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Tip of the Week: Managing Your Leads in WorkflowMax

The Lead Manager is one of the most used areas of WorkflowMax for my business.

In real life the phone rings with that potential incoming client. They want to tell you all about their business, their problem and what it is they would potentially like you to do for their business.  I will normally have this conversation with the client, taking notes of what they have told me – often on the nearest notepad on my desk depending on where I am! Immediately I will go and enter all of the relevant information into WorkflowMax Lead Manager.  

If you are receiving numerous calls or enquiries it becomes impossible to remember every detail about every enquiry and that is why the Lead Manager is fantastic. I know that it does not matter if I lose that piece of paper where I may have scribbled down the details, as it is all now captured in one place which I can easily refer back to.

To load a new Lead, go to Business menu / Leads / New Lead. From here you can enter all of the information of the new enquiry. In most cases for my business, this will require setting up a New Prospect.  From within the new prospect, add that important information such as phone number and email address so you can easily get back in contact with the prospect.

If you have a set process within your organisation, you can use the Lead Template. For example you may have a set procedure that as soon as you receive a call or enquiry that a quote is sent out a week later.  We will explain more about Lead Templates shortly. The diagram below shows some of the important fields when creating a Lead.

leadmanager

The next screen of the leads template lets you enter the details about your lead.

Screen_Shot_2015-01-12_at_10.00.23_am

I load as much information as possible about the client and the conversation I have had with them. This is invaluable when they sometimes call you back three weeks later and all that detail might not be top of mind!

I also add into the notes area, any later conversations I have had with the client. The Lead History, at the bottom of each lead contains details of those conversations should you need to refer back  to them.

If you want to become a little more sophisticated, you can create Lead Templates by going to Business menu / Settings / Lead Settings / Lead Template. When you set up a lead template you can set up actions that you want to happen after a set period after the lead has been generated (this template can be used on future leads going forward / set process or guideline to follow). For example in the Activities below we have a reminder that a week after the lead is created that we should send a quote.

leadmanagerWFM

From the Lead Manager, which can be found under Business menu / Leads, you can click on the Dashboard Tab and see a graphical view of all of your leads. (You can also pull out further reporting on your leads via the Reports menu / Report Builder / Lead type report.)

WFMleadmanager

I regularly review all of my leads under the ‘All tab’ of the Lead Manager to refresh, update and see how the leads are progressing. You can drill into any lead and update as required.

Knowing the value of likely leads you have in the system is obviously important for most businesses. Not only for cashflow purposes but also for resource planning. Just having all of those conversations and details at my fingertips is a life saver for my business and I am sure you will find the same.

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Maree Maxfield
Maree is a Xero training partner and Certified Xero Advisor, as well as being a qualified Chartered Accountant and a member of the ICAEW, with an MBA and Bachelor of Management Studies (Hons). She has expert knowledge of Xero & WorkflowMax and has carried out many Xero implementations across a range of industries. Maree has also delivered courses on Bookkeeping and Start Your Own Business at the Surrey Adult Education Centre, and will be running the "Reduce Admin At Your Agency" event in London in September.

Maree Maxfield