Lead Aquisition

Market competition has recently resulted in the development of the following trends: you start working with your contacts even before the first agreement is made. For example, after a trade fair you enter new contacts into the database and specify their attributes that you may need for further work.

Most probably, for such operations it is more convenient to use a separate 3C Office installation. Such a separate program can be installed on the notebook of an executive who is directly involved into Acquisition.

Description of Contacts

The main work is usually done at the classification of contacts. A major means for differentiation of contacts is the Company Type field (this field is available in the company property dialog). A list of possible types is specified by the administrator in the program menu.

Using the Advanced Search mechanism by the Customer Type field, you can sort clients by your specific criteria. At the same time you can add clients to the Distribution List for further operations.

Attributes

In addition to the primary classification you may need to develop an additional system of attributes, for example the one that describes client’s intentions to conclude an agreement. In order to set additional attributes for your clients, use the Remarks option by specifying keywords and attribute values. Attributes will be user later on for search.

Example:

Source=China Traid Fair 2006 (Source of information about a client, for example, trade fair);
Class=Supplier (type of a client that will be applied later on); Customer or Supplier;
Product=Car wash station (what products the client is interested in);
NielsenArea=1 (describes geographic location of the contact).

Using the Global Search, you can search for various combinations of attributes and display corresponding contacts, adding them at the same time to the Distribution List for further operations. To add a contact to the list, copy it to the clipboard and paste into the Distribution List .

Security

Information on potential clients and your relations with them usually should be hidden from strangers. If you store such information in a separate database, then the problem is solved. If you use a common database, you should organize an access to it for selected persons only. See User Right Management.

Operations

Contacts Export / Import

In order to transfer a contact further into the Sales or Purchasing depertment, you should turn it from the Hot Lead into the Customer type by selecting a corresponding value type from the list.