Search results matching tag 'Customer Relationship Management'

New Method CRM 2.0: Provides a refreshed workflow to CRM for QuickBooks

Method_Danny — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:07:00 GMT

We’ve been very busy over the last few months. Want to know why? We’ve been working tirelessly on a refreshed version of Method CRM that now focuses on workflow and ease of access to your CRM and QuickBooks information. This was first previewed at Scaling New Heights in May and we received amazing reviews. We’re excited to say that the new CRM now released, allows for a clearer definition and purpose for each screen and gives you quick access to the information you’ll need. The refreshed version reflects what we feel is an improved design and builds a foundation for future enhancements to Method CRM.

With the launch of the new CRM, we also have a new name for the Method Full Blown Edition. It’s now called Method CRM Pro. Same great features as before just with a new name.

The list of features included with this update is pretty extensive and reflects much of the feedback from our internal team as well as the Method community. Here are some of the features you’ll notice:

Leads and customers are now separated – this allows you to quickly identify which contacts are leads vs. customers.
Lead and customer lists are now by contact – previously, the customer list displayed all customers from QuickBooks but required an added step if you wanted to see each contact for that company. Now all contacts can be viewed in one place.
New Lead/Customer screens –we’ve created dedicated screens for adding new entries that easily flow into editing that lead/customers information or continuing to add new entries.
Shared Lists – this provides the option of limiting a user’s access to another user’s data.
Activity screen – in addition to a totally redesigned screen, this also displays the contacts’ recent activities, opportunities and cases.
New Appointment/Task/Log Call – these are variations of the activity screen with pre-set fields making it faster and easier to log an activity without having to go to the customer’s screen.
Related Activity –allows you to link activities to each other when necessary.
Auto follow-up – automatically trigger a follow-up to be created based on the activity type you choose.
Activity Calendar – displays a 24 hour period and can be filtered by shared lists.
New Opportunity screen – allows you to create an opportunity, add a customer/lead, add an activity and schedule a follow-up all from one screen.
New Case screen – you can now create a case, add a customer/lead/vendor, add an activity and schedule a follow-up all from this screen.
Cases – you can automatically send emails to alert users when they’ve been assigned to a case or activity.
Home Dashboard – takes advantages of shared lists and new color palette.

These are just a few of the features we’ve added in the new CRM. Please keep the feedback coming because we’re listening!

How do I get started?

If you’re ready to get started with the new CRM, follow the steps below.

Existing Method users, click here for steps on upgrading.
New Method users, click here to sign-up for a Method CRM account.

Cheers,

Danny

Community Webinar 24: Method CRM - Documents, Dashboard and Opportunity Stages

Method_Danny — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:54:00 GMT

On Wednesday, April 28 @ 1:00pm, Amanda Mahadeo will be covering some exciting new features and updates released for Method CRM. Some of the topics that will be discussed are how to add attachments/documents to opportunities/solutions, an overview of the new charts on the Sales Center Dashboard and changes to Opportunity Stages.

This webinar will take place live but will also be recorded and posted as a comment on the Method Blog and on the complete list of webinars on the Method Forum.

Complete List of Method Recorded Webinars:

http://www.methodintegration.com/cs/forums/t/556.aspx

To register for this webinar, click the following link:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/696090899

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

CRM Activities on an iPhone

Method_Danny — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:56:00 GMT

Last night I was enjoying the spring like temperatures here in Toronto and decided to take a stroll with a friend and meet up at a local hangout. While there, I quickly looked at my iPhone to check my calendar and see how my Friday was looking. What I loved was the fact that I could see all my scheduled activities, including phone calls and meetings for Friday that were synced from Method to Outlook and over to my iPhone. It dawned on me at that exact moment that I had to share this with the Method Community.

