The ability to create and manage Statuses within Mekashron is a key element of tapping into the power that the application can bring to your telemarketing efforts. In this section we assume that you are logged in to your Mekashron system as an administrator, having already completed the following tasks:
1 - Introduction to Statuses
In Mekashron when a telephone call is made, a status is assigned to that call. As each phone call belongs to an entity, you can easily find all the entities with phone calls in a particular status.
Statuses Help Streamline Your Telesales Work: Once you have determined the statuses that reflect your telemarketing operations you can quickly and easily set them up in Mekashron. Then your Telemarketing users will be able to streamline their activities effectively for top productivity.
When your users work their telesales list, they will see the items for each different status highlighted in a different color.
Statuses can be Used to Manage the Flow of Campaigns: Even more helpful is the ability that Mekashron gives you to move prospects from group to group using statuses as you make telesales calls to prospects, either with your telesales team or using Mekashron's powerful automated calling facility (Voice Broadcasting).
Prospect flow for Telephone campaigns: As you will see shortly, there is an option you can choose when you set up a status, called Move to Category. This option enables you to have Mekashron automatically move the entity to this new Category (and Sub-Category, if desired) once the operator has completed the call.
So as a simple example if you want your telesales staff to call a certain list of prospects and then make a follow up call in the future you may have a Category called "First Campaign" and a Category called "Second Campaign". You set up a campaign and include all entities in the list in the "First Campaign" category. As your telesales staff finish a call to each prospect, and set the status for that call, Mekashron can automatically move the prospect (entity) to the "Second Campaign" category. You can later set up a new campaign and easily include all the prospects now in the "Second Campaign" category.
The prospect flow can be used in a similar way for Voice Broadcasting, as we will see later on in the Campaigns chapter.
2 - Managing Statuses
To set up Statuses in your Mekashron system, from the main menu select Campaign -> Telephone -> Telemarketing to open the Telemarketing form. Alternatively, click on the Telephone icon. In the Telemarketing form, select the Status tab.
Figure 2.1 - The Telemarketing Status Tab
The above screen shows a blank status list - before statuses have been set up in the Mekashron system. Note that even when you have not yet set up your statuses in Mekashron, there are a few default statuses that are available to assign to your phone calls. These default statuses are:
- No Answer
- Busy
- Invalid Phone Number
- Fax
Regardless of the statuses you set up in Mekashron, these default statuses will still be available each time a telephone call is made.
To add a Status, click the Add Status button, which takes you to the Status form:
Figure 2.2 - The Status Form
The first two fields to set up for a status are the Status Caption, and the Color - select any color from the list to assign it to a status, and then items in this Status in the system will be highlighted in that color.
There are some more Status settings to be aware of:
General Options:
Figure 2.3 - The General Options for a Status
- Remark Required - If you select this option, then your telemarketer will be forced to enter a comment against any call in this status when he edits it.
- Restore call to global list - The global list is a superset of all the telephone numbers in your Mekashron system. If a call is made and the number is wrong, your telemarketing user will assign the status of Invalid Number - and this action will remove the telephone number from the global calling list. If you set up a status, perhaps called "Number Fixed", which has the option Restore call to global list checked, then when this status is assigned the number will be returned to the global calling list.
- Dial next entity - This useful option will enable Mekashron to auto-dial the next number in the calling list after completing one that is in this status.
Redial Settings:
Figure 2.4 - The Redial Settings for a Status
There are three redial options to choose from, you can only select one option:
- Don't redial again
- Operator sets the redial date and time - If you choose this option, your telemarketer will be prompted to fill in the desired redial date/time.
- Redial after - With this option you can choose the number of hours / minutes before this call is redialed.
Note that the Redial Settings that you assign to a Status are of particular importance when you set up Voice Broadcasting Campaigns. In these campaigns, Mekashron will make automated calls to your prospects and ask them to make selections using their telephone keypad. You can see how this works in detail in the Voice Broadcasting Section of the Campaigns chapter. For now, please be aware that if Mekashron makes an automated call and during that call you assign a status with Redial Settings of Redial after x minutes, Mekashron will keep dialing the prospect over and over.
Telemarketing Options:
Figure 2.5 - The Telemarketing Options for a Status
In these dropdowns you can select a Campaign that you have set up, or else you can create a new message (Campaign). These options are very powerful. What happens is when a user completes a call and assigns this status, then if you have items selected in one or more of these options, the following will occur:
- Fax - The selected message will be automatically faxed to the fax number you have on record for this client.
- Email - The selected message will be emailed to the client.
- SMS - This message will be sent via SMS to the mobile telephone number that is stored for the client.
- Telemarketing - If a telemarketing campaign is set here, then the entity will be added to that campaign ready to be called by your telemarketing department.
For the Fax option you can select one of the campaigns in the dropdown, which shows all of the campaigns that you have previously set up for either fax or email (these are saved in the same format so the system can send a message originally set up for fax via email, and vice versa). Alternatively, you can click on the Add new fax button next to the dropdown:
Figure 2.6 - The Add New Fax Option
This will take you into the Mekashron Editor in the fax mode, so you can write a new fax message to assign to this status.
Figure 2.7 - Writing a New Fax Message
Similarly for the Email option, you can select a previously created email or fax campaign from the dropdown, or click on the Add new email button next to the dropdown:
Figure 2.8 - The Add New Email Option
This will take you into the Mekashron Editor in the email mode, so you can write a new email message to assign to this status.
Figure 2.9 - Writing a New Email Message
In the SMS dropdown you have the option of assigning an SMS message (Campaign) that you have previously created. Campaigns created for email or fax cannot be assigned here, as they are in a different format and cannot be sent via SMS. Alternatively, clicking on the Add New SMS button:
Figure 2.10 - The Add New SMS Option
... allows you to set up a new SMS message in the Editor:
Figure 2.11 - Writing a New SMS Message
Finally the Telemarketing option allows you to select any existing Telemarketing Campaign that you have set up in your Mekashron system, so that the entity will be added to that call list when this status is selected.
Figure 2.12 - Selecting a Telemarketing Campaign
Move to Category:
Figure 2.13 - The Move to Category Options for a Status
These options tell Mekashron to automatically move each entity to a specific Category and Sub-Category after they have received a call during this campaign. The available options in the dropdowns are the categories and sub-categories that you have already set up for your Entities (see Managing Categories in the Entities chapter). In addition, you can create a new category or sub-category by clicking on the red + icon. You also have the option of deleting existing categories using the red - icon or editing an existing category by clicking on the red spanner sign icon.
Here is a screenshot showing the status management form again, this time after multiple statuses have been added. Remember that these statuses will now be available within any new campaign that you create in future.
Figure 2.14 - A List of Custom Statuses
Notice that you now have the Edit and Delete buttons enabled - you can highlight any status and change or delete it using these buttons. Double-clicking on a status will also open the Edit Status screen for you.
Now that we have shown the power of Mekashron's Statuses for your telemarketin, we will see how to put this to use in the Create Campaigns and Using the Telemarketing System sections of this chapter.
3 - Summary
Now that we have seen how important Statuses are for managing your telesales operations within Mekashron, we are ready to learn how to set up campaigns, as you will see in the next part of this chapter.