What to describe in the specification
- The stages, and the condition for moving to each next one.
- The required fields at each stage.
- Separate funnels for different services, if the processes differ.
- Sources: how the channel an enquiry came from gets recorded.
- Automations, each with the condition that triggers it.
- The list of reports you will need, and the fields without which they cannot be built.
- Access rights: who sees what and who changes what.
The three automations that pay off most
- Routing enquiries. An enquiry goes to its owner by rule instead of sitting in a shared place.
- A reminder about a stalled thread. The system tells the rep there is no reply or no next step.
- Handover after agreement. Date and time go into the delivery person's calendar, the order goes to production, documents get created against the order number.
Reminders replace daily supervision. The manager stops walking round to check who has not replied to whom and looks at the summary instead. That removes up to 80% of the daily grind.
Separate funnels for separate services
If the processes differ, the funnels have to differ. Trying to fit a long cycle and a high-volume flow into one funnel gives you stages where half the deals get stuck and reports that show nothing.
The check after rollout
- Take one closed month.
- Calculate revenue from the CRM and revenue from the bank.
- A gap of more than a tenth means your records do not work.
- Find where exactly: usually payments entered under the wrong date, or deals with no amount on them.