Selling subscription style services

[mbaluyos]

Hello everyone,

We're using SugarCRM to market phone services to leads/contacts taken from a database.

In the Opportunity module, what is generally put in the "Amount" field if you're selling subscription-style services like telephone service. The amount we bill depends on the time that the user consumes for the month. Generally, what is the amount that is put in there such that it'll be reflective of the business when the CRM does the reports.

I'd like to know what you guys would suggest regarding this? Some users may already be using SugarCRM for this type of business model.

Thanks in advance.

[susiewilliams]

Hi there,

I would think this would be a question more for your CFO than for anyone else. Find out how your Finance group recognizes and reports income, and that should help you with your answer.

For example, I used to work at WebEx, which sells online conferencing services with a subscription model. In our CRM system, sales reps used the value of the subscription contract as the opportunity amount (i.e.- 12 month recurring revenue amount, since the contracts were typically 12 month contracts).

-Susie

[djacobson]

I agree with the previous answer, but let me add another thought as well. If you can characterize the opportunity by a customer type (perhaps by adding a custom field with drop options that represent your target market segments), then you could build a calculated value that says for customer type of xyz, our average monthly amount is abc dollars. The value is that for opportunities, you are typically tracking business ventures where you know something about the customer other than a contact and have some measure of probability of converting the opportunity into a sale. Thus, by associating an expected dollar value based on the cusotmer type, you can then accurate forecast and report on sales opps in your funnel. Take that and then characterize it by the sales stage, and you can now forecast the dollar value of each part of your sales funnel.

[ajideoluus]

I am a novice to Sugar CRM. I am currently taking a course on System Development and Procurement. I am writing a report on Customer Relationships Management. But, I need help as regards the functionality of each of the sections of the SugarCRM (Marketing Automation, Sales Force Automation, Customer Service & Support) to help me draw the use case diagrams and complete my assignment. Please help me.

Thank you.

[ncherry]

I think I have a similar problem. We run advertising campaigns for our customers... We recognize our revenue at the end of each month over the course of the campaign, which could be a single month, a quarter, or a year. For each opportunity we have a start and end date that reflects the period over which revenue will be recognized.

I'd like our revenue forecast to reflect this time period such that the forecasted opportunity amount is spread over the time period reflected by our campaign flight dates. Is there any way to do this? Is there a "calculated amount field," or does the system always assume the revenue will be recognized on the close date.

Any help on this would be much appreciated!

[nunomorais]

As per below, I have a similar problem. Typically we follow opportunities that span through several months.
However the opportunity typically falls on the date expected to close.
How to spread an opportunity through several months?

Many thanks,
Nuno

I think I have a similar problem. We run advertising campaigns for our customers... We recognize our revenue at the end of each month over the course of the campaign, which could be a single month, a quarter, or a year. For each opportunity we have a start and end date that reflects the period over which revenue will be recognized.

I'd like our revenue forecast to reflect this time period such that the forecasted opportunity amount is spread over the time period reflected by our campaign flight dates. Is there any way to do this? Is there a "calculated amount field," or does the system always assume the revenue will be recognized on the close date.

Any help on this would be much appreciated!