Customer Console 5 - Creating and Finding Events

To access the Customer Console, navigate to CRM > Find > Customer Console

Once you populate a customer in the Console, you can create Events to log communications and activities related to the customer.  To create a new Event, click F3 or click on the Create Event button to the right of the Phone # field. This will populate a new event for this customer in the Event area of your screen.

Events can be created for any type of activity or communication with a customer, but often they are used to document a phone conversation or a sale.  The example we will go over here will be to document a counter sale that will need a follow-up conversation by a different employee.

The event section of the Customer Console will populate the event with some specific data when you click on the F3 button.  The data that auto-populates in the event will allow you to save the event with no additional information.  This is important because if you answer another call before saving, the event will be auto-saved and can be re-opened and edited later.  

Alternately, you can click on Save and Popout to save the Event and have it pop out of the console to a separate window to allow you to easily find and edit at a later time. The screenshot below illustrates the fields that are or will be automatically populated at the time of creation and the time of the initial save.

The fields that are available to edit within an Event include the following:

Status - Open or Closed

Salesman - Optional. Choose from the dropdown.  Your administrator can add or remove employees from this list.

Assigned to - Employee assigned to complete any work requested within the event.  The assigned to can be changed by choosing a different employee in the dropdown.  This field will cause an Open status Event to populate in the My Events report for that employee.

Event Type - This is a custom drop-down list to help categorize the Event.

Opportunity - If the Event is related to a specific Sales Opportunity that is set up in the system, you can connect the Event to the Opportunity by clicking on the ellipse and selecting the correct Opportunity.

Purchase Order - You can enter the customer Purchase Order number tied to the sales Event.

Next Follow Up - Assign the date for the next action to be completed on the Event.

Title - Text field for a description of the Event

Renameable Fields - Custom Fields that can be created to track specific information that is not already available to capture in existing fields.

Contacts - List of Contacts that are set up on the Customer Master.  You can select the specific contact(s) that are included in the current phone call or meeting.

Notes - Long free-form text field that allows you to write extensive notes regarding the Event.

Example 1 - Documenting a Counter Sale

Events can be used to document each contact made with a customer.  This is easy to accomplish from the Console through the following process.  You can also Create the POS document directly from the console prior to or after creating the event.

1. Populate the Customer on the Console.
2. Click F3 to open a new Event.
3. Click F4 and type in the description of the Event (if required by policy).
4. Choose the Event Type from the dropdown (if required by policy).
5. Note any special information in Notes or Renameable Fields.  This may include a Sales Order or Invoice Number created during the encounter (if required by policy).
6. Select the checkbox next to the correct Contact in the list (if required by policy).
7. Click Save and Close - Status Closed to finalize the Event.

Example 2 - Assigning an Open Event to Another Employee for Follow-Up with the Customer

For our example, we will document a conversation with a customer during a Part Sale who will need to schedule service for an open campaign/warranty.  I have highlighted the fields completed or edited prior to saving below.

Notice that the Assigned To field and the Next Follow Up field were edited for another employee to follow up on a specific date.

The Notes provide specific details relevant to the follow-up call.

Contacts clearly show who the employee should follow up with and their phone and email information.

Status will be left as open until the Event followup is complete.

Finding Events

To review Events that you need to follow up, click on My Events on the right side of the Customer Console.

1. Set the period for the date range you want to review and Fetch.
2. Sort by Next Follow-up Date to see Events needing attention.
3. Filter Status to Open to remove any closed events
4. Right-Click line items to Close any Events that have been completed.
5. Double-click to open and edit Events that are delayed or changed.