20.1. Lead Management

Entering Leads

The Lead functionality allows you to manage and automate the sales process starting with entering the potential customer (lead) and ending with signing the contract, through the following operations:

• recording relevant lead information (contacts and addresses, the company activity domain, its turnover);

• managing the the status for the potential client (record, contact, to be qualified, offer, negotiation, contract, etc.);

• adding comments;

• generating requests in each step of the sales process;

• document attachments;

• generating quotations,

• planning meetings;

• sending of notifications and emails;

• keeping the log of the actions taken with the potential customer;

The Lead window, located in the Partner Relations -> Lead management menu, is used to manage leads and do the operations described above. The following fields are available:

• Source - is used to indicate how the lead was generated (phone, email). The available options can be defined using the Source window;

• Lead Owner - user to which the lead was allocated;

• Sales Region

• Status - represents the current lead status (e.g. registered, qualified)

• Lead Rating - predefined rating method for leads;

• Lead Qualification - is used to qualify or disqualify leads. The available options can be defined in the Lead Qualification window and depending on the "Qualified" checkbox can be of two types:

  • checked - qualified lead;

  • not checked - disqualified lead;

• Product Family - lead classification method;

• Promised Date - expected date for closing the lead;

• Lead Size - lead related amount, set according to organizational rules;

• Lead Type - lead classification method:

  • can be defined in the lead Type window;

  • determines the lead label color when displayed on the "Sales Pipeline" dashboard ("Kanban Color" field from the "Lead Type" window, K-Board section);

• Description, Comment, Summaty, Existing Solution - can be used to describe the lead evolution;

• Campaign - marketing campaign to which the lead will belong to;

  • Agent - associated business partner (sales agent);

Contact section - contains data regarding the contact person for the lead:

• Contact Name, EMail Address, Phone, Title

• Position - can be used to group the contacts depending on their position (within a company);

• Interest Area - the leads (potential customers) can be grouped by interest areas n order to manage customer relation, email lists or for marketing (e.g. newsletters);

• User/Contact - reference to the contact for the business partner through which the lead was registered;

• Send Email to Contact button - is used to send an email to the lead contact:

  • To - select a user (by default the user associated with the lead);

  • From - current user;

  • Subject, Contents - email subject and contents;

Business Partner (Account) section - data regarding the potential customer (legal or natural person):

• Partner Name, Business Partner Group, Industry Code, etc. - the fields are used to define a business partner and can also be found in the Business Partner window. Details in Business Partners;

• Business partner - reference to the business partner used to register the lead:

  • is added automatically after using the Create Contact, Account, Location button;

  • if applicable, an existing business partner can be selected;

• Create Contact, Account, Location - is used to generate system records based on the lead (business partner, contact, location) if, according to organization rules, the lead becomes active (i.e. he is given a quotation, the contract is signer, etc.);

Location section - contains information about the lead location:

• Address 1, City Name, Address 2, Region, Country

• Partner location - reference to the location of the business partner used to register the lead;

Reference section:

• Created On, Created By, Updated, Updated By

• Trello Card ID - reference to the allocated Trello card. Details in Trello Integration;

Depending on complexity, the activities related to lead conversion can be tracked using a project or a request:

• Create Request - generates a request based on the lead in order to track the activity corresponding to the potential customer;

• Create Opportunity button - creates a project corresponding to the potential customer (lead);

• Close/Duplicate Opportunity button - is used to close and create a copy of the existing opportunity (project), if a project was generated based on a lead and is still active. The functionality is only available if the Offer component has been activated!

  • the old project is "Closed" or "Voided" if it has a workflow;

  • the new project will be available as reference on the lead, instead of the old one;

  • the new project will contain the same information as the old project, except quantities and historical amounts.

Sales Pipeline

The Sales Pipeline is a SocrateCloud functionality that allows the user to view sales trends through a dashboard. By using the Sales Pipeline, you can make comparisons with the previous periods, and know the real-time number of new customers, previous quotations and their value, the number of newly-signed contracts, and other data that you can use to improve the sales forecasts.

The Sales Pipeline window, located in Partner Relations -> Lead Management, is the dashboard representing the leads entered in SocrateCloud. It is based on visual management principles and it provides a quick overview of the lead statuses. The window can also be accessed via the Info

menu in the main toolbar of the application.

In order for the window to be functional, you need to follow the path Initial Setup -> Tenant Rules -> Tenant and go to the Tenant Info tab to select the Request Type related to sales.

The window is divided into three areas:

• Parameter Filter Bar

  • the dashboard can be filtered and grouped by Lead Type, Lead Rating, Lead Qualification, Representative, Sales Region, Product Family;

  • The search parameters can be configured for each separate organization, depending on its characteristics;

• Dashboard

  • The dashboard is divided into columns depending on the leads statuses, and is grouped and filtered based on the parameters selected in the filter bar.

• Customisable Area - contains buttons that can be used to display leads:

  • New Lead button - is used to enter a new lead;

  • My Leads button - displays leads fr which he current user is selected in the Lead Owner field

  • Backlog button - displays leads for which no status has been selected;

You can add new columns to the dashboard by following the steps described below:

• The columns can be defined in the Kanban State window, located in the Partner Relations -> Requests -> Request SetUp menu, by filling in the fields:

  • Name - the name of the column as it will be displayed in the dashboard;

  • Sequence - determines the order of the columns on the dashboard;

  • ColorCode optional, default: white) - colour code for the background of the column;

  • Kboard = "Sales Pipeline";

• In the Request Status Category window, located in the Partner Relations -> Requests -> Request SetUp menu, open the pre-defined sales-related requests statuses category and verify that only the Sales K-Board checkbox;

  • To add a status to the category, add a new record to the Request Status tab and select a status in the coresponding field. As a result the status will be available for selection in the Lead window;

• In the Request Status - All window, located in Partner Relations -> Requests -> Request SetUp, for each status, select a predefined kanban state in the K-State field. As a result, leads with a specific status will be displayed in the corresponding dashboard column.

• Run the Cache Reset Client + Server process found in the Tools menu. As a result, the kanban states entered in the K - State field will be visible as columns in the dashboard.

Note: The collow used for lead labels is determined y the value in the Kanban Color field, defined for the lead's type in the Lead Type window.

Starting with v14.10, there are two options to display labels in the Sales Pipeline dashboard:

1. simple - the label will display the customer name (default)

2. detailed - the label will display two rows:

   • the first row ill display the customer name

   • the second ow will display the lead description;

Note: if no customer name has been entered, the lead will display the lead number.

Activating the detailed option is done from the Tenant window, Tenant Info tab, Lead Description in Sales Pipeline checkbox.

Reports and Processes

The Synchronize Leads with BPartner process updates lead information according to the corresponding business partner, address and contact. Is useful when, after being added to the lead, the business partner and associated information is modified.

The Leads Weekly report displays, for a time interval, the number of leads defined, with a specified source.

The Leads Monthly report displays, for a time interval, the number of leads defined, with a specified status and source.