Introduction

With a global customer base, it is not always possible to have personal interactions with your customers every time. Vtiger CRM’s exclusive feature, the Deal Room is a great digital solution that aims to bring the sales teams, customers, and other stakeholders on the same page. It is a collaborative tool between users and customers, it provides a platform for those associated with a deal to:

• Virtually meet and discuss deals
• Access and share information
• Ask questions and interact

Features 

• A single platform for all stakeholders associated wit a deal to interact
• Available for every deal record in the Deals module
• Available in your preferred language
• Auto-updates and displays a deal’s sales stage progression precisely
• Provides updated tasks and events for a deal’s specific sales stage

Benefits

• Easy to access and use.
• Bridges the gap between different teams in the organization and your contacts
• Provides latest information about a deal to all concerned parties
• Available in multiple languages 

Functions

Using the Deal Room, you can: 

• Set up meetings with Contacts
• View tasks and events for a deal
• Ask questions and provide replies
• Share and access documents
• View timely deal updates
• Update and change Contact roles

In this article, you will learn about:

• Understanding the functionalities of the Deal Room
  • Screen functionalities
  • Multilingual Facet - Using the Deal Room in multiple languages
• Installing the Deal Room feature
• Accessing the Deal Room
  • User access to the Deal Room
  • Contact access to the Deal Room
• Using the Deal Room
  • Sending the Deal Room Invite
  • Enabling and Disabling the Deal Room
• Contacts Access to the Deal Room
  • Actions Available for Contacts in a Deal Room
  • Logging into the Deal Room
  • Logging out of the Deal Room

Key Terminology

Installing the Deal Room 

To use the Deal Room feature in Vtiger, you need to first install the Deal Room extension from the Extension Store. 

Note: The Deal Room extension is not available by default in the CRM. 

Follow these steps to install the Deal Room extension: 

1. Log into your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu.
3. Click Settings.
4. Click Extensions > Extension Store.
5. Look for the Deal Room extension.
6. Click Install.

Deal Room will be available under the Deals module.

Accessing the Deal Room

Follow these steps to access the Deal Room feature:

1. Login to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu.
3. Click Sales.
4. Look for Pipeline Management.
5. Select Deals. 
6. Click on a Deal record. The Summary View of the Deal record is displayed.

You can find the Deal Room button on the top of the Deal record screen.

User Access to the Deal Room

The user (Assigned To or Owner of a deal), Co-Owners (who also own the deal), and Reports To (Manager of the Assignee) users can directly log in to the Deal Room by clicking the Deal Room button.

Note: In this article, we refer to User, Co-Owner, and Reports To as Users of the Deal Room.

Contact Access to the Deal Room

Contacts for a deal (users added or linked as Contacts to a deal) can log in to the Deal Room only via the Deal Room Invite sent by any deal room user or member. All Deal room members are called Contributors. Any deal room member can send the deal room invite to their clients or customers.

The Deal Room Invite is an email invite link sent by CRM Users with which contacts log into the Deal Room. It is sent to the Contacts associated with the deal via email. To know more about adding or linking contacts to a deal click here.
Contacts who receive the link can log into the Deal Room using a valid email address and OTP. The OTP is sent to the primary email address listed in the Contact records. Contacts other than the receivers cannot log in to the Deal Room unless they have the OTP.

Using the Deal Room

Sending the Deal Room Invite

Follow these steps to send the Deal Room Invite from the User's end:

1. Login to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu.
3. Click Sales.
4. Look for Pipeline Management.
5. Select Deals. 
6. Select a deal. You will be directed to the Summary View of the deal.
7. Click the Email icon on the top right corner of the screen. The Compose Email window opens.
8. Click Insert Links.
9. Select Insert Deal Room Link.
10. The Deal Room link appears by default in the email.
11. Add email content and Subject.
12. Select To (contacts) email address.
13. Click Send.

You will see a Success message if sending the email was successful. 

Multilingual Facet - Using the Deal Room in Multiple Languages

Contributors can access the Deal Room as per their language settings in the CRM.

• For Users and Contacts, the Deal Room will appear in the language they have chosen under My Preferences in the CRM.
• If Contacts have no chosen language, then by default the Deal Room appears in the language chosen by the User.
• If a Deal is assigned to a Group and a Contributor has no chosen language, then by default the Deal Room appears in English(US) language.

Understanding the Functionalities of the Deal Room

In this section let us learn about the various features, functions, and sections of the Deal Room feature.

Let us now look at the Deal Room screen. 

Note: Most of the details mentioned below are related to a deal and are available in the Detail View of a deal record.

