Notes, Comments and Communications – Oh My!
- Posted June 15th, 2010
- Filed under: User Experience, Using BatchBook
We like to think that we make BatchBook flexible enough to meet just about any team or group’s workflow. Sometimes though the flexibility and open nature can leave people wondering how to best take advantage of the features and functions that we provide. One common question we get in the Customer Experience group is people wanting to know how they should be using Notes, Communications and Comments.
While there are no hard or fast rules on how they should be used as each person sets up their account differently, I wanted to share with you how I see them being used in most instances.
I see the Notes area as being the place for the information you need to just keep in mind at a glance when looking at a contact record. I’m getting ready to call them but I need to be reminded how to pronounce their name, or I need to be sure not to call on a Tuesday morning, etc. If nothing else, I know I need to look at the notes before taking any action with this contact.
Comments are more of a collaborative or running commentary about the contact that is visible to your whole team. Some folks will include general info, a link to a relevant article about the company, items that are useful to you and your team in relation to that contact. For example, if a colleague were to see that a vendor you managed added a new product line they could add that in the comments so that when you logged in you would see that information and act accordingly.
The actual email that you send to the vendor, or the logging of the phone call between you and them is the communication. It is designed to track the direct interaction between you and them. One of the nice things about communications is that they can be tagged for easy tracking. Your response to the vendor based upon your colleague’s comment is best served as a communication.
If you then want to let the rest of the team know that you got a 20% discount because you are an awesome buyer / negotiator, you could let them know by adding your own comments.
Each group has their own workflow so it’s hard to say that this will work for you, or be the best method in your environment, but hopefully this helps get you thinking about how to best use Notes, Comments and Communications in your account.
