Add/Edit Prospects

PURPOSE

Use the Prospects Lookup Screen in the TrakMate for WindowsTM to look up existing prospects by either last name, prospect set-up date or customer ID so that you can edit or delete existing prospects. This option is also used to locate create new prospects.

HOW TO PROCEED

Ways to execute the Lookup Screen:

1. Click on the Activities Menu. Choose option 3 - "Lookup a Prospect"

2. Click the second icon on the toolbar.

3. Click on the <Lookup> button on the Prospect Action Toolbar (See image below)

 The Master Prospect Information Lookup Selection Screen appears. You can select a prospect by typing all or part of the prospects last name. More detailed information follows on using the prospect lookup screen.

Entering data from the UPS card

To setup a new prospect, type the last name on the Prospect Lookup screen (See image above). If you do not know the name, type "Unknown" into the field. A list of other prospects with the same last name (or with the name "Unknown") will appear on the screen. Review the list to see if your prospect has already been set up on the computer. If he or she has not been set up, click the <NEW> button. Enter the name of the prospect and press the <OK> button (See image below).

This will bring up the Contact Information Form. You may now enter your information from your Ups cards on the screen which appears (See image below). You may add additional data to the other Prospect Information Forms. The Prospect Information Forms consist of:

  • Contact Information
  • Letters Information
  • Vehicle/Trade/Negotiate Information
  • Statisitical & PKgs. Information
  • Action Plan/Comments/Misc. Information


    • Data from the Ups Card must be entered before you can fully use TrakMate for WindowsTM capabilities.

    USING THE PROSPECT LOOKUP SCREEN On the Prospect Lookup screen, TrakMate for WindowsTM provides you with two ways to look up an existing prospect. You may enter part or all of the prospect's last name, or you may enter the date the prospect came into the dealership. TrakMate for WindowsTM will default to today's date if you do not enter a date.

    NOTE: Enter the dates for the 20th century in the format: 01/21/95. For dates after the turn of the century enter a four digit year, I.E. 01/01/2000, 01/01/2001

    The customer ID is assigned by TrakMate for WindowsTM and consists of the three letters and 4 numbers all randomly generated. If you are setting up a new prospect in the system, you will click the <NEW> button and then follow the on screen prompts.

     Setting Up a New Prospect

    To set up a new prospect, type the last name on the Prospect Lookup screen. If you do not know the name, type "Unknown" into the field. A list of other prospects with the same last name (or with the name "Unknown") will appear on the screen. Review the list to see if your prospect has already been set up on the computer. If he or she has not been set up, click <NEW>. Remember, if you have a security level 1 (Salesperson), management will determine option of entering and editing new prospects.

    NOTE: Data you enter from here on will affect calculations on the TrakMate for WindowsTM reports.

    Locating Existing Prospects

    To locate a particular prospect whose name you previously entered into your TrakMate for WindowsTM data files, enter any information you have into the Prospect Look Up Screen. If you know the customer's full last name, for example, you will look through fewer names to find your prospect than if you know only the first letter of the last name or the date the prospect came into your dealership.

    The Prospect Form

    The Prospect Information Forms appear when you enter a new prospect or change information previously entered. The Prospect Information Forms record the information contained on your Ups cards and retains it for use in reports, letters, and on-line reviews.

    After selecting the portion of prospect information you want by clicking on a Prospect Information Form Name in the Prospect Toolbar, select the appropriate field box by clicking inside the box and then enter the data.

    Use the HINT box to view instructions or options for any field on any of the Prospect Information Forms. If the field has "drop down" capability (a field has drop down if it has a down arrow button to the right of the field) you can press on the drop down to see and select from the current list of choices for that field.

    Entering New Prospect Information

    Use the <TAB> keys to move from field to field within a form. The information you enter in the fields, is taken from the Ups cards. When you complete all data entry for one section click on another Prospect Information Form Name to complete the data entry. When all information has been entered, click on <Save> or <Close> to save the information to your disk.

    You will not be able to enter anything in the Customer ID field; TrakMate for WindowsTM creates this for you. Also, you do not have to enter anything in the salutation field; TrakMate for WindowsTM will automatically create a salutation from the information you entered. TrakMate for WindowsTM defaults to the Prefix and Last Name.

    View the HINT box at each field for further information about that field.

     DESCRIPTION OF PROSPECT INFORMATION FORMS

    Contact Information Form allows you to track your prospect by using information from the UPS card and updates from the salesperson's daily work plans. The following fields are required: Dept., Salesperson, Manager, and Status. Use the easy drop down boxes to make your entries.

