The Enquiries module is the place to store your new business opportunities - otherwise called new business "leads". If someone asks about a product or service you sell, if you provide a quote or proposal, or perhaps you meet someone at a conference and they give you their business card and say "let's chat", then this Blink module is the place to store this information. The benefits of using this module are:
- by storing your enquiries you can measure your progress over time
- you will have a centralised place to remember future business opportunities
- you can keep detailed notes, so if you have an important discussion or meeting you can record it here
- you can record important data about future business opportunities like probability and value of the deal converting
- you can set yourself tasks related to enquiries, so you never forget to follow-up
The Enquiries Module is accessed through the top menu bar using the People > Enquiries button. There are three main options in the menu:
New Enquiry allows you to create a new enquiry and save it in your Blink account.
Search Enquiry allows you to search through your existing enquiries and open, edit and view them.
Enquiries Dashboard provides you with charts and statistics to give you an overview of the enquiries you have stored in your Blink account.
Search and View/Edit an Enquiry
When you click Search Enquiries the search form will open in a new tab. This screen has a search panel on the top part of the screen and the search results on the bottom half of the screen. This will automatically default to the last 10 enquiries.You can search and filter enquiries that show in the results list by typing in the search box/es and clickingSearch. This will shrink the results list to just enquiries that contain your search strings. To view full details of an enquiry you can either double click the enquiry or right click and select View from the options. The full enquiry record will open in a new tab.
The Enquiries screen consists of the following tabs:
Enquiries Details tab shows the key details about the enquiry or opportunity. The Personal Details panel holds information about the person that is considered the key contact on the enquiry. The Contact Details panel holds the contact details (phone numbers, email addresses etc) of the contact. And the Enquiry Details panel holds information regarding the actual opportunity. This information includes key items such as the chances (probability) of winning the work, how much money it is worth to you and the source of the enquiry. Finally, the Properties box can be expanded to show you information about when and who created the enquiry in the system and the different status changes it has gone through.
Address tab shows the street and mailing address of the enquiry.
Tasks tab shows any tasks that relate to the enquiry. You can create a task related to this enquiry by clicking the Create Task button on the top of the form.
Email Correspondence tab shows any emails you have archived against this enquiry. To learn more about how to archive emails read the article How to: Archive Emails to Blink
Appointments tab shows appointments in the calendar that relate to this enquiry. You can open an appointment by double clicking on the appointment or right clicking and selecting View from the menu that appears. Note: you enter appointments by clicking on the calendar.
Notes tab shows notes that are related to this enquiry. This is a good place to store "file notes" or "contact notes" relating to this opportunity. For example, if you have a business meeting or a phone discussion relating to this deal you may want to store a short note about the discussion, it can also serve as a reminder for future meetings. To add a note to an enquiry click on the Create Note button on the top of the contact form.
Changing the Status of an Enquiry
An enquiry is designed to go through a number of "Status" changes helpfully reflecting the lifecycle of selling and closing new business, they are:
Open - all enquiries when first entered in the system will have a status of Open. This means the enquiry is being worked on and is considered active. Open enquiries can be considered your sales pipeline.
Converted - when you win some new business and you want to close the enquiry you would "convert" the enquiry by changing the status to Converted. Any enquiries with a status of Converted means you have successfully won the business.
Closed - this is used when the enquiry is no longer open and you didn't win the business.
You can use the Change Status button to alter the status of an enquiry. When doing this you can also enter a short note to remind you, this is particularly useful when recording why you may have missed out on winning the business. All status changes and notes are stored on the enquiry in the Properties panel - this is your history.
Converting an Enquiry (when you win business)
When you have won some new business it is important to close the enquiry by "converting" it. This process involves changing the status of the enquiry to Converted. At this time you may also wish to create a new client account, if this is a client that doesn't already exist in your system. Creating a new client account will copy information from the enquiry to the new client record, this will save you re-typing information. You may also do the same function to create a contact. To do either option simply click the Create Contact button or the Create Client Account button.