Leads

Leads

Sales leads include individuals and associations with potential interest in your product. Options in the Leads group item allow users to add new leads and view a list of existing leads. You may also run a query for leads or import a list of new leads. In the Sales module, standard Leads group item options include Find, List, Query and Import Wizard.

Workflow

• Search for leads using the Find Leads option. View the "Prospect List Profile", edit transfers, and review the prospect list detail.

  Note: New prospect lists may be added using the "Import Wizard" group item.

• List leads using the List Lead option. Select the desired lead to view the "Prospect List Profile" screen.
• Run queries on leads using the Query Leads option.

Find Leads

Search for leads imported into your database by hovering over the Leads group item — select the option Find Leads.

The basic "Find - Prospect List" form will load. Enter your search criteria. For a more specific search, click the "Advanced View" checkbox. Expanded Boolean type search options will appear for each search criteria field. Use these search options to narrow your search results further.

List Name: Enter all or part of the name of the lead.
Source: Select the source of the lead from the drop-down field.
List Date: The date on which the lead was uploaded to the Enterprise database.
List Count: The number of leads uploaded in a prospect list.
And/Or: Specify whether to run the search for results that include both the login name and the friendly name by selecting AND or opt for results including either the login name or the friendly name by selecting OR.

Once the search criteria have been entered, click "Go". A list of search results will display in the List - Prospect List screen. If only one result came of the search, the profile screen for that result will automatically load.

List Leads

Hover your mouse over the Leads group item. Click the List Leads option.

The List - Leads screen will load. Click on the arrow icon at the start of the lead line to open the lead profile window. There are several options for users to manipulate the list of leads, depicted by the List Page Action Links in the upper right corner of the list window.

List page action links include:

• Select Mode: Click this checkbox to enable selection of individual leads from the prospect list. Use this option if you are not interested in working with the entire list of prospects.
• Add Prospect: Select this icon to add a company as a prospective sales lead. Note: Individual company contacts may be added to the lead profile via the "Prospect List - Profile" window.
• Find Prospect: Click this icon to open the Find - Prospect search form.
• Quick Report: Create a quick report on information on the leads in the prospect list--with this icon you have the option of exporting to a file or creating mailing labels.
• Export Data: Use the drop-down menu to select how to export the information in the prospect list.
• Import From Excel: Import data into the leads list from an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV file.
• Create a Word Merge Document: Export prospect list data to a Word file.
• E-Mail to This List: Send a mass email to the individual marked as "distributor" in each case on the cases list.

Query Leads

To create a lead query, hover over the Leads group item and select Query Leads.

Note: For more detailed steps on creating queries, visit the Query page.

The Query - Prospect List form allows you to use a more complex set of criteria to search for records than the standard Find group item link.

Clicking the Query Lead group item link will take you to the Query - Prospect List page. The Run Query Group Item Link and the Query Tool page are standard through all netFORM modules. However, the tables used to create queries are specific to the module within the query tool. Only data pertinent to the module is available for you to use in the query.

In addition to the Find tool, the Query tool allows you to make more refined and specific searches of Leads in the database. The Query tool uses Boolean search characteristics—combinations of "and", "or", "not", and parenthesis to create complex search criteria.

Find vs. Query: The Find page is set up with a pre-defined set of fields (criteria). The Query search allows you to select ANY column in the search Table.

When adding a new query, specify the column headers that you want to display in the search results and set the way in which results will be grouped.

Query User Interface Elements:

• Tabs
  • Query Columns - allows you to determine which columns will display in the query results, and the order of those columns.
  • Grouping - enables you to group and aggregate your query results for more informative and concise data display.
  • Query Order - allows you to determine how the query will be sorted.

• Fields and Menus
  • Load an Existing Query - allows you to load a saved query.
  • Limit # of Results - enables you to determine how many results to display.
  • Randomize Results? - checking this box will provide results in a random order.
  • Distinct? - checking this box will eliminate duplicate records based on the columns requested in the query.
  • Column to Query - drop-down menu you will use to decide which fields to query.
  • Operator - drop-down menu to determine the operator used when running the query (such as "Is Equal To")
  • Value - insert the value you will be querying on. For example, if you are running a query on a certain Batch Name, enter the Batch Name in this field.'
  • Query Name - allows you to save your query by entering a name in this field and then clicking the Save Query button.
  • Comments - allows you to enter comments or a description about your saved query.
  • Private Query - checking this box will make the saved query private so that only the user who added the query may see or run it.
  • Group List - drop-down menu that allows you to choose groups that you do not wish to see your saved query. You can select a group from this drop-down menu and click the Deny Selected Group button to keep that group from seeing your query in netFORUM.