    The RCD ("recontact date") field is linked to the Salesperson's Daily Work Plan if the status of the prospect is ACT (active) and to the Owner Follow-up Plan when the prospect's status changes to SLD (sold). If no date is entered, the prospect will appear in the Work Plans for a review everyday. Enter a specific date for review, and the prospect will not appear in the Daily Work Plans until that date.

    NOTE: On the prospect form, dates after the turn of the century must be entered with a four digit year, I.E. 01/01/2000, 01/01/2001.

    NOTES:

    RCD = Recontact Date Pre-programmed for Owner Follow-up Plan

    The system will automatically program an Owner Follow-up Plan to print out in three (3) days, from the Delivery Date field. The SOLD and Delivery field must be marked Y (yes) for this to occur. A date will appear in the RCD field, which is calculated three (3) days after Delivery Date. After a Salesperson's Owner Follow-up Plan is printed, the administrator of TrakMate for WindowsTM will program seven (7) days in advance in the RCD field. This prevents the same owners' names printing out the next day. This date also appears at the bottom of each owner's printout which prompts the salesperson to return his/her work plans. This procedure is accomplished by selecting the Optional Report feature from the Report Menu Bar. Under the Optional reporting you will select the "Select" button - select two data items, RCD <= today (date of the report ran) and STATUS = SLD. The records selected should be equal to the number of Owner Follow-up Plans ran for today. If so, then you select the "Change" button and Set data item of RCD = 7 days in advance of today’s date. The Owner Follow-up Plans are returned for updates and changes for the next RCD follow-up. The RCD can also be changed automatically by pressing the <RCD> button at the bottom of the Prospect Screen. Pressing the button will change the RCD according to a rigid schedule.

    The RCD (recontact date) rigid schedule is as follows:

    3 days     +     Delivery Date                      24 mos     +     Delivery Date
    10 days     +     Delivery Date 28 mos     +     Delivery Date
    1 mo     +     Delivery Date 32 mos     +     Delivery Date
    6 mos     +     Delivery Date 36 mos     +     Delivery Date
    12 mos     +     Delivery Date 40 mos     +     Delivery Date
    16 mos     +     Delivery Date 44 mos     +     Delivery Date
    20 mos     +     Delivery Date 48 mos     +     Delivery Date

    And, continues programming on 4 months plus Delivery Date

    The Email field is used when mailing email letters to the prospect. If an invalid email is entered or the field is left blank, email letters will not be sent and the letter will show up on the email sending error report.

    The Customer Profile Section allows a dealership to log any information that they choose such as: Buying cycles of prospects. You can track the interests and activities of family members, vehicles in the home (yr,mk,md), equipment, color, miles, purchase, or any other data you feel is important.

    DOB (Date Of Birth) and Anniv (Anniversary) fields are character fields, not date fields. It is suggested to use JAN or the number 1 in these fields. This will assist in a search under the Optional Reporting. This search will be made on DOB or Anniv equal to JAN or 1.
     Letters Information Form. To use the Letters option click on the Prospect Information Form Name which says "Letters".

    LETTERS: Dealership management needs to create and set up letters for different follow-up circumstances to allow for automatic mail merge. Suggested model letters are available under the "Create Letter" section that can be modified or edited to meet your needs.

    Two Options are available for mail merge of Follow-Up Letters.

    OPTION 1 Unlimited letters are available for mail merge, which can be programmed for specific dates on letter codes that have been previously created under "Create Letters" section by selecting the <Add> button.

    OR

    OPTION 2 TrakMate for WindowsTM will automatically set up dates and letter codes, that you have created or edited under the "Create Letter" feature and pre-coded under the Configuration Screen. If you use Option 2, the new prospect’s ACTive Status will automatically program your letters in the prospect's file. When the Delivery field is changed to "Y" from anything else (normally a "U" or "N"), the Sold/Owner follow-up letters will be automatically programmed after click <Save>. Sold and Delivery Date fields are required fields for this automatic procedure. Remember, enter a negative number for letters to print that many days before.

    NOTE: Sold letters key off the DELIVERY field and Sold Lease letters key off the MATURITY DATE field.

    NOTE: For Sold Lease letters, you can program a letter to be printed prior to the Maturity Date by using a minus sign (-) in front of the number of days to print. Unless the minus sign (prior to) is specified, the number of days to print is assumed to be after. This function also works with all other letters and the corresponding date field.

    REMINDER: All previous unprinted letters will be flagged so they will not print, as well as any letters that you have manually programmed at the time of changing the Delivery field to "Y".

    REMINDER: Option 2 will not affect prospects which have already been created or marked as delivered, only those which are created today and in the future.