1. Deal name - Displays the name of the deal record. For example, Tender Appraisal
2. Contributor’s Name - Displays the profile (name and picture) of the contributors (Users and Contacts) when they log into the Deal Room.
3. Project Goal - Displays the details of a project goal. You can view the Project Goal field in the Detail View of a deal record. 
4. Project Objective - Displays the objective of the project. You can view the Project Objective field in the Detail View of a deal record. 
5. Go Live - Displays the Go Live Date for the project. You can view the Go Live field in the Detail View of a deal record. 
6. Assigned To Details - This section displays the details of the user or the group to whom the deal is assigned to or the owner of the deal (user). It displays the following details about the user:

1. Profile picture
2. Name
3. Primary email address
4. Office Phone
5. Mobile Phone
6. Schedule Meeting
   1. Schedule Meeting is shown if any Appointment Pages (Meet Me Pages only) are available for the user.
7. Contributors - This section displays all the members of a Deal Room such as:

The Deal Progression Bar displays various Sales stages and the Playbook Tasks for specific sales stages of a deal. Once all the Playbook Tasks for a sales stage are complete, the Sales stage automatically changes to the next Sales stage of the deal.The larger circles depict the Sales stages and the smaller circles depict the Playbooks Tasks of a deal. To know more about Sales stages and Playbooks Tasks of a deal click Sales stages and Playbook Tasks.

Color Codes for Sales Stages

Different color codes have been set up for the Sales stages of a deal:

a. Green - A green circle with a tick mark depicts a Completed Sales stage.

b. Red - A red circle with a cross mark depicts a Skipped Sales stage.

c. Yellow - A yellow circle with a tick mark depicts a Current Sales stage.

d. Gray - A gray circle with a tick mark depicts a Pending Sales stage.

Color Codes for Playbook Tasks

Different color codes have been set up for Playbook Tasks of a deal:

1. Dark Green - A dark green color circle depicts a Completed Playbook Task.
2. Red - A red color circle depicts a Skipped Playbook Task.
3. Light Green - A light green color circle depicts a Pending Playbook Task.

Note: Clicking the next icons (<,>) present on the  left and right of the Deal Progression Bar allows you to navigate back and forth. 

9. Next Actions

Before we go on to learn Next Actions let us understand a ‘Mutual Task/Event’ for a deal.

What is a Mutual Task/Event for a deal?

• A Mutual Task/Event is a task or an event where both the customer and the user are mutually involved with a task or an event for a deal.
• Any task or an event for a deal becomes a mutual task or a mutual event when you enable the checkbox for the 'Is Mutual' field available under Task Details and Event Details. You can view this field in the Detail View of a Task or Event record. 

In the Next Actions:

• Only a deal's current Sales stage’s Mutual pending Playbook Tasks and Mutual pending Other Tasks are displayed.
• Contributors can mark any task as Completed by clicking the checkbox beside the respective task.

10. Questions

The Questions tab displays a list of:

• Questions posted by contributors within the Deal Room and their resolution status.
• Public comments that are posted for a deal in the Activity section of a deal record. 
  • If CRM users post a public comment for a deal, it appears as a question under Questions in the Deal Room by default.

In this section you can ask a question, and provide replies. You can also edit a question and if a reply was satisfactory, you can mark a question as resolved. Let us look at the actions available in this tab.

Asking a question - Clicking the Ask Question button lets you ask a question which will then be displayed under Questions.
Follow these steps to ask a question :

1. Click the Ask Question button. The Ask Question window is displayed.
2. Type your questions in the Ask Question window.
3. Click Post.

Your question will now be displayed under Questions

Replying to a question  - Clicking the Reply button allows you to reply to any question in the Deal Room.

Follow these steps to reply to a question:

1. Select the question you want to reply to.
2. Click Reply. The Reply window is displayed. 
3. Type your reply in the Reply window.
4. Click Post.

You can view your replies for specific questions in the Questions section. Simply click on the question to display the replies.

Editing a question or a reply - Clicking the Edit button allows you to edit a question or a reply.

Follow these steps to edit a question or a reply:

1. Select a question or reply you want to edit.
2. Click Edit. The Edit Comment window is displayed.
3. Edit a question or a reply.
4. Click Post.

You can view the edited questions or replies under Questions. 

Note: You will be able to edit questions or replies posted only by you and not other members.

Marking a question as Resolved in the Deal Room - If a reply was satisfactory, you can mark a question as resolved by clicking the Mark as Resolved button.

Follow these steps to mark a question as resolved:

1. Select the question you want to mark as resolved.
2. Click Mark as Resolved.
3. A pop-up displays a message asking you to confirm - Are you sure you want to mark this question as resolved?
4. Click Ok.
5. The question you edited will now have the Resolved label.

The questions you have resolved will appear under Questions with the Resolved label.

Note: Under Questions, questions that are not marked as resolved, will have the label Open.

Posting a Public Comment in a deal record

Follow these steps to post a public comment: 

1. Login to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu.
3. Click Sales.
4. Look for Pipeline Management.
5. Select Deals. 
6. Select the deal you want to comment on. The Summary View of a deal record is displayed.
7. Add your comment in the Activity section.
8. Click Post a comment and mention. The Comment window is displayed.
9. Type your comment.
10. On the Comment button, click the down arrow.
11. Click Post and publish to portal.

Note: Not selecting Post and publish to portal will make your comment a private comment and it  will not be published in the Deal Room.

