Are your email workflows a time saver or time waster?
This could be your time, or you PA’s time, and it all adds up to your business’s time in the end.
Old habits die hard, and if you have consultants with old emailing habits ingrained within email systems such as Outlook, and not your CRM, it may be beneficial to have your workflows processes analysed.
You may have an existing system, a recent upgrade, or perhaps you are looking for a replacement CRM. Whichever you have, you’ll want your end users using the system to its full email potential.
Whether your CRM sends and receives emails directly, or has email capture functionality, an email workflow review will help if you suspect a growing issue. Nipping it in the bud can avoid escalating issues.
I have come across interesting ingrained habits by experienced consultants – for example, sending emails from Outlook and copying their PA into the email for uploading. A crazy process creating more work all round! This particular process is problematic as employee email addresses may end up in the CRM, creating confusion and duplication problems. Unfortunately, staff don’t realise their habitual processes can cause such issues, and many situations like this don’t get realised for a while.
So, how do we solve a problem like this?
- Workflow analysis will establish current consultant and PA processes.
- Data analysis will work out the extent of the email data issue.
- If required, data cleansing will ensure the removal of misplaced data and, depending on the scale,
- manual or automatic upload for data correction.
- Create a simple workflow showing correct email processes.
- Brief training sessions for staff will demonstrate email best practice.
This simple re-education of staff should improve consultant confidence with the CRM’s email capabilities, and free up PA time for other tasks.