February 2012 - Posts

• Seamlessly attach Documents to QuickBooks transactions using Method CRM and SmartVault

  In last weeks blog I was raving about the new capabilities we’ve added to Method CRM allowing you to attach documents to leads, customers, opportunities, cases and solutions.  Now we’ve gone one step further and extended this capability to some of the most common transactions in QuickBooks.  Which transactions?  Thought you’d never ask.   Estimates Invoices Receive Payments Sales Orders (sorry QuickBooks Online community, no Sales Orders available yet) So what’s the big deal with attaching documents to transactions? Many times when you’re creating a transaction for customer, you’d like to be able to attach a document to that transaction for historic purposes.  A great example of this is an estimate.  If I am Mary the web designer and I send my customer a quote for how much it will cost to create their website, I want to be able to attach the scope of work to that estimate.  Why?  This way if they call in later on, I can see exactly what I sent them with that estimate.  Better yet, if I wanted to leverage some customization experience, I could customize the stock Method portal to make that document accessible to my customer while viewing the same estimate.  Yes.....I see you nodding your head. :) Okay....now you see the benefit of attaching documents to transactions but what’s the benefit of using SmartVault with Method CRM? Lets take this example one step further.  Manish is a sales rep for Best 4 You Services, a commercial painting company.  Manish sometimes works in the office but is usually on the road providing quotes to prospective customers.  He uses Method CRM to track all his contacts and never touches QuickBooks.  When closing his deals, each customer signs an agreement which is usually saved on his computer for that customer.   The accounting department is now complaining that they aren’t able to access to the commercial painting agreements, especially if their is a customer dispute over the amounts on the contracts.  Using the new document features in Method CRM and SmartVault, Manish is able to share these agreements easily.  Here’s how..... Want to learn more? We really wanted to get you started on the right foot when it comes to maximizing the new document features so we’ve published five new articles to our help center focused just on documents. To check them out, click here. Want more transactions?  Let us know! Right now the document features have been added to four transaction types in Method CRM.  Are there other transactions you’d like to see added to the list?  If so, which are the most important that we should consider adding first. We’re so pumped out these new document features and the long awaited integration with SmartVault.  We’d love to hear your feedback so please share your thoughts using the comments on the blog. Danny   Posted Feb 16 2012, 10:40 AM by Anonymous with no comments

• Improved Document Management, Increased Data Storage and Slick SmartVault Integration

  Document management has been a hidden gem in Method CRM since March 2010.  The initial release of the document library allowed for documents to be attached through the opportunity, case and solution screens.  But what happened if you wanted to attach a document only to a lead or customer?  Well....you could but it wasn’t easy since you had to access the document library through the opportunity, case or solution screens.  So we took your feedback and leveraged the new SmartVault integration to create some really cool enhancements and topped it off with increased storage!  Interested?  Read on. Dedicated documents tab We’ve made locating your documents much easier by providing you a tab displaying all of your documents in the document library.   Uploading new documents Documents can be uploaded directly into Method, linked to an existing URL or uploaded directly into SmartVault.  When uploading documents into Method, keep in mind that each upload can be a maximum size of 5MB.  Uploading bigger documents?  I’d recommend uploading these to your web server and then using the link option when uploading in Method. Editing existing documents From the edit document screen you can update the description, folder or who the document is assigned to.  Documents can also be linked multiple times to different objects.  So if you’d like to link the same price sheet to more than one customer, go right ahead! Easily attach documents to leads and customers A new documents tab section was added to the lead and customer screens.  This solves a previous pain point for Method users since now you can view existing documents or upload new documents in a couple of clicks. For users of SmartVault, if documents are linked to a lead, they will automatically appear in the SmartVault toolbar for that customer once they are converted into a customer.  No manual sync process needed! Improved document uploads in CRM screens All of the existing CRM screens have been updated to take advantage of the new document upload screens.  These screens require less clicks for uploading documents, are easier to understand and look way sweeter!   Increased document storage We’ve increased your data storage in a BIG way!  Each Method license now has 500MB of storage allowed.  What does this mean?  Well if you have 3 users, you now have 1.5G of storage.  Previously each Method account was allowed 250MB total regardless of how many licenses you had.  This gives you plenty of room to store your documents.   So what happens if you go over your allotted storage?  Same overage fees apply as before of $0.01 per MB per day.   What’s next? We’re not done with documents just yet.  In the coming weeks you’ll be able to attach documents to customer transactions such as estimates, invoices, payments and sales orders.  Check out this blog for more info in the coming days and weeks. So you excited now?  =)  We’d love to hear your feedback on the blog by using the comments link. Danny Posted Feb 06 2012, 12:08 PM by Anonymous with 2 comment(s)