We need to assign categories to each record so that we can interact with the crm and see what is happening. We need to assign two sets of categories.

The first set of categories deals with the status of the client or the project. i.e. New lead, phone call, site visit.
The second set of categories deal with the client. So this could be the clients name, John Smith or it could be the clients company, Smith Enterprises or it could be a directory that has numerous clients attached to it.

Full series:
CRM - Stage One - An Introduction
CRM - Stage Two - Customer Records
CRM - Stage Three - Assigning Categories

I am using pages for this section of the CRM.

I have created a page called Clients. You can also create a page called Suppliers or Misc for those that don’t fit into the box!

Now I create a page for my Client called John Smith and add it as a sub page to the page called clients. I grab the url of this page and head over to the page called clients and enter this as a link. Now when I click on my page called Clients I can see a list of all my clients. Of course depending on your number of clients, you could refine this. A simple way is to create pages called Clients A to M, Clients N to Z.

When a client heads elsewhere or maybe it is a one-off job I have a page called Ex-Clients. I then move the record to this section.

There is one more thing to do with this section but that will come when we create a template to manage the clients.

Full series:
CRM - Stage One - An Introduction
CRM - Stage Two - Customer Records
CRM - Stage Three - Assigning Categories

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broad term that covers concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with customers, including the capture, storage and analysis of customer, vendor, partner, and internal process information.

Wikipedia

Have you ever thought about using Wordpress to manage your business? Well I am going to suggest ways in which this is possible. We will be creating a site that will help us manage each client and view how much time is being spent on each one. We will be able to see at a glance the most recent contact. We will be able to flag customers according to their needs, new contact, red hot sales lead or simply client.

The first decision you have to make is whether to use an existing Wordpress site or a completely new install. For me I would always a completely new install. Why? If you are using an existing Wordpress, every time you load a post or page concerning the crm you will need to make them private. Obviously you don’t want these posts to be seen. It would be quite simple for this to be forgotten. So I create a sub-domain and database and install a whole new Wordpress. Then to protect that I upload this plugin:
Wordpress Password. It is a plugin that simply protects the whole of your Wordpress installation. If someone navigates to the site all they will see if a box that says Enter Password.

To further protect the site in the options/privacy I click on “I would like to block search engines” blob. In options/discussion, I uncheck the first three boxes. This ensures that pings, comments and notifications are turned off.

Ok that is it for now. See you next time.

Full series:
CRM - Stage One - An Introduction
CRM - Stage Two - Customer Records
CRM - Stage Three - Assigning Categories