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Task Management Tools Lesson 2: Creating Custom Fields
Posted by Peter Mitton on 20 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: Sales Process, User, Administrators, Tips and Tricks
In Part 2 of our series, we discussed how we create tasks for ourselves and other team members and where to find those tasks again later. In part 3, we continue the process of organizing and presenting that information in a concise and easy to follow manner.
So, in this lesson, we continue to examine the creation and use of reports to help manage our tasks. If you recall from our earlier discussion, we generally want to know the following things about individual tasks…
- What is the Task.
- Who is the Task assigned to.
- When was it assigned.
- When is it due (if has a due date).
- Is it on time, or is it late
More below the fold!
Task Management Tools Lesson 1: Creating and Finding Tasks
Posted by Peter Mitton on 17 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: General, User
In Part 1 of our series, we discussed, in broad and conceptual terms, how we might utilize Salesforce as a tool for internal communication. We also discussed some of the theoretical tools that might be required to properly track and report on those communications. In part 2, we will begin the process of organizing and presenting that information in a concise and easy to follow manner.
Lets review, for a moment, some of the questions we should be asking ourselves, and then begin to put together a way of answering those questions using Salesforce.
Question 1: What tasks are assigned to me?
This is a pretty basic question, and probably one of the most important. Thankfully, it has already been answered for us. On our home tab is a quick list of all of our current tasks. If we examine the list, you should notice that there is a drop down selector in the upper right corner that allows us to filter the list of tasks. It should be noted that when we exceed a certain number of tasks, the display on the front page stops, and we are presented instead with a “view more” option. This takes us the second screen which shows us all of our tasks as well as calendar events.
You can see this demonstrated in the attached Lesson Video #1: Creating and Finding Tasks (11m26s, 3.48mb).
In our next lesson, we discuss how to create a report which will show us all of the tasks that are assigned to us.
From the “Things that should be in Salesforce but aren’t - file!” - Task Management Tools
Posted by Peter Mitton on 10 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: Sales Process, User, Managers, Administrators, Tips and Tricks
When we work in Salesforce, we have the advantage of being able to communicate across the enterprise using the activities tools. Now, we have already covered the process of creating activities, but as we can see from our example, we don’t have a lot of visibility.
But you might be saying to yourself right now “But I saw all my tasks and events, thats pretty visible, isn’t it?”.
You would be right about that, it is pretty visible to you, but what about this scenario. Lets say we have used the activity creation tools to create a task for another one of our team members. How do we know its complete? Heck, how do we even remember that we created the task in the first place. Well, this series of articles is going to cover this in some detail. Get your propeller hats out, because we are going to dive in to some advanced tips and tricks below the fold!
The First Cup of the Day: Starting My Salesforce Day - Part 2 Activities
Posted by Peter Mitton on 05 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: General, Sales Process, User
In part 1 of this series, we outlined the concept that the start of our sales day as an “Outside Salesperson” starts on the Home Tab of Salesforce . As you could see in that article, the Home Tab was looking pretty sparse. In fact, it is down right empty!
Thats no good! Our managers are looking at their sales metrics and saying “What the heck is Peter doing?” and “Why isn’t Peter scheduled to make calls?” and most importantly, “Why do I keep this guy around as a Salesperson?”. These are questions we don’t want our bosses to ask us. As Salespeople, the only time we want to hear from our boss is when he or she is telling us how great we are and how they are planning on increasing our comission rate. Verbal reports are for “Old Style” sales organizations. This is the age of the computer! This is the age of “pulling data” rather than “pushing data”. In a word, we need to do some CALL PLANNING.
Self Help doesn’t just come from books!
Posted by Peter Mitton on 04 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: User, Tips and Tricks
So, are you lost? Feeling like you can’t figure out how to do anything? Are you wondering how you are ever going to get through the day?
Well fear not! It is a little know fact that there are several self paced training sessions on Salesforce, and if you are enterprising enough, you can get in there and figure out stuff all by your lonesome. They are a bit quick, but they will certainly point you in the right direction when it comes to figuring out the questions you need to ask.
How do I get to these fine little packets of self help goodness you ask? Well, its easy. Lets look below the fold shall we… Continue Reading »
The First Cup of the Day: Starting My Salesforce Day - Part 1
Posted by Peter Mitton on 03 Oct 2006 | Tagged as: Sales Process, User
I spent several years as what I would call an “Outside Salesperson”. My job meant I spent my days on the road, meeting customers and trying to close business. So, in order to be successful, I spent my morning having that first cup of coffee and reviewing my plans for the day. Those plans start with the Home Tab, and so thats where we’ll start today.
