BCM 2007 Basic Workflow maxMaraj[ at ]gmail.com 4/28/2007 11:41:43 AM What is the best way to acomplish the following below? I have been working with bcm for there months but is still not clear on the best way to use it. I already got the dummy book by lon. Seems I need a baby book about BCM. This is what i have to tract/use BCM for. I am a general contractor. I store subs/vendors and clients who have multiple jobs as a business contact. I have incomming sales calls. First i tried to set up the sales call as an opportunity linked to a dummy contact or account called sales calls. BUT I could not communicate with the oportunity by e-mail from the new history button. Also no place to store name.phone/address/email etc. So now I set up new sales calls as accounts linked to sales contacts.BUT now I do not have the nifty opprtunities reports and funnels. My logic is flawed. MY take on this is a sales call comming in ( say we get 10 a day) should be an opportunity. Of the 10 opprtunity one pans out to a actual sale. at that time it gets upgraded to an account.(have to retype it as an account). I then create a project.( tasks templates I have been following in another post) now the problem is synchronizing with mobile PC.(seems only contact info is synced,I tried the latest release but cannot see account info(phone/email/address) Other than the above BCM 2007 is Great!!!!! MSFT has helped the small guy again! Thanks Max

Re: BCM 2007 Basic Workflow "Lon Orenstein" <Lon[ at ]pinpointtools.com> 4/30/2007 2:16:05 AM Max: Here are my recommendations for you: I would enter every new lead as a Business Contact and get as much info from them as possible, including mailing address so you can send them direct mail plus emails. You could also use the address for analyzing where your business is coming from with a mapping program. This allows you to always follow up with emails even if you don't get any initial business from them. Now, entering an opportunity is up for discussion at this stage. It's more data entry to create an Opportunity right then, linked to the contact, but as you said, it's nice to see those opportunity funnel reports. Another strategy is to not enter an Opp until you feel more sure that you're a contender and have a chance of winning. The problem here is following up and an Opp gives you that ability. The only reason I can see for your using Accounts is to be able to use Microsoft Accounting. Those would be setup when you won a deal and the business contact could be linked to that account. This is not the most elegant setup but I think it can work for you with less data entry... Hope that helps, Lon ___________________________________________________________ Lon Orenstein pinpointtools, llc Lon[ at ]pinpointtools.com Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager 800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104 www.pinpointtools.com <maxMaraj[ at ]gmail.com> wrote in message news:1177760503.895915.147750[ at ]c35g2000hsg.googlegroups.com... [Quoted Text] > What is the best way to acomplish the following below? > > > I have been working with bcm for there months but is still not clear > on the best way to use it. I already got the dummy book by lon. Seems > I need a baby book about BCM. > This is what i have to tract/use BCM for. > > I am a general contractor. > > I store subs/vendors and clients who have multiple jobs as a business > contact. > > I have incomming sales calls. > First i tried to set up the sales call as an opportunity linked to a > dummy contact or account called sales calls. BUT I could not > communicate with the oportunity by e-mail from the new history button. > Also no place to store name.phone/address/email etc. > > So now I set up new sales calls as accounts linked to sales > contacts.BUT now I do not have the nifty opprtunities reports and > funnels. > > My logic is flawed. > MY take on this is a sales call comming in ( say we get 10 a day) > should be an opportunity. > Of the 10 opprtunity one pans out to a actual sale. at that time it > gets upgraded to an account.(have to retype it as an account). > > I then create a project.( tasks templates I have been following in > another post) > > now the problem is synchronizing with mobile PC.(seems only contact > info is synced,I tried the latest release but cannot see account > info(phone/email/address) > > > > Other than the above BCM 2007 is Great!!!!! MSFT has helped the small > guy again! > > > Thanks > Max >