Method CRM Activities appearing on an iPhone

My iPhone is connected to our local Exchange box at the office so all my appointments from Outlook already get pushed onto my iPhone. Now that I am using our new MOPI (Method Outlook Plug-In), my appointments from Method get brought over without me thinking twice about it. Check this out:

Here is an appointment that I have in my Outlook calendar. I’ve taken full advantage of categories so “Yellow” means it is “In Progress” and “Black” means “Meeting”.

When I open up my calendar on my iPhone, I can see my Outlook appointment, including who the appointment is for and a contact number.

If I check out the appointment details, I can see all the goods on what this appointment is all about including comments, the priority and a number where Mr. Jackson can be reached.

If I need to get a hold of him, all I need to do is select the number with my finger and it dials the number.

Voila! How cool is that?! Yes – I am an iPhone lover.

Have a great weekend

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Method Integration Outlook Plug-In 2.0 Beta – Now Open

Method_Danny — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:20:00 GMT

Last year, I was super excited when we released version 1.0 of our Outlook plug-in tool. Now, less than a year later, I am thrilled to announce version 2.0 is officially open for public beta.

Caution – please sit down if you’re not already, as you may experience higher than normal levels of excitement when reading through the list of new features this plug-in has to offer. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

New features for our Outlook Plug-In 2.0

Create new QuickBooks customers, vendors, leads and contacts directly from Outlook and have it instantly appear in Method and QuickBooks. This means you will be able to create new contacts on the fly without flipping screens to QuickBooks or Method.
Bi-directional sync of calendar appointments from Method CRM to Outlook or Outlook to Method CRM. Choose the amount of days you would like to sync, or a specific day and your activities/appointments will appear in both calendars.
Categories in Outlook can be linked with Method CRM’s Activity Type and Activity Status fields. Why is this useful? Say for example, I set my green category in Outlook to match my Method Activity Status “Completed”. Now when I finish an appointment, in Outlook I can assign the category like I normally would and the next time I sync, that activity would be marked as completed in Method CRM.
Priority levels can now be assigned to follow-up appointments. This way your most important activities get the attention they need.
All email screens now support the ability to send emails directly to Method in a single click!
Lookup email addresses from Method CRM on any email screen using the “Address” button. Once the address is located, it is automatically inserted into the To, CC and BCC fields. No need to switch windows to lookup an email address! Can’t find the address you’re looking for? Add it directly from the Address window. How sweet is that?
Turn your Outlook Contact into a new QuickBooks customer/vendor/lead/contact in less than two clicks.
Step-by-step activity submission allows you to quickly see if the activity being added from Outlook to Method CRM has any open Cases or Opportunities that the activity might be associated with or require updating.

The new plug-in packs a lot of punch and a ton of value since its free for all Method users. A few things to keep in mind though:

During the beta, all questions need to be posted on the forum. Here is the link for your reference:
http://www.methodintegration.com/cs/forums/19.aspx
This plug-in only works with Outlook 2007 and higher. But if you’re using an older version of Outlook, you can still use our older version of the plug-in.
Unfortunately, the plug-in is a desktop app, so it doesn’t have the same flexibility you’re used to with Method to customize it as your heart desires. See what happens when you get spoiled with the Method mentality?

Now that we are done with all the official business of what it can do and how to get help, click the link below to be taken to the forum post with instructions on getting setup.

http://www.methodintegration.com/cs/forums/p/628/2096.aspx#2096

Once you get the plug-in working for you, please comment on your favorite new features!

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

New: Unlimited Contacts for QuickBooks Customers and Vendors in Method

Method_Danny — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:34:00 GMT

When entering a customer or vendor into QuickBooks, you already have the ability to add contact information for the main contact, as well as one additional alternate contact. Is this sufficient? What happens when you have more than one contact at that company such as the accountant, manager, VP, or sales rep? In this day in age everyone has a cell phone, so if you’re like me, that alternate contact might already be used to store the main contact’s cell phone number. Then what? Thank goodness for the QuickBooks notes field! With today’s new Method feature, you won’t need to worry about where to store these additional contacts and can do away with the QuickBooks notes workaround.

