Setting Up Your CRM

 

One of the most powerful features of the iHeart Business CRM is its flexibility. The setup wizard allows you to customize every piece of your CRM to your business.

 

Using the Setup Wizard

The setup wizard will guide you through setting up seven different components of your CRM. Click one of the links listed here if you'd like some extra info on any of the setup wizard steps.

• Contact Fields
• Contact Types
• Contact Statuses
• Contact Sources
• History Types
• Deal Statuses
• Project Statuses

 

How to Customize Your CRM Components

While you're editing each of these components, you'll use the same tools to add, edit, copy, delete, or re-arrange items.

 

Adding Items

Click the blue + Add button in the top-right corner of the screen to add new items. You can also click + Add New at the bottom of each page. Enter the name of the item you'd like to add and click Submit to save.

 

Editing Items

To edit any existing CRM item, hover over the name, click the  icon, then edit and click Submit to save.

 

Copy / Re-name

You can quickly duplicate a field to re-name it by clicking the ellipsis icon and selecting Copy. Next, update the name and click Submit to save.

 

Deleting Items

If you need to remove an item, hover over the name, click the ellipsis icon, then select Delete. use the options in the modal that displays to confirm you'd like to delete the item, then click Delete.

 

Re-Arrange Items with Drag-n-Drop

Items will display in your CRM in the same order they're listed on your CRM Setup. If you'd like to re-arrange, just drag the item into the correct order. 

 

Why Customizing Your CRM is Important

Ok, now that we've covered how your CRM items are customized, let's dive into what each component is and how you can optimize it for your specific business.

 

Step 1: Contact Fields

Contact fields are the individual fields where your contacts' info is displayed. Add fields to organize the different types of information you want to collect, such as phone number, email, etc. There are lots of pre-set field options for things like pre-formatted numbers, email addresses, and more.

Think about all the different details you might want to store for each new lead or customer, and add fields here for each one. Remember, not every field must be filled out for every contact in your CRM, so feel free to add fields that might not be used by every new contact.

Alternatively, if it's something you know you’ll want store for each new lead or customer, set the field to required to make sure the info is collected for each new contact. You can also add it to your ‘Add Contact’ form, that will display the field in the form you use to add new contacts.

Add as many fields as you need, and stay organized with headings. Headings will separate your contact fields visually when you're viewing a contact's details.

 

Step 2: Contact Types

Contact types allow you to organize your CRM by creating labels that can be assigned to contacts. Think about the different types of contacts you’d like to store and come up with a list of types that can easily identify the most important categories. It can also be quite helpful to sort contacts in your CRM by type, so if there are categories of contacts you often want to see as a group, add them as contact types and save yourself time and effort.

 

Step 3: Contact Statuses

Statuses can be assigned to your contacts at any point to help provide context to how they're doing at that very moment. Having an up-to-date status on each contact will help your team stay up to date.

Think about the lifecycle of your contacts. Do you manage a 'new lead' differently from a 'current customer'? If so, add statuses that'll help your teammates know exactly whats needed. As time goes on, you can change the status of the fly for any contact to keep everyone informed.

 

Step 4: Contact Sources

Contact sources are used to track any place that brings you new contacts. If you have a billboard ad on the interstate, that's a source. If you use a form on your website that automatically creates contacts in your CRM, that's a source too! Stay in tune with the traffic sources that send you the best contacts with contact sources. Add a source for each way a new contact can come your way.

List anything from your website forms to your aunt Linda that just can’t quit bragging to her friends about your business. Knowing which sources bring you the most valuable customers helps you focus your marketing on the right places.

 

Step 5: History Types

If you’d like to track activity between you and your contacts for things like phone calls, meetings, or emails, use history types! You can add history items to mark any kind of activity.

Think about the ways you regularly interact with each contact and add a history type for the most important ones. Then when your teammates have any kind of interaction with a contact, they can quickly and easily add it to the contact history and keep the whole team up to speed.

 

Step 6: Deal Statuses

If you’d like to use your CRM to track a sales pipeline, Deals are the tool for you. Deal statuses provide insight into the current state of a deal that you're working on. Add the statuses that make sense for your sales process. 

Does your team work on ‘bids’ instead of ‘deals?’ No problem. Start by customizing the deal term itself, then add custom statuses to describe where it’s at in your pipeline. Any teammate will be able to see the status for any deal, giving them the details they'll need to keep the deal moving and turn them into sales!

 

Step 7: Project Statuses

These are similar to deals, but where deals track proposed work, projects are intended to let you track the actual work you do once the lead is a customer.

Start by customizing the ‘project’ term to fit your business, then add as many custom statuses as needed. When your teammates jump in, they'll know exactly what's new with each project. 

 

Editing Your CRM Settings After the Setup Wizard is Complete

Once you’ve completed the setup, you can always go back and make changes to your CRM Settings by navigating to the CRM, then selecting Settings from the page menu at the top of the page. CRM settings are listed in the left column sidebar navigation. You can edit the appropriate CRM setting from there.