Good Sales Integration Training?

[marclindsay]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for courses on actually implementing an entire sales process yet I cant seem to find any.

Nothing that shows me from start to finish how to setup a sales environment in SugarCRM with reportables and workflow.

Only bits and pieces.

Are there any courses paid or otherwise that cover this a bit more complete?

I've got SalesForce calling me every second day and offering to entirely set me up an example system.... Yet I cant even find the basics for doing this in Sugar CRM

I'd love to use SugarCRM Pro or Enterprise but if I cant get the support for it then its not worth wasting time.

Perhaps someone can give me advice on how they were able to effectively deploy and integrate sugarCRM into their business?

Thanks
Marc

[roxtec]

Hi Marc,

maybe this helps.

We started on a light version with Sugar Pro.

We used the system in 7 countries for setting up a contact database with fresh and imported Accounts and contacts. Other modules were Opportunities and the calender.

After two and a half year expiriences i started to make an upgrade with Lead management, Projects, Outlook connector, Campaigns and archiving emails(from Outlook).

Not sure what you want to know but send me an Email or you can call me if you need support. The workflow depends on your Business. I customized the system a lot with new fields for our Segments and other stuff.

Where do you come from?
Maybe there is a consultant or Sugar Partner which can help you. If you have any questions please come back to me
Take care

[susiewilliams]

Hi Marc,

The Sugar Admin Fundamentals course is designed to get you most of what you're looking for. In it, we cover installation, setting up Users, Teams and Roles, Sugar Studio, Module Builder, Workflow and a bit of email setup. It's meant more as a generic class on how to use the various parts of Sugar rather than a specific "how do I map my business processes so I can implement the software for my environment" course.

The suggestion to find an implementation partner is a good one... they're used to doing the Discovery process to figure out how to best use the tool in your environment. Sugar's PS team can guide you, as can one of our partners. You'll find that the money and time spent with a professional will save you time and money later.

Salesforce's offer of getting an example system up and running won't get you any closer to having a true workable system for your environment, in my opinion. Sales systems need to fit your way of doing business (you changing your business model to fit the tool doesn't work, IMO). With Sugar, you can quickly get up and running, and can tailor the system to fit your business process. One easy thing to do is to change the dropdown menu items and sales stages to match the way your sales reps sell. You can set up groups and teams that match the way your sales reps work (or don't work) with each other. You can add or omit fields using Studio so that only the most relevant information is captured and reported on.

The Admin class shows you how to do this. We're offering an online version of this course (four 3-hour online sessions) December 8-11 and an in-person two day course at the end of January. Feel free to contact me for further details.

[marclindsay]

Hey Guys & Gals,

Thanks for the advice, unfortunately I just contacted one of the partners here in Australia and just found them not very helpful.

I'm a fairly technical person and understand most web technologies.... Given a basic guide learning any system is no issue.

Unfortunately Susie my first child is born on the 5th December..... I dont like the chances of me getting on that course

Though what is the link to the course anyhow and I will see.

Is there any training that can show me a rough overview on how others are implementing and tracking a sales system even basic so I can see Sugar tied together?

I apologize if the questions are basic.

Basically we are needing to do this....

Cold Lead Added to system
Sales rep see's leads waiting in dashboard.... clicks details calls them up.
Based on call either marks lead dead, or variou stage of follow up.
Lead wants a quote.... lead is upgraded to an opportunity
opportunities are then tracked etc.... of opportunity converts its upgraded to an account.

All data is kept with each person.... ideally I would like it so that when an account comes on-board.... certain departments are notified and have their own part to do with the account.

Thats the basic version.

It doesnt appear too difficult and I know SugarCRM can accommodate much more then this.

Thanks
Marc

[susiewilliams]

Hi Marc,

First and foremost, congratulations on your impending fatherhood! We're intending to run the Admin Fundamentals class quite regularly so there should be another one coming soon that is more accomodating to your schedule. For others without impending deliveries, you can find the schedule of upcoming sessions by visiting this link and clicking on the "schedule" tab.

Regarding your actual scenario, it's definitely doable. One hint is to look at Workflows. A workflow can be triggered when "something" happens, like when an opportunity reaches a particular sales stage. When that trigger causes the workflow to fire, you can either create an alert in the system or you can create a record. Alerts can be email alerts that use pre-defined templates.

An example of the alert type of workflow would be "when a new support case comes in for a customer that is of type 'premium support', then create an email that is mailed to the Support manager and create an email to the customer saying 'we have received your case and we are on it'." You can have an alert against just about any major "object" in Sugar so you can extend this idea to leads, accounts, opportunities, etc.

An example of the second (create a record) type of workflow would be "when the sales stage for an opportunity reaches the 'Legal Review' stage, create a task record for the Legal Team to review the contract terms." This might be useful if you bring in additional team members as the deal progresses.

Using the Users, Teams and Roles settings in Admin you can set things up so that the visibility rules you want can be enforced. Check out Sugar University for guides on setting up these areas. Many people set up teams where there is a manager, a sales rep, and perhaps a sales engineer or other person associated with the life of the deal.

If I was in your footsteps, the first thing I would do is to map out the processes that you have in place today, so you get an overall picture of the life cycle of your deals. (Take an honest look at everything, as you don't want to map a bad or inefficient process... take the time to streamline it and then automate it within Sugar.) Then I would see where there is a natural fit between your processes and Sugar's built-in capabilities, such as the "convert lead (to oppty)" button, or the Web to Lead form for getting leads from your website straight into Sugar, or the users/teams/roles setup for controlling who sees what and who does what. As you start to plug things in you'll see how it all fits together. Come back here for advice (though us U.S.A. folks will be on our Thanksgiving break the next two days) and the community can chime in with helpful advice.

One final thought... you can always join our live "daily demos" to see examples of common scenarios in action. We have demos for Admin, basic SFA, Customizations, and Marketing. They're free and you can sign up for them on our Daily Demo page.