Unlimited Contacts to QuickBooks Customers and Vendors

Method users will now benefit from the ability to add an unlimited amount of contacts for customers and vendors. This means you can now track every point of contact for each of your customers and vendors without worrying about where to store this information. Clicking on the “Add/Edit All Contacts...” button for a customer/vendor brings up a new contacts screen. In this screen you can enter in contact information for each contact at the company. Why stop there? Because Method has built in CRM functionality, you can also enter in detailed activities for each contact, such as phone call conversations, emails, meetings and more. So what happens if the fields we provided aren’t enough? Come on now, this is Method we’re talking about. Just add your additional fields to the new contacts table and drag the new fields onto the screen. By the way, if you’re concerned about how to avoid certain contacts getting sensitive information, keep track of that with the “Opt Out” check boxes.

If you’re wondering where these “additional contacts” live, they are stored in your Method account. Of course the main contact and alternate contact for the customer and vendor are synced with QuickBooks in real-time.

Two new features in one week – now that’s impressive!

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Opportunity stages made easy

Method_Danny — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:46:00 GMT

As a sales representative, managing your sales opportunities is pretty important. After all, an opportunity that is monitored and managed properly could potentially equal a sale. Throughout a typical sales process, a sales representative would update the opportunity “stage” to match where the client currently sits in moving ahead with the sale, as well as how likely they will be to pull the trigger. Now wouldn’t it be nice if all I had to worry about was updating my “stage” and not what probability percentage we were at? This is especially a nuisance to update if I already know certain stages typically equal certain probability percentages. Seeing as we use what we preach, we’ve added a little something to help out with this.

New feature: Automatic Probability %

Clicking the “Stage” dropdown list for any opportunity will expose a new column indicating the default probability percentage associated with that stage. Once a stage is selected, the probability percentage will automatically update to the default percentage. How does this benefit you? You don’t have to worry about entering in the percentage manually by typing it in. Secondly, you don’t have to remember to do it! You laugh, but it’s true. Can you imagine setting an opportunity to “Closed Won” yet forgetting to set your percentage to 100? That would totally throw off the very cool graphs I talked about last week in my blog post.

Of course, you can always add your own stages and change the percentages to match your needs by clicking the details button (... – the three dots next to the dropdown list). If you don’t like the default set by that stage, just type one in manually and override it.

What’s even cooler is that a new plug-in we are releasing will also update the percentage using the same perference you set in Method. Oops...more on that later.

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

Method CRM Sales Center Dashboard gets a facelift

Method_Danny — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:08:00 GMT

When your sales team logs into Method this morning, they might notice a facelift to the Sales Center Dashboard. “A picture is worth a thousand words” and you’ll see a few pictures, well charts to be exact, to help you know exactly how you’re doing. We’ve added 4 new charts, each highlighting specific areas of your sales cycle and status.

Pipeline for Opportunities by stage

At a quick glance, your sales reps can now see the stage of each opportunity.

Since each new client starts off as a lead, you’ll be able to see the progression of that client in the pipeline and as the probability percentage increases, so will the potential sales dollars in your pipeline.

Conversion Rate

Shows what percentage of closed opportunities are “won” vs.” lost”.

Leader board: Pipeline by user

Quickly view total open opportunities for your top 8 sales reps.

Pipeline for Opportunities by month

Instantly shows the estimated future values of your opportunities by month, based on the currently logged in sales rep.

Oh and don’t worry, we haven’t taken away the activity calendar. It’s just next to the “Charts” section tab now.

Enjoy the new charts. I know I do!

Cheers,

Danny Do Couto
Method Integration

CRM Movie #4 – Customer Portal

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:59:00 GMT

Good afternoon,

This is the 4th installment in a series of 6 Method CRM movies, so if you haven’t been tuning into the movies so far and would like to watch them in order, view the Sales Center, Call Center and List Builder movies before proceeding on.

