Communication Corner Session 5: Ticketing/CRM
Opal Business Solutions believes that being an effective communicator is important within a business. We will provide tips on how to be an effective communicator in our own, communication corner
People have different ways of communicating with other team members. Teams will use IM, chat, email, telephone and more. However, people forget the other tools they are using for communication. Excel spreadsheets, SSRS reports, Dashboards, Word Docs, ticketing systems and CRM tools. Many of these tools are designed to stand the test of time in terms of communication. They are meant to be read and interpreted at a much later time. Each one of these tools can be a topic for discussion in and of themselves, but here we will focus on communicating through your ticketing/CRM system.
When using your ticketing/CRM system you need to consider different factors. Some factors are listed below to help you when communicating through your ticketing/CRM system. They are in no order of importance.
- Consider your audience – Who is going to be able to see your notes, documents, etc? Don’t put something in the notes that you would not want a client or your boss to see.
- Create a trail – Make sure you use activities, notes and more to help you document what was done when. Both sales and service can do this by tracking activities that were made on accounts. Sales will be able to show you are reaching out to clients. Service can show what work was done and when, so there is no confusion about what was done.
- Assume you will never read it again – When you enter notes or document information in your ticketing/CRM system you are most likely not going to be the next person reading what you wrote. Your manager, client, or a person picking up for you will need to be able to fully understand what you wrote, so be as detailed and as simple as you can in your communications.
- Ask Why? – Why are you putting the information in the ticketing/CRM system in the first place? If you understand why, you will communicate clearly.
- Learning – The information in the system should be detailed and complete. You should be able to use the information to analyze, evaluate, and learn.
- Protection – Put enough information in there to protect yourself, the company, and to some degree the client.
Again, this is not a complete list, but rather just some tips and hints. If you take these steps and the company has a plan and strategy for the ticketing/CRM system the information will be of more value.