The following are some of the common terms you will encounter as you use CRM systems.
Lead : A lead is a prospective customer. In a CRM system, prospective customers are first entered into the system as leads. You may collect leads from your marketing events such as conference, advertisement, trade show etc. The goal is to convert a lead into a customer. Not all leads will result in a sale and be converted into a customer. This lead will contain all the information about the contact or the account available at this sales stage.
Potential (also known as Opportunity):A potential is an opportunity to make a sale, i.e. a potential sale. When you determine a lead could generate a potential sale, the Lead will be converted to a Potential. In addition, an Account and Contact entries for this lead will be automatically created in the CRM system. Each businesses will determine when a lead should be converted to a potential. For example, a business may decide a lead that requests a quote can be converted to a Potential. The Lead entry will be deleted to avoid confusion and duplicate entries. All the information collected for the Lead is still available in the CRM system, but will now be presented in records for Contact, Account or Potential.
Account: An Account is a customer account record for a customer or prospective customer. When a Lead is converted to a Potential, an Account for the prospective customer is automatically created in the CRM system.
Contact: A Contact is the contact information for a given customer or prospective customer. When a Lead is converted to a Potential, a Contact for the prospective customer is automatically created in the CRM system.
Quotes : A Quote is a records information for a sales quotation, i.e. price, quantities, and other terms, for a potential sale to prospects. The CRM system supports you in the creation of quotes for potential customers. A quotation can be created for a Potential, for easy and automatic transfer of the customer data to the quote.
Purchase Order: A purchase order (PO) is a commercial document issued by a buyer to a seller, indicating types, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller will provide to the buyer. The Purchase Order is a formal notification and approval for a customer order, and kicks off the next stage in the sales process when the PO is received.
Sales Order: A Sales Order is a document used internally by businesses to track and complete a customer order. A sales order may be for products and/or services. A CRM system allows you to record and manage Sales Orders and related information as part of your sales process. Once a quotation is approved, a Sales Order can be created directly from a Quote detail view. All the relevant data from existing records will be automatically populated in the Sales Order.
Invoice: An invoice is a commercial document issued by a seller to the buyer, indicating the products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller has provided the buyer. Once a quotation is approved, an Invoice can be created directly from a Quote detail view. All the required data will be automatically added to the Invoice.
Campaign: A Campaign (or Marketing Campaign) is a marketing effort to increase sales through a set of marketing activities. The goal of this effort is often to generate new leads and help convert them to new sales. A campaign can have other goals, e.g. improve the awareness or brand of the company. A CRM system can help manage, execute and monitor marketing campaigns.
Product: A Product is a business offering from a business to it's customers. A CRM system allows a business to record it's Products and related information so that sales staff and other CRM users can use product information fully and correctly in their business activities.
Vendor: A Vendor is a supplier of a product. The Inventory Management portion of a CRM system allows tracking of inventory being supplied by multiple Vendors.
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