Movie #4 – Customer Portal

The Method customer portal is a bridge from your company website that connects a customer to their account information found in QuickBooks. Portals do more than just making your company look fortune-500 professional – they also take your customer experience to a new level as they are able to use self-service options 24 hours a day 7 days a week without having to contact you or your staff directly. Portals are like having a full time salesperson and customer service person working for you around the clock.

Third party portals can also be customized for vendors and partners to sign into your system. As with everything in Method, the Method CRM Customer Portal is completely customizable, and lets your customers login to view account details, such as recent transactions and invoices.

View CRM Movie #4 on the Customer Portal

If you have any questions after viewing the Customer Portal movie, please post them in the Method Forum where a Method Consultant will be happy to respond.

Next up is CRM Movie #5 on real-time integration with QuickBooks, so stay tuned for my next entry.

Have a nice day,

Katie

Method CRM Movie #3 - the List Builder

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:39:00 GMT

Good morning Method Community,

For those of you who are just tuning in to the CRM movie series, please note that this is a 6-movie series highlighting the benefits and features of Method CRM. The first two movies showcased the Method CRM Sales Center and Call Center, so you may wish to view these before proceeding on with today’s movie.

Movie #3 – List Builder

The List Builder is a Method CRM feature that enables you to build mass mail and email lists with ease. You can utilize this feature for marketing, collections and creating batch follow-up activities for your sales team.

More specifically, the list builder is a way for you to:

• Mass email customers or leads for a marketing campaign.
• Create a batch of follow-up activities for your sales team, which may or may not be related to a campaign.
• Mass email customers for overdue balances.
• Send customers a customized e-newsletter.
• Mass email customers that have recently received an estimate.
• And finally, a way to customize this screen to perform any other purpose that requires batch processing.

The List Builder makes it easy to touch base with your customers and saves you time through batch processing.

View CRM Movie #3 on the List Builder

After viewing the movie, if you have any unanswered questions about the List Builder, please post your questions in the Method Forum so that they can be addressed.

In the coming weeks I’ll be posting the next movie, so keep an eye out for CRM movie #4 on the Customer Portal.

Have a nice day,

Katie

Method CRM Movie #2- the Call Center

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:57:00 GMT

It’s hard to believe a week has already passed since I posted the first CRM movie on the Sales Center. Time sure flies...

I hope you’ve had a chance to view the first movie in the 6-movie CRM series, and in case you haven’t, you can click here to link to the Sales Center blog post.

Like the Sales Center, it is essential to have a user-friendly Call Center that your employees are keen on using daily. With the Method CRM Call Center, you can ensure that all customer contacts are documented and handled with care.

Movie #2 – Call Center

Method CRM makes it easy to resolve issues and reference customer history. Learn how the Method CRM Call Center makes it simple to create, track and edit cases, activities and solutions.

What is a call center “case”?

We’ve all had to call a customer service department at one point in our lives. We call up, give them our contact information, and explain the problem we are experiencing. The customer service staff then either gives us a solution, or escalates it to someone else who will provide the solution either right away, or they may have to call us back at a later time.

But how do they track this on their end to make sure we don’t get forgotten? They have call center software! As soon as a call comes in they create a “case” (aka a “ticket”). The case is then assigned from staff member to staff member until a solution is provided. At any point in time the call center managers can see a list of outstanding cases, who is working on them now, and who has worked on them in the past.

What does this mean for you? Well, with Method CRM, your customer service experience goes way up because customers never fall between the cracks and you have one central place to see the status on all outstanding issues.

Problem + solution = Happy customer = More money for you!

View CRM Movie #2 on the Call Center

After viewing the movie, if you have any unanswered questions about the Call Center features, please post your questions in the Method Forum so they can be addressed appropriately.

Be sure to check back soon for movie #3 on the List Builder.

Have a nice day,

Katie