Getting started with CRM
What to set up before your team captures its first lead, in the order to do it.
Before you begin
You need an administrator account, and the Contacts module must hold the customers you already deal with. If you plan to quote from CRM, the Sales module must be installed and its price list must have your products. If you plan to record consent, the Marketing module must be installed.
Steps
- Initialise CRM. Open CRM as an administrator. On a company with no stages, press Initialize CRM. The system creates a default pipeline called MAIN with four stages: New (10%), Qualified (30%), Proposal (60%) and Negotiation (80%). Every stage except New requires qualification. It also creates the default loss reasons: Price, Lost to a competitor, No budget, No response, No decision, Not a fit, and Invalid or spam.
- Check the pipeline and stages. Open CRM > Configuration > Pipeline stages. Adjust names, sequence, probability and entry criteria to match how your team sells. See Pipelines and stages.
- Create sales teams. Open CRM > Configuration > Sales teams, press New team, name it and give each person a role: Representative, Team manager or Read only. See Set up teams, masters and scoring.
- Review the lists. Open Lead sources and Tags under Configuration and add the sources and tags your team uses. Review Loss reasons and mark the ones that need a note.
- Set the qualification criteria. Under CRM > Configuration > Qualification criteria, add the questions every lead must answer before it can be qualified.
- Check lead scoring. Under CRM > Configuration > Lead scoring, review the point rules. The built-in policy gives up to 100 points.
- Set up territories and assignment. If you split work by country or city, add Territories and Assignment rules. See Assignment, territories and cover.
- Define activity types. Under CRM > Configuration > Activity types, create types such as Call or Site visit with a default length, a reminder, an escalation time and whether an outcome is required.
- Turn features on or off. Open Administration > Workspace > Apps > CRM > Features. Forecast and quotas, Lead scoring, Campaigns and responses, Duplicate review and Lead imports can each be switched off. Leads, opportunities and activities are always on.
- Check permissions. Give people the permission they need (table below).
- Create the first record. Add a test lead and walk it through: Capture a lead.
Permissions
| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
crm.view | Read leads, opportunities, activities, reports and masters you are allowed to see. |
crm.manage | Create and change deals, import leads, schedule activities, close and reassign deals within your team scope. |
crm.configure | Change the masters, connectors and quotas, and approve quotas. |
dashboard.crm | See the CRM dashboard. |
company.manage | Turn CRM features on or off. |
Team membership is a second layer. Even with crm.manage you only see and change the deals of your own teams. Removing a person from a team, or switching a team off, takes access away on their next request without signing out.
In the screens, the Pipeline stages, Sales teams, Lead sources and Tags are edited by company administrators. Your administrator decides who holds that role.
What happens next
Representatives can capture leads. If you set up assignment rules, imported leads are placed on team members automatically.
Good to know
- Masters are archived, never deleted. A code cannot be changed once saved.
- A deal with no team is visible to administrators only.
- Deal amounts are in the company currency (AED).
- The reminder and escalation job (
crm.activity_sweep) needs a schedule in the job engine. Ask your system administrator to create it, or reminders will not be marked.