12. Go back to the Deal Room.
13. Refresh the Deal Room by clicking the Refresh icon on your browser..

You can view the comment you posted  under Questions in the Deal Room.

11. Files

In this section:

• Only Contacts can upload a document by clicking the Upload Document button.
• Contributors can download a document by clicking the Download icon.

This section:

• Displays the documents uploaded by Contacts in the Deal Room. 
• Displays the uploaded public (only) documents linked with the deal on CRM.

Documents that are uploaded by Contacts in the Deal Room will be linked with the deal record on CRM. Their document records will be created in the Documents module as well.

12. Timeline

This section displays timestamps for activities and updates such as Document Uploads, Mutual tasks, and events status changes of a deal.

13. Team

This section:

• Displays a list of Contacts along with their roles.
• Lets Contributors select or update the role of any Contact from the drop down.

Note: Roles updated for Contacts by any contributor from the Deal Room will by default be updated and displayed for the respective Contact in the deal record on CRM.

Enabling and Disabling the Deal Room

In this section let us learn how to enable and disable the Vtiger CRM Deal Room feature for a deal.

Only CRM Users can enable and disable the Deal Room feature for a deal.

Follow these steps to disable the Deal Room for a deal:

1. Login to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu.
3. Click Sales.
4. Look for Pipeline Management.
5. Select Deals. 
6. Click on a Deal. The Summary View of the Deal record is displayed.
7. Click the down arrow on the Deal Room button.
8. Click Disable Deal Room.
9. A pop-up with the confirmation message Are you sure you want to disable Deal Room access for this deal? is displayed. 
10. Click Ok.

You have now successfully disabled the Deal Room for a deal.

Note: When a Deal Room is disabled for a deal, the Dealroom Restricted field available under Deal record > Details View > Deal Details is checked by default. 

Follow these steps to enable the Deal Room for a deal:

1. Login to your CRM account.
2. Click the User Menu.
3. Click Sales.
4. Look for Pipeline Management.
5. Select Deals. 
6. Click on a Deal. The Summary View of the Deal record is displayed.
7. Click Enable Deal Room.
8. A pop-up with the confirmation message Are you sure you want to enable Deal Room access for this deal? is displayed.
9. Click Ok.

You have now successfully enabled the Deal Room for a deal.

Note: When a Deal Room is enabled for a deal, the Dealroom Restricted field available under Deal record > Details View > Deal Details is checked by default. 

Actions Available for Contacts in a Deal Room

Contacts associated with a Deal Room are users added or linked as Contacts to a deal.

They have limited actions but they can: 

1. Add Contributors to the Deal Room
2. Schedule a meeting with the user to whom the deal is assigned.
3. Upload files in the Files section.
4. Log in and out of the Deal Room

Note: The above actions are available only to Contacts in a Deal Room.

Adding Contributors to the Deal Room

If you are listed as a Contact in the Deal Room, follow these steps to add members to the Deal Room: 

1. Login to the Deal Room.
2. Click Add Member. It will take you to the Add Member window.
3. Enter the below information:

1. First Name - The first name of the member.
2. Last Name - The last name of the member.
3. Email - A valid email ID of the member.

4. Click Save.

The members added by Contacts will by default be listed under Contributors and added as Contacts in the Deal Room. They will also be added to Contacts in the deal record.

Scheduling a meeting

If you are listed as a Contact in the Deal Room, follow these steps to schedule a meeting:

1. Login to the Deal Room.
2. Click Schedule Meeting. It will take you to the recent Appointment Pages (Meet Me Pages only) of the user to whom the deal is assigned if available for the user.
3. You can schedule a meeting with the user from the same page. To learn more about scheduling a meeting click here.

Uploading Files 

If you are listed as a Contact in the Deal Room, follow these steps to upload a document to the Deal Room: 

1. Login to the Deal Room.
2. Click the Upload Document button. You will be directed to the Upload document window.
3. Click Browse to view and select the file.
4. Select the file you want to upload.
5. Click Save.

You have now successfully uploaded a document on Deal Room.

Contacts Using the Deal Room

Remember the Deal Room is a common platform for all those associated with a deal. Then how do Contacts log into the Deal Room. Read on.

How Contacts log into the Deal Room?

If you are a Contact, follow these steps to log into the Deal Room:

1. You will receive the Deal Room Invite via your email.
2. Click the Deal Room link.
3. You will be directed to the Deal Room login window.
4. Enter your email address in the email field.
5. Click the Send OTP button.
6. The message OTP sent successfully is displayed if OTP was sent successfully.
7. The OTP to access the Deal Room is sent to your email.
8. Enter the OTP in the OTP field.
9. Click Join.
10. You have now logged into the Deal Room.

With this you have successfully logged in to the Deal Room via the Deal Room Invite link.

How Contacts log out of the Deal Room?

If you are a Contact, follow these steps to log out of the Deal Room:

1. Click your Profile tab displayed on the top right corner of the screen. Logout button pops up.
2. Click Logout.
3. You are now logged out of the Deal Room.