Don't know if this will be of any help, but possibly something like a Help Desk Management program, such as
http://www.perldesk.com/
HTH
cf <(E-Mail Removed)>
I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid.
Terry Bradshaw
--
let it be known on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 11:11:25 +0700
"-keevill-" <(E-Mail Removed)> scribed:
|Thanks for replying first !
|Pls see my answers/comments inserted into your text.
|
|"Paul Randall" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
|news:OwWl%(E-Mail Removed)...
|> I'm no expert on this subject, but here are some questions I would need
|> answered in order to better understand what is needed.
|> You say there are about 10 people handling the enquiries.
|> How many new enquiries (lets call these cases) on average occur per day.
|
|10 people responsible for handling but they also do other jobs. There are
|perhaps not more than 20 per day. They come from no more than 10 of our
|customers. i.e each customer submits multiple enquiries.Therefore the
|tracking is not so much as tracking the *customer* more like tracking the
|enquiry .
|
|
|> How many followup enquiries on average occur per day.
|typically a case would develop into a 'to and fro' email dialogue with extra
|questions and replies bouncing back and forth. This would go on perhaps for
|2 days to even a week before the case is completed.
|
|
|> What are your criteria for saying a case is closed?
|
|When either the customer says 'yes' or if he goes cold and emails dry up and
|we assume he has found a deal elsewhere.
|
|
|> What percentage of cases are closed in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 20 days? (or
|> whatever time spans are appropriate)
|
|probably 50% closed within 7 days.Others can go on for a month but only 10%
|I am guessing.
|
|> Do you archive or toss the complete cases?
|
|We archive the lot but only in Outlook email on each users PC. This leads to
|confusion where we have to scurry around from machine to machine in order to
|find out which person or persons dealt with the enquiry.
|
|> Do you have a database or or want one to help handle cases based on key
|> words or something?
|
|Yes I think so . Perhaps something where an email enquiry is handed out a
|case number and all corres related to the enquiry is kept on a central
|server. Then we can instantly see if it is in pending awaiting info or if
|it's being dealt with . Other staff should be able to take over and
|instantly see the state of play.
|
|
|
|>
|> -Paul Randall
|>
|> "-keevill-" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
|> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
|>> This is what we are doing now and then how we *think* we want to manage
|>> our
|>> daily office functions.
|>> We currently receive enquiries -sometimes price enquiries sometimes just
|>> information requests- and each of these emails are received every person
|>> in
|>> the office team in their Outlook email box.
|>> Someone starts to deal with an enquiry and in order that others don't
|>> also
|>> deal with it, they cc their replies to all the others in their office.
|>> Sometimes other people have to take over the enquiry if the original
|>> person
|>> is not in the office and they in turn cc any replies to all the others.
|>> This
|>> is manifestly inefficient in many ways as is obvious.
|>>
|>> We think we would like to handle things like this.
|>>
|>>
|>> When an enquiry comes in, it is automatically assigned a ref code/number
|>> and
|>> it remains in a sort of central email box where all can view it and all
|>> correspondence and action related to it. Then someone will start to
|>> handle
|>> the request and it should be apparent to the other people in the office
|>> that
|>> it is being handled by whoever.
|>> Managers should be able to see if an enquiry is being dealt with .
|>> Anyone should be able to take over the enquiry if the original person is
|>> absent or busy on another task
|>> So if the client calls the office for example, anyone of the team can
|>> instantly see its state of action.
|>> What advice can anyone give me to get on the right track here?
|>> Am I looking something like ACT or another customer management software
|>> solution ?
|>> Outlook shared calendar was suggested but I am not convinced that is the
|>> right tool for this job.
|>> We are not running Exchange Server , just standard POP accounts with
|>> Outlook
|>> 2003/2007 on the workstations
|>> Any advice with regard to finding the correct procedure with the right
|>> software is greatly welcomed.
|>>
|>>
|>> We are a small office with just about 10 people dealing with the tasks.
|>>
|>>
|>
|>
|
|
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