Introduction

Contact management in CRM is the process of storing and organizing information about your prospects, leads, and customers. 
It is not just another record storage system but helps you manage customer data and provides a single platform for marketing, sales, and customer support teams to access this information. With such a system, you can create and access customer records for every detail - everything from deals (past, active, and canceled), quotes, conversations, agreements to even discounts provided. 
Having these facts at your fingertips makes it easier to close deals while building healthy customer relationships.

Knowing that many businesses like to separate customer information into pre-sale and post-sale categories, Vtiger CRM provides the following two modules:

• Leads Module, to manage data on leads and prospects
• Contacts Module, to manage data on contacts after they become your customers

Vtiger’s contact management process is aided by features that will give you decided advantages:

• One View for Contacts
  • You don’t have to visit multiple screens to gather scattered data. Vtiger’s One View provides a unified 360-degree  view of a contact under the One View widget.  
• Quick Create
  • If you are short of time, use this feature to enter relevant information to create a contact record. Revisit your contact record later to enter other details.
  • Since Quick Create is available on multiple CRM screens, you can create a contact record from many places. 
• From a lead to a contact in a single click
  • Changing your lead to a customer or contact record is easy. All you have to do is change the Contact Type from Lead to Customer from a drop-down.

That was just a sneak peek. 
Now let us dive in a little more deeply to learn more about these modules and features and what you can do using them.

Leads Module

For many businesses, generating leads is the first step in their sales process. Few companies even have separate marketing teams to handle promotions and campaigns and generate leads.
The Leads module in Vtiger CRM helps you track, segregate, and display data regarding customer choices and decisions. This data can include:

• A prospect’s buying history
• Responses to promotions
• Responses to your meeting requests
• Reasons for deals not closing
• And so on...

Lead Management Process that maps to Vtiger CRM

You can map a lead management process to different apps and features. In Vtiger CRM, you can:

• Generate a lead and create a lead record
• Qualify a lead
• Assign leads to the sales team
• Convert a lead
• Set up notifications
• Send emails

Generating a lead and creating a lead record

You can generate leads from different sources such as trade shows, purchase lists, advertisements, websites, business cards, and referrals. You can introduce leads into the system, organize, filter, and qualify them.
You can add leads to the CRM by using the following features and tools:

• Vtiger Enrich - Social networks like LinkedIn are key data sources for sales and marketing. Install Enrich on your social media pages and capture potential prospects.
• Webforms - You can capture leads from the traffic on your website using Vtiger Webforms. This online form enables visitors to enter their contact and other optional information you wish to collect. 
• Manual entries - When a customer calls you directly about your product or service, you can enter this lead information directly into the system.
• Importing Leads - Some of the easiest ways to generate lead information is to purchase lead lists from visitor lists of trade shows, conference attendees, etc. You can easily import this data into the CRM in the form of .csv and .vcf files. 
• Cold calling - You can use the Phone Calls module to connect Vtiger CRM to hosted telephony services such as Twilio, Plivo, ViciDial, Knowlarity, etc. You can call your customers directly from the CRM. 
• Campaigns - Use Vtiger’s Campaigns module to save detailed information about campaigns such as webinars, trade shows, conferences, etc., and capture leads information.
• Email Campaigns - You can use the Email Campaigns module to send emails in bulk. You can track email responses and measure your customers’ areas of interest. 
• Webinars - When you want to host webinars or product launches to talk about your products, you can use Vtiger's Appointment Pages to reach clients in multiple locations.  You can use webinar sign-ups as a form of lead generation. 

Qualifying a lead

You can use profile scoring as a way to capture the attractiveness of a potential customer. Use Vtiger’s Profile Scores to define parameters and use scores to identify quality prospects! Using the profile ratings you have assigned to a lead, you can prioritize and spend time and effort on the right customer. 

