OT: pen-and-paper to 100% electronic CRM with full integration

[Dead Man]

We have finally arrived in the 21st century!

To be ridiculously brief.... anyone have first hand experience doing this, and can point me in the direction of good resources? I'm losing my ****ing mind just trying to get an idea of what we need.... hardware, software, support, training. Googling just nets heaping piles of not-that-useful advertising literature and poorly written anecdotes and reviews of specific products, which doesn't even help a little in determining which hardware/software products to start looking at, how to determine our minimum needs, etc..

I'd even hire a pro to just do all this for us, but I don't even know how to find one, or if this is a consulting specialization that even exists.. also don't want to blow a huge chunk of our not-infinite budget on that..

[Dude]

How big is your company? what are your goals? why do you need a crm? what industry?...more info might help.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[Dead Man]

word.. my first draft of this post included all of that, and was like 20,000 words long. seemed a little involved, too specific, too unlikely to be read. i figured a more general solicitation for pointings in general resource direction would be a better approach, here. so you got the TLDR version.

But since you ask: small company experiencing rapid growth. we're looking to hire as many PMs as we can get our hands on in the next 2-3 weeks.. aside from the sales department (lets just say 8 project managers?), we will need mobile CRM access for the ops manager and possible foremen (though the PMs can probably handle all CRM input, based on foreman reports from the field - basically just to save money... foremen usually break/steal/lose ****, plus they don't have time to dick around with administrative tasks...... dunno)

What I need in functionality is this:

Client calls office asking us to do something.. anything. office manager creates a client profile, and a tracking ticket that goes into MAIN QUEUE to be assigned to, or picked up by, salesman. Once assigned, ticket shows who the ticket is assigned to, and what it's waiting for - call back to answer questions? Call back to schedule initial meeting at site? Whatever, every ticket and its current status is viewable in real time from all devices, in the office or field. CRM will then need to manage all document generation, and plug it into the ticket... salesmen meets with client, does a takeoff from the field - takeoff is either drawn up within the CRM itself, or at LEAST the takeoff is immediately and seamlessly integrated from another program... and immediately added to the ticket. Ticket now shows what kind of service the client has ordered (repair, service, general carpentry/remodel, ground up contruction.. whatever), and at what phase they're at. 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours goes by.... however long, we can all see every ticket and know how long it's been waiting for what. Salesman then uses CRM (or CRM integrates it from another app) to generate a proposal or work order, which is of course also viewable in real time - now shows proposal submitted, waiting for client response. Client approves next day: ticket tracks and displays client waiting for signing... and for how long. ETC.. salesman then generates a deposit receipt using the CRM submits to client, receives signed contract back from client with depost; CRM queue displays this; now holding for scheduling - and what scheduling criteria is! because there's a note explaining conditions for scheduling. ETCETCETC...... PM assigns crew to project/service work order and schedules. Everyone can see a project is now waiting to start, and what it's waiting on. Foreman gets assigned job, has access to work order via CRM (through his own tablet or the project PM).. and now the CRM manages job costs - purchases are all added to job cost under ticket, cost is tracked under the ticket, integrates with quickbooks, and follows ticket through to project completion and then PM generates invoice for payment.... again, all phases viewable to the other salesmen/ops manager/owner/office manager/etc.....

And then........... since every damn detail of the project from lead to bid to completion to final invoicing is tracked by the CRM... PM then generates PnL via CRM, and bam - we can instantly see the fruits of our labors.

And all the while, there's absolutely no way to forget anything or leave anyone hanging. Client gets proposal from PM, calls PM and asks questions or wants new pricing...... PM needs to contact supplier for new information/new pricing.... supplier needs to get back to PM with information. So from Thursday, when client calls PM for additional info, to friday morning when we call come in an fire up our tablets, there's some flashing red dot next to Ticket No. 17-522-S indicating this client is waiting for something, and what.... if by Friday noon, supplier hasn't gotten back to PM with information to get back to client with, he can see that, be reminded of that.... and so will the rest of us see that, and be reminded of it. He can't get busy and forget, thereby neglecting the client, who just gets crickets from Thursday till Monday when maybe the salesman gets back to them. NOPE.... if Friday noon rolls around and the supplier still hasn't returned his call, he can re-call supplier and light a fire, or at the very least get back to client before the end of the workday and just let them know.... sorry, I still haven't been able to get pricing from the supplier, but I'll be on them first thing again Monday morning, and you'll hear from me no later than Monday afternoon.

I use that as example because its actually one of the major hurtles to maintaining continuity with leads. The PM is busy and isn't think about anything but what he's working on at the moment. It's hella easy to forget those little things, and when Friday, weekend, Monday, then Tuesday roll around and nobody ever picks up the phone.. client is neglected to death. Lead is neglected to death. One more job we'll never profit from.



