Category tags in action

Your to-do list is growing, the papers piled on your desk are multiplying and you can’t find that critical sticky note with the names and numbers of the people you were supposed to call... five minutes ago.

Category tags are the solution your sanity has been waiting for.

You may be familiar with organizing contacts into separate folders - leads, clients, vendors, maybe someday, etc. Folders are the VHS tapes of online organization. Category tags are Blu-rays on a 60" plasma; don't worry though, they're not that complex to operate! In fact, they are probably the simplest and most valuable feature in Solve360; a great combination don't you think? Category tags help your team:

• Define steps in your sales process
• Track and stay on top of those steps
• Effortlessly build contact lists
• Intuitively build new, targeted contact lists
• And as much more as your imagination can conquer!

Folders work in a linear fashion. One folder can hold many contacts, but a contact can only belong to one folder - unless you make copies of that contact, and let’s be honest, who has time to manage that mess!

Category tags break the restrictive barriers of folders. A contact can belong to many category tags. One contact in your system. Not copies of them.

The key is consistency You cannot create tags willy-nilly and output organized information. For that reason, only the admin account can create the category tags. However, everyone can use them. You should determine, as a team, what tags work best for you. They will help you, mold to you and evolve with you.

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Category tags 101

Contacts, Companies and Project Blogs each have their own distinct set of category tags. The big question is deciding which tags your team will use. Don't fret, if you think about it you probably already have things you like to track about your contacts and projects - start with those. You can add, rename or remove categories from the system at any time.

"Tagging" and "un-tagging"

• Click the Category tags button on a Contact, Project Blog or Company page
• Select or unselect the appropriate tag(s)

Adding and removing Category tags (Admin only)

To ensure consistency, only the administrator account can create and delete Category tags.

Adding a Category tag

1. Click Solve360 menu > Change Category tags
2. Select Contacts, Project Blogs or Companies from the first drop-down list, depending on which category you wish to create a tag for
3. Click the Add button
4. Type the name of your new tag
5. Click off the record to save it

Renaming a Category tag

1. Follow the first two steps under "Adding a Category tag"
2. Double-click the tag you wish to rename
3. Make the changes to the text
4. Click off the record to save your changes

Removing a Category tag

1. Follow the first two steps under "Adding a Category tag"
2. Select the tag you wish to remove
3. Click the Remove button
4. Click Yes when prompted to confirm your action

Tip Add a simple code in front of the Category tag name to force related tags to group together e.g. ".c {tag name}, #s {tag name}, etc."

Using Category tags

Now that you know the nitty-gritty of tagging and un-tagging items, (although it’s really not nitty nor gritty), we’ll explain some of the cool things you can use them for. Don’t feel constricted to this example, as the possibilities are endless.

Define and track steps in a sales process

Throughout the week, your team has talked to A LOT of people: clients, prospects, leads (hot and cold), etc. in order to maintain a steady flow of business. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, it’s hard to organize. Each client or prospect is at a different stage in your sales process – your team’s unique sales process. It’s easy to get off track and neglect to contact each person or business as much as you would like.

But what if you could easily monitor each contact through each stage of your sales process? With Category tags, you can, and it’s simple ...

1. Define and classify each stage of your team’s sales process, e.g. Prospect, Suspect, Lead, Follow-up, Nurture, Maybe someday, etc.
2. Tag contacts with the appropriate stage, as they move up to the next stage, un-tag the previous stage
3. Track your contacts by stage by changing the search filter to Show > Category tags

This ensures that you are maintaining effective control and communication throughout your sales process.

Tip You might be wondering, couldn't we use a custom dropdown field for this? Good point, lets sum that up: A dropdown field has the benefit of limiting the choice to a single value and is worth considering when structure (control) is warranted. Tags are generally easier to use, easier to search on, used to provide lists in reports and pop-up in places such as Webmail. The option of selecting multiple tags can also handle many different scenarios such as “show me all the high-value clients interested in attending next year’s conference”.

Need to make follow-up calls? Easy. Just tell your Solve360 Contact Records to Show the tag you designated as "Follow-up".

All your contacts tagged for Follow-up will appear in a neat list so you can make your calls without digging, guessing, or worse missing anyone.

Need to do more with that list of contacts? Click on the “Data” option in the toolbar to reveal features that help you create custom reports, mail merges, mass email campaigns, etc.

Don’t make follow-up calls? Or, do you call them “go-get-‘em” calls? Or do you need to manage a completely different type of data? That’s fine, too. Remember, Solve360 Category tags are completely customizable. Use your team’s words to organize your team’s process.

Answers to frequent questions

Can I add multiple category tags to an item? Yes, that's actually the point of category tags -- you can add as many as you like to every item.

Can I add a category tag to more than one item at a time? Yes, in the list on the left side of the window select the records you want to change and then choose the add/remove category tags option from the toolbar.

Are category tags included in the CSV file generated by the Export this list feature? Yes, category tags are included in the export file which is quite handy when producing custom reports or special mailing lists.