Making and receiving calls are an essential part of a rep's daily activities. They need to track the calls that are made to the customers, schedule calls according to the customer's availability, take down the details of the calls, and make note of the calls that were missed. Despite their busy schedules, it's crucial that they take notes in an orderly manner so that they can refer to them later.
The Calls module layout gives the right platform to store and track every detail related to a call. The sales reps can enter call details like duration, date and time of calls, notes, etc.
The data can be used to evaluate the time spent on each call or the average time a call takes to complete and more details. The details can be helpful in generating reports on billing details, call status, number of calls made per day, and more.
Logging calls
You can log incoming calls, outgoing calls, scheduled calls, and missed calls. The type of call that is logged depends on the call start time. For example,
- If the call start time is in the present, then it is an outgoing call.
- If the call start time is in the past, you can choose either Inbound or Outbound call type and specify the duration.
- If the call start time is on a later date, then you can schedule calls.
- Missed calls cannot be entered manually, they will be automatically captured from the telephony service that is integrated with the Vertical Solution Application. While making an outgoing call via the telephony service, the purpose of the call should be specified.
To log a call:
- In the Calls module, click Create Call. You can also associate a call to a lead or contact by clicking Add New -> Call in the Open Activities related list in the record's details page.
- In the Create Call page, fill in the call details. In Call To, specify the Lead/Contact name.
- In Call Start Time, specify the date and time.
- According to the selected time, the other sections related to outgoing, incoming, and scheduled call will be displayed.
- Enter the Call Duration in minutes and seconds. Note that this option will be available only for the outbound and inbound call types.
- Choose the Call Type from the drop-down list.
- In Related To, select a module from the drop-down list. You can enter or search the record name.
- Enter the Subject.
- Based on the call start time, enter details in the subsequent sections:
- For an Inbound call, specify the Reason for the Incoming call.
- For an Outbound call, specify the Purpose and Outcome of the outgoing call.
- For a scheduled call, specify the Purpose of the call.
- Click Save.
Associate calls with CRM records
To associate calls with CRM records:
- Click the Leads or Contacts tab.
- Select the record for which you want to log a call.
- In the Record Details page, the existing call details, if any, are displayed.
- Click the Subject, Activity Type, Status, Due Date or Owner Name links to sort the display order of the records.
- Click the Edit or Delete link to modify or delete the call details respectively.
- Click the Log a Call link.
- In the Log a Call page, enter the call-related details.
- Click Save, or click Save & Create Follow-up Task to save and create a follow-up task.
Customizing the Calls layout
The layout is divided into four sections, that have default fields which allow the reps to capture basic call information:
- Call Information
- Purpose of Outgoing Call
- Outcome of Outgoing Call
- Reason for Incoming Call
You can customize the layout by adding custom fields to all the sections, except Call Information. The total number of custom fields that you can add are:
- String fields – 40 (Includes single line, pick list, multi-select pick list, and multi line)
- Max limit for Multi line, pick list, and multi-select pick list - 10 each
- Number fields - 10
- Decimal and Percentage fields - 20
- Date fields – 10
- Date/time fields – 10
To add custom fields:
- Go to Setup → Modules and Fields → Calls.
- Click the Standard layout. Alternately, hover over the Standard layout and click More → Edit Layout to add fields to the Standard layout.
- From the New Fields tray on the left, drag and drop the required field types.
- Name the field.
- Click Save