Method:Classic General Q&A

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:28:13 GMT

Thanks for your feedback! =) As I said, your voice has been heard.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

pdirect — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:20:19 GMT

But your argument of logic is based on the developer's perspective, not the user's.

Imagine yourself a brand new user to Method. You know absolutely nothing about it. You are an outside sales rep who calls on a print shop you've never called on before. So now, you want to create a lead. Without any prior knowledge, are you going to think to click on advanced search? No, because advanced search <> new lead. So you'll go to the "customer center" and create a new customer there. Now if you are unlike most sales people I've worked with and you're thorough, you may go to the additional info tab, but if you're like most sale people I've worked with, you won't "because it's just a lead and you don't need to record additional info right now."

I'm just reporting to you what our users said. And it is a known principal in development that you should be consistent. And the fact remains that it's inconsistent to have it checked in Outlook, but not in the HTML interface.

And besides, I've been customizing and supporting Microsoft CRM now since version 1 and I've evaluated other popular packages such as Salesforce. I was trying to provide feedback from someone who has used the "big dogs" quite extensively . . . and let's face it, products like Microsoft CRM are easier to use in some ways. They don't have the QB integration that Method provides, but there are things Method could learn from some of the higher end CRM packages when it comes to features and usability. I guess I was trying to give an "outsiders" perspective. Sometimes when we get too "close" to our development, we don't see it like others see it.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 13:58:10 GMT

I know you might not think I am listening but I am. This is the reason I took the time to write back to you. I'm not really sure what I can do to convience you otherwise other than assure you again that we do take feedback seriously. You mentioned in your previous post that we had no "logic" in the way it was designed and I wanted to explain the "logic" that we used. You don't agree with it and that has been made clear. Point taken.

I hope we can move past this. This isn't something we are going to change and if we do, it won't be right away. We only mention the customization because unlike other application out there, you have this option avaiable to you.

Please know that at no time was I douting your background or experience to date. No one is trying to show who knows what better here. In the end we want to try to make decisions for the standard screens that benefit the entire community.

Have a great Tuesday!

Danny

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

pdirect — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:55:50 GMT

I've been designing web applications and supporting CRM systems for 13 years and I can tell that you're not listening, only defending. Here you have a customer telling you that it makes no sense to our users. You don't defend at that point, you listen. Not one of our users would think to click "advanced search" to create a new lead!

And you're thinking of CRM in a VERY LIMITED sense when you talk about calling in. We use CRM with a sales force that is out selling. They know every time whether they're dealing with a new customer or not. So their first instinct is to create a customer, not go to advanced search. I'm not saying those buttons shouldn't be on the advanced search page, but the lead status box should be checked by default if someone doesn't need to do a search. And they don't think through all these things . . . they just expect it to work the same in Outlook as it does in Method. Have you ever read the book, "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug? Method has some great features, but could really be helped by the concepts in this book. Usability is less than ideal.

And Method likes to throw out that I can customize what I don't like . . . well kind of. I can customize with a lot of work, but I won't receive updates for those screens after that.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:24:01 GMT

pdirect:
Forcing users to go through an unusual method of doing something never works as far as adoption. Most users would never think to go to "advanced search" to create a new lead. There is no logic in that.

We always value feedback. No doubt about it. That's how our product gets better and has gotten better over the years. If you don't like the way we design it, then customization is something avaiable to you. If we feel the feedback provided will be better for the entire Method Community, we may if take those suggestions and add it to the default screens.

In this case the advance search does have "logic". When a customer calls in, what is the first thing that you do, if you're using a CRM product? You search for that customer so you can log the call. At first, you'll try doing a quick search in the customer list on the left using the column header. If you don't find them, you'll do an advanced search to see if you can locate them via company name, phone number, etc. If by that point you can't find them, you can choose to enter them as a lead directly from the advanced search screen. This was why we put it where we did.

I can see where you are coming from and that it might have been a better choice to be consistent with the lead status being unchecked in the Outlook plug-in. However, the Outlook plug-in also does its own search (similar to the advanced search) when attempting to add an activity for a customer into Method. It assumes if you don't find a customer with that email, chance are you'll want to add them as a lead.

Hope this helps! Keep the feedback coming. It helps the entire community.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

pdirect — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 23:36:11 GMT

John, that is entirely unlikely that most people will close 100% of their leads. My point is consistency. The Outlook integration piece has this box checked, but the Method web interface has it unchecked. And besides, if it's so easy to customize John, then you could customize it to be unchecked. The problem with customizing screens is that the custom screens don't receive updates.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

John M — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:39:55 GMT

Heres the problem,

I perfer that the check box be unchecked. This is becasue I am closing in 100% of my sales. The great thing about this program is you can simply make a change to your liking.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

pdirect — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:36:40 GMT

QuickBooks doesn't even have a lead status only option, so that doesn't make sense.

