portal is not present. • The list icon for the Proposal Table:
• Found on the computer only. • The proposal table and report:
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• There is a summary of the records in selection at the bottom of this printable screen. The example record in the proposal screen:
The proposal is divided into Labor, materials, equipment, services, and other. The green proposed fields are the sum of the production and sales team’s costs for that element of the proposal. The light orange field is the Overhead factor as a percentage that is used to markup the costs. The bright orange fields are the fully loaded price numbers for the final proposal. Each cost estimate portal has an unlimited number of record entries for generating the cost elements. The portal icons in each cost element on the computer version will allow you to access the table for each cost element where a summary (line total) is shown for that proposal
on the screen. This table can be used to review the cost elements for this or any other proposals in the table.
The Proposal List Screen:
Is a
This screen is used as a report for the summary of proposal in development and contracted. You can use the Find to group records according to your needs. A date range Find would group the proposal by any time period you define.
Example: >=1/1/2010<=6/30/2010 would group all records for the first 6 months of the year. There are several ways to group the records for review and printing.
This concludes the help PDF file. Any additional help required may be obtained from the support site by clicking on the help icon on any screen.
License Information:
This is a very low cost application that would not make it worth bringing a law suit. If by using this app you are binding yourself and your company to no recourse against the developer for any loss generated by the use of this app. You will hold the developer free of any and all responsibility for damage or loss for any kind for the use of this application. The use is 100%
your risk for the user and any resulting problems related to its use. If you cannot accept these terms DO NOT USE THIS APPLICATION PROGRAM.