Assigning leads to the sales team

Once leads are identified as sales-qualified, the sales team should reach out immediately to discuss their requirement and close the deal. Use Assignment Rules in the CRM to assign leads to your sales team and monitor targets. The following modes of assignments are available with Vtiger CRM to assign leads to your sales team:

• Round Robin - Records are assigned in a round-robin fashion. That is, the first saved record is assigned to the first selected member, the second record to the second member, and so on. 
• Least Loaded - In this method, records are assigned to a team member having the least number of open records. For example, if Alex has 5 open records and Christina has 10 open records, then the saved record will be assigned to Alex.

To learn more about lead assignment rules, click here.

Nurturing a lead

You can use engagement scores to rate your interaction with a prospect. Based on the score, you can determine whether a lead is interested in your product or service, and if follow-ups are required to nurture the lead. 

Converting a lead

The Contact Type field gives you various options for saving contact information. You can convert or save a lead under different categories such as Lead, Sales Qualified Lead, Marketing Qualified Lead, Contact, Competitor, etc. 

Setting alerts and notifications

It is essential that you set up alerts and notification to ensure:

• You do not miss out on following up with your contacts.
• You do not miss assigned emails from your managers.
• You receive regular notifications on your customer actions on your touchpoints.

Using Vtiger’s Actions, you will be able to view alerts, set reminders, and receive notifications. For example, you will be able to set and receive notifications about,

• Idle alerts
• Email alerts
• Document alerts
• Smart alerts (when the Lifecycle stage of a lead is changed to a contact)

List View

In the List View of the Leads Module, you can:

• Display saved lead records.
• Create and display lists for specific records.
• Edit a record.
• Personalize the List View by choosing the columns to display. 
• Use the Search option to look up records.
• Use Global Search to look up information in the CRM.
• Display the history of activities on contact records.
• Use Quick Create to create contacts, deals, events, organizations, etc.
• Use the Inbox feature to connect and use company mailboxes in the CRM.
• Use Actions to view activities, mentions, updates, and engagements.  
• Add a lead.

You can also communicate with a lead directly from the List View via phone call, SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
 

Contacts Module

When you convert a lead to a customer, the lead is saved as a contact record in the CRM. Converting a lead is simple. All you need to do is select the Contact Type as ‘Contact’ from the Contact Type drop-down. A contact record contains all possible information about a contact, from name and organization to telephone numbers and addresses.
Vtiger gives you multiple options to display and manage contact information - List View, Detailed View, and the One View for Contacts.

List View

The List View is the default screen that you see when you open Essentials > Contacts. You can use the List View to display and manage contact records. In the List View, you can:

• Display saved contact records.
• Create and display lists for specific records.
• Edit a record.
• Personalize the List View by choosing the columns to display. 
• Use the Search option to look up records.
• Sync contact information in real-time with other applications such as Gmail, Office 365, Quickbooks. Sync other records such as calendar events, invoices, payments, etc., for a contact. 
• Add a contact.
• Use Global Search to look up information in the CRM.
• Display the history of activities on contact records using the History icon.
• Use Quick Create to create contacts, deals, events, organizations, etc.
• Communicate with a contact directly via phone call, SMS, email, and WhatsApp.

Summary View

You can use the Summary View to drill-down into individual contact records. 
The Summary View displays information in neat little sections. In this view, you can:

• See the basic details about a contact such as their name, title, organization, salesperson the contact is assigned to, etc.
• Add a description of the contact in the Description textbox.
• View activities that have been performed on the record in the Activity Section. You can also post comments and mentions addressing your co-workers and users in the Activity section. 
• View the lifecycle stage of the contact and set the status of the contact.
• Edit the contact record.
• Communicate with the contact by email, phone call, SMS messaging, WhatsApp, logging a meeting, or scheduling a conference. 
• Send quotes and documents.
• Link deals to the contact.