And besides, you automatically check this box in your Outlook Integration tool, so why not be consisten in your own application? I showed the Outlook tool to our reps today and they thought it was wonderful that the integration tool automatically checked this box. It's confusing to users when your own software is not consistent.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Method_Michael — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:28:53 GMT

pdirect,

pdirect:

I know I can check that box, but the point is that the box should ALREADY be checked by default as too many times the reps forget and don't check it. This box is checked by default with the Outlook integration tool, so why not have it checked by default in the Method web interface?

We try to make Method mimic QuickBooks as close as possible and since QuickBooks doesn't have a lead status only option we make that option unchecked by default.

-Michael

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

pdirect — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:45:05 GMT

I know I can check that box, but the point is that the box should ALREADY be checked by default as too many times the reps forget and don't check it. This box is checked by default with the Outlook integration tool, so why not have it checked by default in the Method web interface?

And I know I can customize the the screen, but I try to avoid that if possible so that our screens are updated to the new version automatically.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Method_Michael — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:40:07 GMT

pdirect,

To create a customer as a lead you do not have to go into the advanced search options, you just need to check the Is Lead Status Only checkbox under additional info. If you customize the screen you can have it automatically default to checked by setting the default value for that checkbox or moving that checkbox to the Address Info tab instead of being in the Additional Info tab.

-Michael

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

pdirect — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:42:00 GMT

Forcing users to go through an unusual method of doing something never works as far as adoption. Most users would never think to go to "advanced search" to create a new lead. There is no logic in that.

No I can try and instruct our users to do that, but it's just one more hoop they have to jump through and they likely will not remember. It would make more sense to ALWAYS have "lead status" turned on by default and then turn off if unchecked or if a transaction is entered.

In fact, this not being checked is a big headache for us as reps are constantly forgetting and we get a bunch of leads showing up in QB.

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:49:39 GMT

KevinB:

Heya Ryan - thanks for the reply!

however, the method of going through the advanced search method does not work as stated. if you create a new customer lead from that button, on the Additional Info tab, true the Lead Status Only box is checked, yet the Customer Is Active box does not exist yet. Once you save the page, the Customer Is Active box then appears and by default, it is checked, meaning it does appear in QBooks - when you don't want it to. (no transaction has occurred either to trigger a dump into QBooks)

any work around on this or do you need to customize screen for this feature to work properly?

thanks! - Kevin

Hey Kevin,

I'm going to have to correct you on your last post in regards to how Method would handle the "lead status" that Ryan suggested. By setting the customer to "Lead Status Only" and using the option that Ryan suggested, although the check-box for "Is active" is checked, the customer will not show in QuickBooks. Try it out and you'll see. :) The customer will only appear in QuickBooks when one of two things happen.

1) You un-check the box for "Is Lead Status Only" OR

2) A transaction goes through for a lead and Method automatically will set them to being a real customer by un-checking the box for you.

Have a good evening.

Danny

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

KevinB — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:34:00 GMT

Heya Ryan - thanks for the reply!

however, the method of going through the advanced search method does not work as stated. if you create a new customer lead from that button, on the Additional Info tab, true the Lead Status Only box is checked, yet the Customer Is Active box does not exist yet. Once you save the page, the Customer Is Active box then appears and by default, it is checked, meaning it does appear in QBooks - when you don't want it to. (no transaction has occurred either to trigger a dump into QBooks)

any work around on this or do you need to customize screen for this feature to work properly?

thanks! - Kevin

Re: "Is Lead Status Only" Issue

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:21:27 GMT

Hey Kevin,

If you want to enter in lead status clients all the time, you can do it 2 ways:

1, Customize the screen so by default "Is Lead Status" is always checked.

2, Or, you can use the "Advanced Search" button that's located on the Customer List screen, and then select "New Customer (Lead Status)" from the pop up window. This allows you to automatically enter Lead into Method that wouldn’t go over to QB until a transaction has occurred or you manually uncheck “Is Lead Status”.

If you want to customize the screen, that is fine. For a feature this small, I would not recommend customizing this screen. When you first get your account, the screens you see are from an online template. Those templates do get updated from time to time. If you customize the screen, you will not be using the online template anymore.

If you do want to customize the screen, make a copy of the "Customer" screen and you will find the field "is lead status only". Once you find this box you will be able to choose if its selected by default or not.

Hope this helps.