With some recent updates to the BMS System and proper Job Status Code setup, in the Quotation Module, Salespeople can use the Job Status and Follow Up fields in the Quote Detail box to prompt reminders for following up with customers. Some examples include tracking Sample Checkouts, Measure Required, Estimates Presented, etc., and then by use of the Follow Up field and calendar, dates can be set to follow up with the customer.
To implement, BMS recommends the following steps:
- Create Quote-only Job Status Codes per screenshot below (only pay attention to the ones that have “Quote” in the Available column. The “Q-” codes in yellow highlight are geared for follow up, such as Has Samples, Measure Complete, Needs to be Measured, and the optional “L-” (for Lost) codes in orange highlight are to track why the sale was lost.
- Clean up/update Job Status fields in all current Quotes and close old Quotes, so only active Quotes show up in the main screen.
- Consider starting with one Salesperson to get them on board as your test. Then roll out to the rest of the company.
The screenshot below shows what the Salesperson would be looking for to follow up. Basically, it tells them when they need to follow up (Follow Up Date column) and for what purpose (Job Status column), with some basic info such as who has samples, who has been measured, etc. This also gives management a quick view as to which Salespeople are doing their follow up in a timely manner, and which are not.
In the example above, the Job Status field was set to “NEEDS TO BE MEASURED” with a Follow Up date of 1/20/16. Once measured, the next step may be to submit an estimate to the customer, in which case the Job Status field can be set to “QUOTE GIVEN TO CUSTOMER” and a new Follow Up date entered for 1/25/16, and so on through to conversion to a job or closing of the quote, if the job did not close. Use Quote Notes to make additional, detailed notes regarding the status of the Quote as follows: