Getting started with CRM

You've got a fresh new Brightpearl account in front of you, where do you start? This quick ten-step guide will walk you through the key features in Brightpearl CRM so that you know the basics amd get started using the system.

We recommend that you print this guide out (click the "Print this" link to the right) and work through each of the ten tips. There is also a video at the bottom where you can watch a demonstration.

Once you have logged on to Brightpearl, click "Contacts" in the main menu bar to enter the Green Contacts Zone.

1. Create a new contact

You can store all details for a contact in Brightpearl so you know they are in one place and do not need to update several address books or databases. As an example, create a dummy contact.

Contacts are potential leads, business services, suppliers and customers. Put everyone in Brightpearl so that you have a good database online.

Follow these steps to enter contact details:

  1. Click Add :: Contact
  2. Name: James Bond
  3. Company Casino Royal
  4. email: info@pearlsoftware.co.uk
  5. phone number is 08450038935.
  6. You will notice that there are several tabs on the contact edit screen - Go to the "Tags" tab and select one.
  7. Click "Save" to save the contact - if you leave the page without saving your information will not be kept.

 

2. Find your contact

We can search for a contact record in Brightpearl, by entering any of the contacts details in the "contact search" box (top right) of the screen. For example:

  1. Type "James" or "Bond" or "Casino" in the search box and hit go. You'll see your contact.

You can search using part of the contact firstname, lastname, company, email address or postcode.


3. Tagging

Tags are used to help organise your contacts into groups, you'll be using Tags a lot to keep everything under control. You can tag contacts with one or more tags and there is no limit to the number of tags you can add. Follow these steps to to create a new tag, which we will then add to our contact James:

  1. From the green contacts menu, hover over "By tag" and click "view/edit tags" - this takes us to the Tags list.
  2. On the right of the screen enter the name of a new tag, let’s call it "VIP Clients"
  3. Choose a colour for the tag using the colour pallet (to close the pallet click "done" and then click outside the pallet).You need to drag the cross-hair around the pallet to choose a colour.
  4. Set the parent tag to be "customers" so we know this tag is a subset of our Customers.
  5. Hit Save to create your new Tag.

We'll now add a Tag to the contact we just created.

  1. Search for the contact as above.
  2. Just under the contact company, you'll see their Tags. Click "Add a tag" then choose one from the drop down menu.
  3. Your Tag will be added. Simple!


4. Viewing communication history

We use the Brightpearl Timeline to keep track of notes and activities for a client, and see all interaction with them. The timeline will show everything in one place, meaning that you don't have to hunt around to find out the latest information.

  • Notes added by you or colleagues
  • Changes of contact status
  • Quotes and Sales
  • Emails sent/received by you and your colleagues (we'll show you how it works later in this guide)
  • Payments received
  • Calls, Meetings and Follow-ups

 

Let's call our potential lead, and add a note.

  1. Search for our contact James Bond using the "Contact search" box
  2. Click the orange "more actions" icon next to the company name, on the left of the screen.
  3. Click "View timeline".
  4. Once on the timeline, click "Add notes" near the top of the screen and then type in a summary of the call that you just had with James e.g. "James would like to discuss the 2010 contract. Please call back asap".
  5. Click "Add note". You'll see the note added to the timeline.

 

Towards the right of the timeline you can also update contact information. This is handy if you are making a note whist on the phone with a contact and need to add a phone number, address or tag. All you need to do is change the information then move to the next field and it will be saved.

While you're here, add another tag to this contact. You can see how dynamic tags can be.


5. Schedule an Activity

Use activities to help organise important work so that nothing gets forgotten. Follow these steps to add an activity for us to return James's call.

  1. Click "Add acitivity", which will open the activity screen.
  2. Choose yourself as the staff member and set the date and time to tomorrow at 1100.
  3. It's an important call so set an email and sms reminder 30 mins before the call is due to start.
  4. Save. This will close the activity box and take you back to the timeline.
  5. The new activity will be shown on the right hand side

To view your "to-do" list, click Activities :: My Tasks from the green contacts menu.


6. Statuses

All contacts should be assigned a status to help you understand which of your leads are your hottest prospects. We have provided you with popular set of statuses, which you can view by hovering your mouse over Contacts :: By Status in the green contacts menu.

Follow these steps to update a contact's status:

  1. Search for a contact and open their timeline or edit their contact record
  2. Change the status using the dropdown on the top right of the Timeline or to the right of the edit contact screen.

To view all contacts on a certain status

In the green CRM menu, hover over "by status" then click the selected status. You also can view your contacts by status in a chart form by clicking Contacts :: Dashboard. Clicking a section of the pie chart will take you to the list of contacts.


7. Batch update

You can update the data for several contacts at once using the batch update menu. Follow these steps to batch update:

  1. Create a new contact, and add the VIP Client tag to them.
  2. Choose to view all contacts with the "VIP Client tag" using the "By tag:VIP client" menu option.
  3. Click the tick boxes to the left of the contacts and a popout menu will appear.
  4. In the menu you can batch update the contact tag, status owner and also send batch emails.
  5. As an example, update the contact owner to yourself using the "set" menu, then choose "owner", which displays the list of your staff.


8. Advanced search & Favourites

To search for contacts with 2 or more attributes e.g. a tag and a status, you need to use the advanced Search. Follow these steps:

  1. Click Contacts :: Browse :: Search for contacts.
  2. Search for all contacts with the "VIP Clients" tag "assigned to" you. This will return all the contacts with this information.
  3. You can save any search as a favourite so you can go straight back to it later.
  4. Click "Add to favourites" at the bottom left of the screen.
  5. To see a list of favourites, click the tool box icon on the left of the screen.


9. Next steps

Now that you're familiar with the basics, you need to start planning how Brightpearl is going to work for your business. Before moving on to the next guide, we suggest:

  1. Plan your Tag strategy and set up a few tags for your contacts.
  2. Add any extra staff that will be accessing the system (click Setup:Staff & Permissions from the main menu).
  3. Explore the contacts dashboard.


10. Import your contacts!

To really see the benefit of Brightpearl, you need it to be full of your contacts. Read more about importing your contacts.


11. Finishing up

So actually this isn't quite a Ten Steps, but hey, it's given you a good overview of some of the basics. We go into more detail on each of the topics within their own section of our documentation.

If you want to reset your data and start over, then read about resetting your data here.

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