• Buttons
  • Add ( - allows you to add a left parenthesis into your query statement for grouping of conditions.
  • Add to Query - allows you to add a query condition to your query.
  • Add ) - allows you to add a right parenthesis into your query statement for grouping conditions.
  • Add Or - allows you to add an "Or" condition to your query. All query conditions are considered "AND" statements unless an "Or" statement is included.
  • Deny Selected Group - clicking this button will prevent the group selected in the Group List drop-down menu from viewing your query in netFORUM.
  • Save Query - clicking this button will save your query so that you may access it later. You must provide a name for the query in the Query Name field if you wish to save it.
  • Run Query - clicking this button will run your query based on the conditions you have set up.

Note: The Deny Selected Group, Save Query, and Run Query buttons will not be displayed until either a saved query is chosen, or conditions are entered into a new query.

Import Wizard

Use the Import Wizard option to import data on customer leads. Data may be imported via an Excel spreadsheet and it is simple to categorize uploaded data. To access this feature, click Import Wizard under the Leads group item.

Note: If you wish to enter customer data for an existing customer, you may do so by editing the lead via its profile screen.

The import wizard form, step 1, will load. Importing data is a three step process, and your progress is indicated in the status widget on the right-hand side of the screen, as indicated in the screenshot below.

Step 1: Header Setup

Under Header Setup, both the name and source code fields are required data. Specify a name for the data to be uploaded in the name field. In the source code drop-down field, select the source of the leads being uploaded. For example, if the potential lead came from a member referral, select the appropriate option from the drop-down list.

If the desired source code does not appear in the list, you may add a new option. Click the Add icon next to the source code field to open the Add - Source Code window. Enter a name in the required source code field. If you wish, you may also apply dates to the source code to indicate, for example, sales promotions that occurred over a period of time. Click Save to preserve the data. Your new source code will now be available under the source code drop-down field.

You may also opt to specify an import date. By entering an import date, in future you can easily determine how long ago the company data was originally uploaded and whether it needs to be updated. To track the number of data lines in the imported document versus the expected number, record the expected and actual count numbers in the appropriate fields. You may also enter a brief description in the description field.

Click Save & Continue to save your progress and continue to the next step.

Step 2: File Selection

Once basic information on the file to be uploaded has been entered in Step 1: Header Setup, step 2 is simply a matter of uploading the desired Excel file.

Click Browse... to open a file upload window. Select the desired Excel file to upload from your hard drive or server. Excel files should contain one type of data per column—for example, you may enter the first names of points of contact in the first column, last names in the second column, etc, as is shown in the example below. It is not necessary to limit one's data to names and titles, however: upload addresses, phone and fax numbers, customer keys, and more. You may also choose to leave the first row of data as headers for each column, though such headers are not necessary for subsequent steps in the file upload process.

Once the file for upload has been selected, click Save & Continue to proceed to step 3.

Step 3: Match Columns

In the third step, Match Columns, specify how you wish the database to label each column of information in the uploaded Excel spreadsheet. When an Excel file is uploaded in step 2, the Enterprise database scans the file data--in step 3 you have the ability to label the data from each column in the original Excel spreadsheet. For example, if there were three columns containing three types of data in the uploaded document, you will have the option to create a template with three fields.

Note that the database has taken the information uploaded in the Excel file and placed it in the right-hand drop-down fields on the form template. Each column of data in the Excel file corresponds to a drop-down field on the "Match Column" form. In the example below, data from the first column in the Excel spreadsheet has been compiled into one drop-down field. All of the data in that column is now in the drop-down field.

Use the corresponding left-hand fields to indicate the the type of data that has been uploaded to each field.

• First Row Contains Field Names: If the first row of data in your spreadsheet contains field names such as "First Name" or "Last Name" (as can be seen in the Excel file example under Step 2: File Selection), clicking this check box causes the system to ignore this row and not include it with actual data.
• Save template as...: If you would like to save a custom layout for future use, enter a title in the field next to the Save template as... button. Once you have finished modifying your template, enter a template name and click the Save template as... button to preserve the template for future use.

• Template: You may select from the template drop-down field to choose a pre-set template to apply to the uploaded data. In the example below, the pre-made template named "Contact names 1" has been selected. This template consists of a first name field, a last name field, and a title field. Note that the database has automatically pulled up the first value in each column

When you have finished editing the template, click Finish to save changes. The Prospect List Profile screen for your uploaded data will load.

Prospect List Profile

Once all three steps of the import wizard have been completed, the Prospect List Profile for the uploaded lead will appear. The Prospect List Profile screen displays basic details about the prospect as well as uploaded information.