And man.... that's just scratching the surface.

Hell... maybe this is all super basic stuff, and pretty much all the CRMs out there do this to perfection? I don't know.... how would i??

anyway, again... not necesasrily looking for a specific hardware/software package recommendation - just need some kind of resource to figure it out for myself.

Or, I guess I could just buy a complete commercial SalesForce package and fifteen $1000 tablets and just hope, without having any clue, we'll be able to make something productive out of it..... but that sort of brashness hasn't always worked out for me.

[Dead Man]

Above all else.... it needs to be intuitive, seamless, and reduce redundancy to .... zero, would be great.

Client info never has to be copied - it's auto-populated on all forms. And all forms we use/need are available, and auto-populated based on the type of document, by the CRM. Every document needs to be generated and auto-populated by, or at least integrated, by the CRM to the tracking ticket.. again, for seamlessness/efficiency and perfect record keeping, and the CRM needs to ensure nobody can just "forget" **** at any point. Accountability! All documents and project records are plugged into ONE place, which can then use that data to generate and automate MORE documents, and then send it all over to bookkeeping, who can then use, again, the same CRM to generate reports.

And so on and so forth.

I mean, it seems like a stretch, because I'm a grounded, realistic person... but at the same time, it's not like we're the first construction company to need this kind of organization, automation, and document consolidation.... so............ it really doesn't seem like too much to ask.

[Dead Man]

Private message asking me what needs to be integrated: I'm assuming we're not going to find a CRM that's already designed to facilitate all document types: takeoff sheets, which can include plans submitted by engineers/architects, or simply hand-written (MS Ink/CAD?) and compiled by the salesman in the field, being the big question-mark.. but then also the forms that we've been using (poorly and ineffectively) with MS Office suite.... which integrate between each other, with some confusion, error, and inefficiency.

Right now, the standard way to do a super basic takeoff and create a proposal is to draw out plans on site with tape measure or from blue prints, do a bunch of math on paper with calculator, then manually transfer all that information to a job sheet and compile the pricing... then manually write a proposal, duplicating client/site/general-/sub-contractor information, etc.. print, submit, sign... then again, manually write all other documents - invoices, receipts, change-orders, with SOME integration from document to document, but not much (because I don't have time to go to school to learn how to do all that crap).... all the while keeping all of these pieces of PAPER organized in a physical folder and electronic duplicates on the server.. sure hope nothing gets stuffed into the wrong manila folder, 'cause that ****'s gone.

And then client tracking.... that's currently done with notebooks and memory, and it fails constantly. Especially now that call volume and workload has exploded. Clients get neglected, and if we're lucky they call the main office number and whine that they haven't heard from the salesman for a week... and then I get angry phone calls from my office manager that clients are still getting neglected and we're losing work simply because we can't keep track of all this ****.

Can you get a sense of what's going on herE?

[SpeedyChix]

Might not do nearly enough but check out Pipedrive

[Bob Ross]

Originally Posted by Dead Man

Or, I guess I could just buy a complete commercial SalesForce package and fifteen $1000 tablets and just hope, without having any clue, we'll be able to make something productive out of it.....

My company is currently on our third complete re-do of this...and we're still looking for something that will actually work. So at the very least I can tell you three specific products that I would not endorse

...but more importantly I will tell you that all of these software providers that we've used or investigated have told us - one or two at the outset, which was nice, some after-the-fact, which sucked -- that if your company doesn't get onboard 100% and devote time, resources, and ADDITIONAL MONEY towards implementing work flow and training around the new system, you will almost certainly fail. One vendor admitted that 80% of their customers wind up abandoning the product within the first year!!!

This isn't a product that either works or doesn't work; it's a product that requires you and all of your co-workers to dramatically change your business culture and the way you accomplish daily tasks before you can even find out whether or not it works.

[Buzz Killington]

Don't use Infor unless you like spending 10's of millions, for a marginal system at best. Also, I've never seen a CRM package that wasn't incredibly confusing, especially for sales people.

[jlyon]

Originally Posted by Buzz Killington

Don't use Infor unless you like spending 10's of millions, for a marginal system at best. Also, I've never seen a CRM package that wasn't incredibly confusing, especially for sales people.

Now that's living up to your screen name.

But I agree 100%; all new systems worth their salt require lots of training of people who really don't want to use them.

[sfscott]

If you are doing ticketing and need to managed process, look at ZenDesk or perhaps Jira. Jira is more of a tool for software developers though.

ZenDesk has basic CRM and contact center tools but is designed for support teams and links to knowledge bases.

Saleforce.com has a variety of price points, and via their AppExchange, you can find just about any tool or customization you need as well as local developers to do the customization.

There are some other vendors like SugarCRM and Zoho, but can't speak to those.