Follow-up Entry

1Overview #

After a round of calls or visits you have a dozen follow-ups to write down. This screen takes them one after another: pick the lead, say what happened, plan what comes next, Save (F5) - and the screen is ready for the next lead.

It writes exactly what Follow-up (F7) on the lead page writes, so a follow-up logged here and one logged on the lead are the same thing, with the same rules.

A lead keeps one open follow-up. Saving a new one closes every follow-up still open on that lead - marked done now, with *Closed by a newer follow-up* as its outcome when it had none. The screen lists them before you save, so nothing closes by surprise.

2Who it is for #

Write up the day's calls and visits in one sitting.
Re-plan the next call for leads whose follow-up has gone overdue.
Log a follow-up for a member of your team, if you lead the team.
Move a lead to Working, Nurturing or Qualified as you go.

3What it is not for #

Deals. A converted lead's work lives on its opportunity - use Follow-up (F7) on the deal, or the Board.
Disqualifying or converting a lead. Both ask for more than a status - a reason, or the account and the deal. Open the lead.
Editing the lead itself. Open the lead takes you to its page.

4Step by step #

Open CRM > Follow-up Entry. The Lead box has the focus. - The meta cards show how many leads you can follow up and how many follow-ups you have saved on this screen.
Type a name, a lead number or a phone number and pick the lead. - Its status, owner, phone and next action appear below, with the follow-ups still open on it and the last five done.
Under What was done, keep the type and time, and write What happened. - Untick it if nothing was done and you only want to plan.
Under Next action, set the type, the Due on date and Who. - The lead's owner is proposed. Untick it only when the lead needs nothing more for now.
Optionally Move the lead to another status.
Press Save (F5) and confirm with OK (F5). - The message says what was saved and how many open follow-ups were closed; the screen clears for the next lead.

5The fields #

Lead
Lead - The lead the follow-up is for. Offered: your open leads; your team members' open leads when you lead a team; every open lead for a sales manager or an administrator; a lead shared with you for Edit - all within the reporting option you signed in with (All / Branch / Group). Search by name, lead number or phone; most pressing next action first
Status / Contact / Phone / Owner / Next action - The picked lead at a glance.
Open follow-ups - What is still planned on the lead. Saving this entry closes all of them.
What was done - Tick to log a follow-up that happened.
Type - Call, visit, demo, e-mail ... from CRM > Masters > Activity Types. A Call type to start with
When - When it happened. Now, unless you are logging it later. Not in the future
What happened - What you did and what came of it. Shows on the lead's follow-ups and in the reports. Up to 512 characters
What the customer said - Their words. Up to 512 characters
Next action - Tick to plan what comes next - the lead's one open follow-up.
Type - What you plan to do.
Due on - When it is to be done. It lands on the work list (CRM > Follow-ups) and the calendar; the lead's next-action date follows it. Today or later
Who - Whose work list it goes to. Yourself, a member of a team you lead, or anyone for a sales manager. The lead's owner to start with
About - A line to remind whoever does it. Up to 255 characters
Lead status
Move the lead to - New, Working, Nurturing or Qualified. A New lead becomes Working on its first follow-up by itself. Blank keeps the status

6Rules and integrity #

One open follow-up per lead - Saving a follow-up - done, planned or both - closes every follow-up still open on the lead first. The same happens on the lead page, when lead intake records a repeat enquiry, and when you save a call with its note.
Who may follow up which lead - The owner; the team lead of the owner; a sales manager or an administrator; anyone the lead is shared with for Edit - within the reporting option. The rights still decide first: Create on CRM Activities to log, Modify on CRM Leads for a status move.
Open leads only - Converted leads are followed up on their deal, disqualified ones are closed.
No next action, no plan - A lead saved with nothing planned shows as untouched on the reports until someone plans a follow-up.

7Shortcut keys #

F5 - Save (asks OK (F5) / Cancel (Esc) first).
Esc - Clear the entry; on an empty screen, close the tab.

8If something does not work #

"CRM is not licensed for this company ... Contact your software vendor."

Why: The company's licence has no CRM module.
What to do: Ask your vendor to add CRM, then sign out and in.

"Requested action denied due to security restrictions. Follow-up Entry needs the View right on 'CRM Leads' and the Create right on 'CRM Activities' ..."

Why: Your login lacks one of the two rights this screen needs.
What to do: An administrator grants them in User Manager (CRM module).

"No open lead is yours to follow up ..."

Why: Nothing you own, nothing of a team you lead, is open within your reporting option.
What to do: Sign in with a wider reporting option, ask to be made team lead in CRM > Sales Teams, or have leads assigned to you.

"The first ... of ... leads are offered - type in the search to find the rest."

Why: More than 5,000 leads are within your reach; the picker takes the most pressing 5,000.
What to do: Press Refresh leads after narrowing, or open the lead from CRM > Leads.

"That lead could not be read - press Refresh leads."

Why: The lead was deleted, converted or handed away since the list was loaded.
What to do: Press Refresh leads and pick again.

A lead I expected is not in the picker

Why: It is converted or disqualified, it belongs to somebody outside your team, or its branch is outside your reporting option.
What to do: Check it on CRM > Leads; a converted lead is followed up on its deal.

"The follow-up cannot be saved yet:" followed by a numbered list

Why: Every problem is listed at once - fix them all, then save again.
What to do: The items are described below.

"Lead: pick the lead the follow-up is for."

Why: Nothing is picked in the Lead box.
What to do: Pick the lead first.

"Nothing to save: say what was done, or plan the next action."

Why: Both halves are unticked.
What to do: Tick at least one and fill it.

"What was done: write a line about the follow-up." / "What was done: when it happened cannot be in the future."

Why: What happened is empty, or its time is ahead of now.
What to do: Write a line; set the time to when it happened.

"Next action: give it a date." / "Next action: its date cannot be in the past." / "Next action: say whose work list it goes to."

Why: A planned action needs a date of today or later and a person.
What to do: Fill both.

"This record is not yours to follow up."

Why: The lead moved out of your reach after the list was loaded - handed to someone else, or its branch changed.
What to do: Press Refresh leads.

"You can give a follow-up only to yourself, or to a member of a team you lead ..."

Why: Who names somebody outside your reach.
What to do: Pick yourself, a member of your team, or ask a sales manager.

"A lead cannot go from ... to ..." / "Disqualify the lead from its own page - it needs a reason."

Why: The status move is not allowed from the lead's current status, or it needs the lead page.
What to do: Leave the status blank, or open the lead.

"You do not have the Create right on CRM Activities."

Why: Logging a follow-up is a write.
What to do: An administrator grants Create on CRM Activities.

9For an administrator #

Rights - View on CRM Leads to open the screen, Create on CRM Activities to save; Modify on CRM Leads for a status move.
Team leads - Set in CRM > Sales Teams. A team lead may follow up - and change - their members' leads, within their own rights.

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