You can also:

• Follow the record, tag the record, open the record in a different tab, and copy the record link
• Transfer ownership
• View contact hierarchy and follower information
• Set alerts
• Print the record
• Delete the record

In the Summary View, the collapsible sidebar contains widgets and shortcuts to many other functions such as One View, Events, Campaigns, eSign documents, Web chats, Surveys, etc.

Two important widgets that you can use our One View of Contacts and Contact Analytics.

One View of Contact 

Vtiger’s One View helps you display the following for a contact:  

• Organization of a contact
• Deals related to a contact
• Cases reported by a contact
• Email Campaigns sent to contact
• Quotes sent to a contact

Contact Analytics

You can use the Analytics widget to generate reports to get an overview of customer-related activities, analyze your sales process, and track sales team performance.
You can do comparative analysis and view information regarding: 

• Deals count and value by stage
• Cases counts by status
• Quotes count by status
• Invoice count and the amount by status
• Violated and escalated cases

Communicating with your Contacts

It is now easy to keep in touch and network with your contacts with just a click from your CRM screen.
The List View and detailed screens (for contact records) display telephone, SMS, and chat icons. You can use:

• Telephone icon: Use this icon to display the calling window and call your contacts. You can also add new phone numbers to your contact record from the Calling window.
• Email icon: Use this icon to compose and send an email. You can set reminders, track your email, and save the email as a draft. You can also send documents, agreements, quotes, etc., as attachments to your contacts. 

• SMS icon: Use this icon to send SMS messages to your contacts’ mobile phones.
• WhatsApp icon: Use this icon to send WhatsApp messages to your contacts’ mobile phones.

You can also share documents such as quotes, invoices, agreements, and documents that require approvals or signatures with your contacts and co-workers when using the above icons. 

What else is there in Contact Management?

So far, you have been reading about routine activities that you can perform using Vtiger features. Apart from these, there are also a few interesting aspects to contact management.

Automation in Contact Management (Workflows)

There are always a few repetitive tasks in a given workday, and some will need manual intervention. Wouldn’t you like to streamline your business by automating these repetitive tasks?

If your answer to the above questions is a resounding ‘Yes’, then you should try Vtiger’s Workflows feature. Using Workflows, you can automate tasks such as emails, campaigns, etc., which might take more time than necessary. 

Workflows will free up your time so you can concentrate on other important aspects of your business.

Integration with 3rd Party Apps 

Many businesses use multiple apps such as Google Contacts, Gmail, Twilio, DocuSign, or Tally on a daily basis. Be it accounting or telephony services, Vtiger CRM provides integration with many such apps. You can:

• Directly access these apps from your CRM screen.
• Easily pull or push data from all these apps into Vtiger CRM.

Consider these examples:

• You can integrate with telephony services like Twilio and make calls directly from your CRM.
• You can integrate with DocuSign and send documents to your customers and partners for approvals and signatures.

To see the list of apps you can integrate with Vtiger CRM, click here.

GDPR Compliance

General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR applies to businesses that store personal data (contact details, profile details, etc.) of European residents. Even companies with offices outside Europe that store or communicate with residents of Europe need to comply with GDPR.

Vtiger, with its Privacy Guard extension, follows GDPR compliance for Europe-based businesses and those businesses following GDPR guidelines. The app automates the process of storing, obtaining, and utilizing customers’ consents and encrypting sensitive data.

To know more about GDPR, click here.

Benefits of using Leads and Contacts Modules

The Vtiger Advantage! 
The Leads and Contacts modules in Vtiger CRM will help streamline your contact management process. In turn, you will be able to manage data, prioritize prospects, manage your sales team, and reduce the time and effort in repetitive tasks. 
As a result, sales teams can concentrate only on the set of leads that are very likely to purchase your product and will be able to close deals faster.
Moreover, you can manage data on current contacts to:

• Receive feedback on existing products and services
• Refine or upgrade your products and services
• Build a loyal customer base
• Give personalized experiences
• Drive future sales