Re: BCM 2007 Basic Workflow maxMaraj[ at ]gmail.com 4/30/2007 10:57:19 AM On Apr 29, 10:16 pm, "Lon Orenstein" <L...[ at ]pinpointtools.com> wrote: [Quoted Text] > Max: > > Here are my recommendations for you: > > I would enter every new lead as a Business Contact and get as much info from > them as possible, including mailing address so you can send them direct mail > plus emails. You could also use the address for analyzing where your > business is coming from with a mapping program. This allows you to always > follow up with emails even if you don't get any initial business from them. > > Now, entering an opportunity is up for discussion at this stage. It's more > data entry to create an Opportunity right then, linked to the contact, but > as you said, it's nice to see those opportunity funnel reports. Another > strategy is to not enter an Opp until you feel more sure that you're a > contender and have a chance of winning. The problem here is following up > and an Opp gives you that ability. > > The only reason I can see for your using Accounts is to be able to use > Microsoft Accounting. Those would be setup when you won a deal and the > business contact could be linked to that account. This is not the most > elegant setup but I think it can work for you with less data entry... > > Hope that helps, > Lon > > ___________________________________________________________ > Lon Orenstein > pinpointtools, llc > L...[ at ]pinpointtools.com > Author of Outlook 2007 Business Contact Manager For Dummies > Author of the eBook: Moving from ACT! to Business Contact Manager > 800.238.0560 x6104 Toll Free (U.S. only) +1 214.905.0401 x6104www.pinpointtools.com > > <maxMa...[ at ]gmail.com> wrote in message > > news:1177760503.895915.147750[ at ]c35g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...> What is the best way to acomplish the following below? > > > I have been working with bcm for there months but is still not clear > > on the best way to use it. I already got the dummy book by lon. Seems > > I need a baby book about BCM. > > This is what i have to tract/use BCM for. > > > I am a general contractor. > > > I store subs/vendors and clients who have multiple jobs as a business > > contact. > > > I have incomming sales calls. > > First i tried to set up the sales call as an opportunity linked to a > > dummy contact or account called sales calls. BUT I could not > > communicate with the oportunity by e-mail from the new history button. > > Also no place to store name.phone/address/email etc. > > > So now I set up new sales calls as accounts linked to sales > > contacts.BUT now I do not have the nifty opprtunities reports and > > funnels. > > > My logic is flawed. > > MY take on this is a sales call comming in ( say we get 10 a day) > > should be an opportunity. > > Of the 10 opprtunity one pans out to a actual sale. at that time it > > gets upgraded to an account.(have to retype it as an account). > > > I then create a project.( tasks templates I have been following in > > another post) > > > now the problem is synchronizing with mobile PC.(seems only contact > > info is synced,I tried the latest release but cannot see account > > info(phone/email/address) > > > Other than the above BCM 2007 is Great!!!!! MSFT has helped the small > > guy again! > > > Thanks > > Max Thanks for the reply lon. Your book helps also. Max

Re: BCM 2007 Basic Workflow "mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com" <u8453[ at ]uwe> 4/30/2007 6:42:27 PM Max, I would echo Lon suggestions. Initial qualification of a new Lead for business opportunity is a necessary first step before going through all of the additional data entry time. I never create an opportunity record until I have qualified the lead and am confident that it appears worth while to pursue further. Think of the opportunity record as a "master-task" or project whose sole objective is to move the opportunity into a successfully closed sale. Evolving your opportunity into a closing stage may involve numerous subsequent sub-tasks, meetings, correspondence, etc. which of course are all linked to the opportunity as they occur. Because your opportunity record is required to be linked to a business contact, all of these data items that are linked to the opportunity will of course roll up onto the linked business contact record as well. -THP maxMaraj[ at ]gmail.com wrote: [Quoted Text] >> Max: >> >[quoted text clipped - 71 lines] >> > Thanks >> > Max > >Thanks for the reply lon. Your book helps also. > >Max -- Message posted via OfficeKB.com http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/outlook-bcm/200704/1

Re: BCM 2007 Basic Workflow maxMaraj[ at ]gmail.com 5/1/2007 10:22:01 PM On Apr 30, 2:42 pm, "mrtimpeterson via OfficeKB.com" <u8453[ at ]uwe> wrote: [Quoted Text] > Max, > > I would echo Lon suggestions. Initial qualification of a new Lead for > business opportunity is a necessary first step before going through all of > the additional data entry time. I never create an opportunity record until I > have qualified the lead and am confident that it appears worth while to > pursue further. Think of the opportunity record as a "master-task" or > project whose sole objective is to move the opportunity into a successfully > closed sale. Evolving your opportunity into a closing stage may involve > numerous subsequent sub-tasks, meetings, correspondence, etc. which of course > are all linked to the opportunity as they occur. Because your opportunity > record is required to be linked to a business contact, all of these data > items that are linked to the opportunity will of course roll up onto the > linked business contact record as well. > > -THP > > maxMa...[ at ]gmail.com wrote: > >> Max: > > >[quoted text clipped - 71 lines] > >> > Thanks > >> > Max > > >Thanks for the reply lon. Your book helps also. > > >Max > > -- > Message posted via OfficeKB.comhttp://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/outlook-bcm/200704/1 Thanks. I was working in reverse. max