    CAUTION: If a prospect’s delivery and delivery date data have been entered incorrectly and now the file needs editing, you need to be aware of the following. The ‘Prospect Form’ controls only pre-coded letters that have been setup under the "Automatic Letters" feature when you enter data in the delivery and delivery date field. If you do a Mass Change under the Optional reporting to the DEL (=Y) and DELDATE fields (to a specific date) the Mass Change will not change the Status, RCD or change or remove letters that are already programmed in that prospect file. This will need to be done manually. RCD (re-contact date) will be calculated from the delivery date plus 3 days. If you have a RCD already in the field, it will not over write the RCD.

    Vehicles/Trade/Negotiate Information Form. Vehicle(s) allows you to track the vehicle(s) the prospect is interested in. Enter the word "Locate" in the Stock Number field if you will be needing to locate a particular kind of vehicle for your prospect. In the optional reporting section of TrakMate for WindowsTM you can select on this field to find all of the prospects that need a vehicle located. Use Trade area to track the vehicle(s) the prospect is trading in. Use the negotiations area to keep track of the negotiations that took place. Enter the last or most current figures agreed to by the customer. For future correspondence to customers on their Birthday or Anniversary, these fields are provided.

    Statistical & Pkgs Information Form. Use this area to track your dealership's advertising efforts, the steps-to-a-sale, types of Ups and overall progress of the deal. This information is used to generate the statistical reports located under the "Reports" Menu.

    Action Plan/Comment/Misc. Information Form. Action Plan/Comment allows a salesperson to keep personal notes on their selling progress with their customer such as dates, times, comments, hot and cold buttons of a customer, specific needs or any management commitments, etc. This area has virtually unlimited storage allotted. Miscellaneous provides virtually unlimited storage to track any information you choose or specify that might not be pre-programmed in TrakMate for WindowsTM system.

    Changing Existing Information

    Use the <Tab> key or click your mouse to move to the next field you wish to change. You may <Shift>&<Tab> keys to go back to a field. Type the new information into the field. Click on <Close> or <Save> to save all changes. You may change as many fields as you like. The only field you cannot change is the Customer ID field; TrakMate for WindowsTM creates this field for you.

    Other change options are available as buttons on the Prospect Toolbar.

    To change an Active prospect to Sold, the Sold and Delivery fields need to equal (Y)es and the Delivery Date is required. With these changes the Status will change to SLD (sold) and the RCD (re-contact date) will be programmed three (3) days after the Delivery Date. The Owner Follow-up letters are listed on the Letter Form.

    Deleting a Prospect Record

    Use the Delete button to delete the record that appears on the screen. A beep sounds, and you are asked if you wish to delete the record. Click <Yes> to delete the record, or <No> to cancel the deletion command. Reminder: Once a prospect has been deleted, it cannot be recovered! Cut, Copy & Paste

    The Cut, Copy & Paste functions are available by choosing the Cut, Copy & Paste buttons from the tool bar or by choosing "Edit" from the menu bar of the desktop . These functions are available under the following sections: Action Plan, Customer Profile, and Miscellaneous. Cut, Copy & Paste work with the Create/Edit letter selection as well. You can also use <SHIFT> <DEL> and <SHIFT> <INS> instead of the Cut and Paste buttons, respectively.

    MASTER LIST OF MAKES AND MODELS

    IMPORTANT!

    When you enter the make and model, be sure to enter them exactly the same way each time. For example, if you abbreviate Oldsmobile as Olds and then enter Oldsmobile in an attempt to find the record, you will not find it.

    When you enter abbreviations into these fields, be aware that if you use any of the mail merge letters which draw from these two fields, the abbreviations you use in your data entry will appear in the letter.

    MAKE MODEL
    Oldsmobile Cutlass

    Print Blank Master List of Makes and Models

    Use the HINT box for Help in any field.

    Press <F1> for additional Help if needed.

    Delivery Date field must be entered to take advantage of the automatic <RCD> button, which allows an automatic re-assignment of the RCD (re-contact date) field.

    To make changes to a record, type over what appears.

    To make your changes permanent either click <Save> or <Close> on the Prospect Form Window.

    To assure that you can recall a record after you have entered the information into TrakMate for WindowsTM, be sure to enter data into the "Vehicle" and "Trade" fields consistently.

    To help you locate a vehicle for a prospect, be sure to complete the Stock # option or type the word "Locate" into the field.

    To temporarily drop a prospect from the active prospect file, type DRP into the status code field. The prospect will no longer be included in the Salesperson's Daily Work plan, or on-line reviews, but the record remains in the file.

    To delete DRP prospect records from the file, click <Yes> on the prompt which appears during system shutdown or press the Delete button to delete prospect while in the prospect's file.

    To return to the previous menu without recording changes, click the <Cancel> button.

    Topic 5a