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Tips for Making Telemarketing in CRM 2011 Easier

Post Author: Joe D365 |

For organizations using Microsoft Dynamics CRM to track telemarketing activities, PowerObjects has a few tips for telemarketing in CRM 2011--particularly how to increase efficiency in collecting your telemarketing data.

Telemarketing can present pain points within an organization.  Often times, the caller gets a voicemail or a quick response.  For a 30 second phone call, a user does not want to spend 2 minutes entering information into CRM.  However, management often wants this data tracked for reporting.  Here are some ways Dynamics CRM 2011 can be configured and used to ease the pains of telemarketing:

  1. Use a Dialog.

By creating a dialog on the Contact and sharing it with the users, you can make the process of entering a Phone Call much quicker.

  1. Use Quick Campaigns.

By training your users on how to use Quick Campaigns, they can schedule and create multiple Phone Call records at one time instead of individually.

  1. Use On-Demand Workflows.

Creating and sharing some on-demand workflows with the users can allow them to complete Phone Calls in bulk, denoting that a voicemail was left.

In this post, we are going to look at how to use a Dialog to ease telemarketing pain.  Below you will find instructions for creating a Phone Call Dialog.

  1. Go to Settings > Customizations > Customize the Entity.
  2. Go to Processes and click New.
  3. Set the Process name.  Set the Entity to Contact and Category to Dialog. Click OK.

telemarketing in CRM 2011--create a dialog

  1. For this dialog, you don’t need any Input Arguments or Variables.
  2. Click under Steps.

Dynamics CRM 2011 for telemarketing

  1. Click the Add Step button and select Page.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Name the Page, then click the line below.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for telemarketing

  1. Click on the Add Step button and select Prompt and Response.

telemarketing in crm 2011--prompt and response

  1. Click Set Properties.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. There are many options for prompts- to keep the Dialog short and simple, stick with 2-5 prompts.  The Statement Label will not be seen by the users.  The Prompt Text will tell the users what data to enter in the field.  It is important to only prompt the users for Require Fields. The less data they are required to enter, the more likely they will provide accurate data. Here are some examples of prompts you may want to use:
    1. Due Date of Phone Call: Note that the Default is set to the Execution time. This will allow the user to skip over the field if they run the dialog during or immediately after the phone call.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Whether or not the Phone Call was Completed:

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Subject: If the Subject line is important to contain good data, prompt the user to enter it.  Otherwise, have this auto-populate with the Contact’s Name and Due Date.
  2. Left Voicemail:

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Once you have all of the prompts required, you are ready to create the Phone Call.
  2. Highlight the entire Page by clicking just to the left of the word Page.

telemarketing crm2011

  1.  Click the Add Step button and select Create Record.

telemarketing in crm 2011

  1. Select Phone Call then click Set Properties.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Fill in the fields on the Phone Call.

telemarketing in crm 2011

  1. Click Save and Close.
  2. If you opted for a “Left Voicemail” prompt, click on the Add Step and select Check Condition.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Set the IF statement to “If Left Voicemail Response Label Equals Yes.”

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Select the row below and click Add Step button.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Select Update Record.

telemarketing in crm 2011--update the record

  1. Click the dropdown to Create Phone Call and click Set Properties.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Enter “Left Voicemail” in the text box.

telemarketing crm2011

  1. Click Save and Close.
  2. Add other Conditional Statements as needed.
  3. Once completed, Activate the Dialog and share with users.

If you like this method, you should consider a similar process for all activity types, not just phone calls.  Keeping consistent processes in the system will ease training and user adoption.

Happy CRM'ing!

Joe CRM
By Joe D365
Joe D365 is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 superhero who runs on pure Dynamics adrenaline. As the face of PowerObjects, Joe D365’s mission is to reveal innovative ways to use Dynamics 365 and bring the application to more businesses and organizations around the world.

One comment on “Tips for Making Telemarketing in CRM 2011 Easier”

  1. I have some questions about CRM Telemarketing. Most of the advantage seems to be for training a team. I am a single telemarketer. I have questions about grouping accounts for a telemarketing campaign

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