Non-Email Steps

[fcowell]

Here's what I think would be a killer addition to the product:

Allow steps in a sequence to be something other than an email that gets sent. Examples:

1) Call List - Add to 'call list' and the content would then become the phone script ("hi, this is Joe... just wanted to touch base with you. Did you get my last few tips I sent you via email? How are things?").

2) Mail List - Add to 'mail list' and the content would then become the instructions for the person who is handling the direct mail that day ("Mail merge the list with the document stored at C:\My Documents\campaigns\incentive.doc; Use letterhead "A"; Include brochure "'B" and Dave's business card; Have Dave sign each letter before they go out;")

3) Fax - could integrate easily with electronic fax services like efax. Would need an additional field for "eFax Email Address" (17605551212@efaxsend.com). The content would become the fax content.

4) Voice Broadcast - could integrate with voice broadcast companies... would send a list of phone numbers and a .wav/audio file for immediate deployment.

These features would allow for truly 'push button marketing' and allow for a non-technical assistant the ability to process this stuff.

Anyway - a product like this could be sold for $500 easily. I'd buy it in a heart beat.

[Martin]

Wow, thanks! This sounds really interesting, please give me some time to digest it. The only thing I'm afraid of is if it wouldn't make the software to complicated to use.

Thank you very much. Please write if/when you have any other ideas!

Best regards,
Martin Bilski
Xtreeme GmbH

[dsdj1234]

Sounds like what you're talking about is an all-round follow up software. My brother has created one for my DJ business with MS ACESS. Basically everyday when I get in the office I click the callback button, and it brings up a list of people who I have to callback today, in order of the priority I have chosen, then in order of the date of their party. For each event I can see their event details and make call back notes, such as, send a fax, call this client, send email, follow up this. With my brothers software and FollowUpExpert combined I can manage over 500 enquiries at a time. I haven't even fully implemeneted FollowUpExpert yet and I am already fully booked every weekend. Can't wait to set these email follow ups into motion.

[Martin]

Sounds cool, thanks! If it wasn't for the software you already have, how do you think would be the best way to have FollowUpExpert show you the list? Should there be a way to open a list of 'today's tasks'? Please let me know what you think.

Best regards,
Martin Bilski
Xtreeme GmbH

[dsdj1234]

Well the way my current software works, is I open it up and then click. "Callbacks". It then shows a list of anyone's events that I have said to callback from today and anyone from previous that I haven't called back yet. Being a DJ service the date of their event is relative, but then I can order my callbacks in order of priority. The priorities go like this.

Same day callback (if you say you will call someone on say... Tuesday, then set Tuesdays date and choose same day callback, these are the highest priority_
Call sometime this Week
Call sometime this Month

Under each calllback you could have an "Action To Do" such as... Fax/Ring/Email/Appointment...etc.

[Martin]

Thanks! I just though... Wouldn't emailing you be even better? E.g. sending an email such as "CALLBACK: Call Martin Bilski on Wednesday" (with details in the message body)? Also, this would be much easier to implement. I'm very interested to hear what you think about this.

Best regards,
Martin Bilski
Xtreeme GmbH

[RonnieG]

Great idea, as some other CRM software already do this. It definitely could get complicated, especially for a medium to large office using the product! So complicated, that it may be a totally different advanced product offering, perhaps with tighter Outlook / Thunderbird integration, and maybe a local MySQL database, which would then allow the product to be more web assessable, especially if paired up with a Windows version of Apache! ? Followup Campaign Manager ?

Part of the paradigm shift here would be to rename "Mailing List" as "Followup Campaign".

In setting up a Campaign follow up item, the item needs to have a "Type" code, like: "E"mail which would be the default type as it is now, "C"all, "A"ppointment, "F"ax, etc., and the message for those items might be a call script, appointment goals/task list, fax document number, or some other prompt for the agent/rep to use as the task comes up, rather than an email. It may also need to have a "assigned to" field, because the task may be assigned to an agent/rep, a clerk, or some other party. It may even be a task for the subscriber to accomplish!

You would also need to have a task "Status" field, so the responsible party can check off that it has been completed. The responsible party may also need to be able to reschedule a particular task for a later date/time, or delete the task, with the program then prompting whether or not to reschedule all following tasks or leave their existing dates alone.

In addition to expanding the followup item to accommodate new fields, it may also be nice to have it auto-calculate and populate the future date of an item, not just the raw delay factor, so we can see the date of all upcoming activities for a subscriber. This may be an easy enhancement, separate from what we are discussing here.

The existence of the "Assigned To" field means a new database entity for those people, with the person's name, department, email, phone, etc., so Management can contact them if need be, like if necessary to re-assign scheduled tasks, get on them for not performing their scheduled tasks, etc. When management accesses an "Assigned To" person, or the assigned person accesses their own records, you would want them to be able to see only upcoming tasks for a specified period, which would need to be selectable: Today, Tomorrow, This Week, Next Week, This Month, Next Month, or a specified date range.

Selecting and displaying task assignments by responsible party and date range would probably be the toughest programming task to accomplish. In the beginning, emailing all scheduled tasks to the assigned persons when the subscriber is initially setup could be the easiest thing to do, and the assigned person could then organize the tasks as they see fit, perhaps in as an Outlook "Task" or Thunderbird "To Do" item. Reassigning tasks may then be as simple as forwarding the reassigned task(s) to the new responsible party. But then, tracking whether a task has actually been accomplished or not gets to be a management issue.

[Martin]

That sounds interesting, thank for sharing this! I agree it should be a totally separate product. I think it should be web-based though to allow agents to share the info. What do you think?

Best regards,
Martin Bilski
Xtreeme GmbH

[RonnieG]

Absolutely web based, with php and mysql as the base for the user interface. The FollowUpExpert business product could still handle the initial opt-in and opt-out processes, feeding the new subscribers and any Opt-out actions to a separate MySQL database, and the new product would provide an enhanced web-based user interface to manage contents for multiple campaigns, setting up users, access control (based on superadmin/admin/manager/agent roles), agent and manager activity logging, and other admin and presentation tasks. Like I said in my original reply, it could get complex.

[Martin]

Yes, I'm a bit afraid of that. Please tell me, can I contact you if I decide to design this kind of product to discuss the features and generally know what you think?

Best regards,
Martin Bilski
Xtreeme GmbH