When selling products, it's inevitable that issues will arise. Whether it be a damaged pallet on delivery or a complaint about an item being faulty, it's important to log all interactions about the issue to ensure it's resolved as quickly and professionally as possible.
In the CRM, you can add notes to a Problem, set Tasks to other CRM users, progress them through specified Statuses, and even create and add Documents for full transparency of the issue. You can then report on key information about these Problems to help better manage your products or service, turning a problem into a success.
First off, let's take a look at how to create a Problem.
Step 1: Create Problem
A Problem can be logged under a Contact, Company or Opportunity. We'd usually recommend creating a Problem underneath a Contact, so you can see exactly who at the business this Problem is logged with.
Simply click the plus icon in the top right-hand corner, and select 'Problem' from the drop-down.
Step 2: Add Information about Problem
A window will automatically open where you can fill out more information about the customer issue/query.
Description: This should summarise the customer's issue or query. It's important to ensure it's relevant, so other users of the CRM can clearly identify and find the problem.
Source: Here, you can record how the customer contacted you regarding this issue or query.
Types: The Type drop-down lists are there to help you categorise this particular issue or query e.g. 'Delivery'.
Analysis: This provides you with another drop-down to help record additional information about the issue/query. For example, you may wish to record if they have a contract with you or not.
Pipeline: Problem Pipelines should depict your Customer Service process using statuses as the different stages of that process. Please note: you can have multiple problem pipelines, if you have more than one customer service process.
Status: This will be determined by the Problem Pipeline selected.
Summary: Within the Summary, you can provide a brief overview of the issue/query being logged so other users can instantly see what the issue is about.
Once you're happy with the options you've selected, just press 'Create' at the bottom and you'll be taken to your new Problem.
Step 3: Enter Additional Information
The new Problem will contain the information you entered previously and will also allow you to enter additional information as required.
Priority: A number can be given to the Problem to help determine the priority order in which it needs to be completed i.e. a Priority of 1 could indicate this Problem is critical.
Customer Reference: If you have a customer reference system when a ticket is logged, then you can record this here.
Supplier Reference: If your supplier, such as your courier provider, gives you a supplier reference, then you can record this information here.
Step 4: Managing the Problem
After you've recorded all key information about the Problem, it's important to make sure someone takes ownership of it. Within the CRM, you can set yourself or another user a Task to ensure someone follows it up.
To set a Task on a Problem, click the Next Action Due button.
You can then select the User, Task Date and Type, as well as write a note. For more information on setting Tasks click here.
Finally, make sure you change the Status of the Problem as you progress the issue - especially once you've resolved the issue at hand. By keeping the Problem Status up to date at every step of the way, it makes it clearer in Reports which Problems have been closed off, and which are still open/unresolved.
