Adding Prospects

The following steps will explain in detail how to add a new Prospect.

The topic has the following sections: General Tab, Detail Tab, Activity Tab, Notes Tab,  and Special Pricing Tab.

General Tab

1.First click on the Prospects topic from the Contact Manager topic in the Main Menu.  This will open the Find Prospect search form.  In this Find Prospect form click the New Prospect button in the lower left hand corner of the form.  This will bring you to the Prospect form, cleared so you may enter a new Prospect.  The cursor will be flashing at the top of the form in the Company field under the General Tab.

2.You can then enter the Company Name.  It is not necessary to add a Company name but this will give you another avenue to search for that prospect in the future.  If you enter a Company name, that information will print on the reports throughout the program.

3.VisionCore will automatically assign a unique Prospect ID for each Prospect since the program comes with the feature that allows automatic assigning of Prospect IDs in the Starting Numbers form.  You may disable this automatic assigning of Prospect ID numbers by going to VisionCore Main Menu, clicking on the following: the Company Preferences Topic, the General Tab, the Starting Transactions Numbers box, the Cards Tab, the little white box to the right of the Prospect ID field that has a check mark it and the word Enable to the right of it.  With the Auto Prospect ID field disabled, you may assign a unique Prospect ID which can be 20 alphanumeric characters in length.  For example:  Joe Smith might be referenced as SMITJ01 using the first four letters of the last name, the first letter of the first name and then 01.  There are many different naming conventions to choose from when creating your ID's.  Some companies use the phone number or just a unique number for their ID's.  When you have finished entering data for each field, press the TAB or ENTER key to move your cursor to the next field.

4.The next step is to select a Prospect Type.  The Type field is a great way to categorize and group your prospect contacts.  There are a few default types that have been added when you created a new data file.  Of course, you can edit this list by clicking on the little button next to this field, which will open the Prospect Type form.

5.You can then fill in all the basic prospect information like Salutation, Title, First Name, Last Name, Address, City, State, Zip Code, County, Country, Other Names, Phone, Fax, E-mail and Web Site.  This is some of the main data that will be displayed on the Bill To and Ship To sections of all orders and invoices created for this possible prospect.

Special Zip Code Feature
You will notice as you Tab through these fields the program will skip over the City and State and bring you to the Zip Code field combo box.  The zip code combo box will list every zip code you have entered up to this point.  If you enter a zip code that you have not used before, a message will appear asking if you want to add the add zip code.  If you choose to add the zip code then the Zip/Postal Code form will open.  You will then need to fill in the city, state, county and country and click the Ok button to add it to the Zip Code records.  The city, state, county and country will now be automatically filled in and you will never have to enter that information twice.  From now on in any form that uses zip codes you will be able to select and use the one you just entered saving you data entry time.  You can add, delete and edit zip codes from the Zip/Postal Code form at any time.
 
Special Address Feature
You will notice as a small colored Globe to the right of the address box.  If you have Internet access, once you have completed the address, City, State, and Zip Code fields, and, you click on the globe, you will be automatically brought to the Yahoo Web site showing the location of your Prospect on a map!

Setup Information

Terms is also a very important field.  In this field it follows the VisionCore defaults (setup tab in Company Preference), you can click the drop down button to be able to change the default Terms the way the prospects wants to pay for the merchandise.  If the Terms you want to use is not in the list box just go to the System topic in Main Menu and click Terms, in that way you can add or edit a terms.

You can use the Ship Via to setup a default shipping method for each prospect. Normally this will automatically  fill in with your default Ship Via setup in Company Preference form but you can change it, Just click the drop down button to be able to choose the way the prospect wants to shipped the merchandise.  If the Ship Via you want to use is not in the list box just go to System topic in Main Menu and click Ship Via to be able to add or edit a ship via.

The Currency field is used to assign a default currency for each prospects.  Normally this will automatically fill in with your default Currency ID setup in the Company Preferences form but you can change it for foreign prospects.  If the currency you want to use is not in the list you will have to add it to the Currency Exchange Rate form.  Every time this customer is used on an invoice or order their default currency will fill in the Currency ID on that form.  You can still override the Currency ID after it fills in if you need to but it helps speed data entry.

You may place the  customer on Credit Hold by clicking on the check box to the right of the word Credit Hold:.

You may enable the Acceptance of Back Orders by clicking on the check box to the right of the words Accept BO.

You may click on the check box by the word Active to show the Prospect is an Active Prospect.

Setup Tab

You can get to the Setup page of information by clicking on the Setup tab. This form contains Detail Information and Credit Card Details.

Detail  Information

1.First enter the Customers Credit Limit.  This credit limit will be tracked by VisionCore as you add invoices and receivables for the prospect.  If the prospect ever goes over their assigned credit limit VisionCore will alert you with a message, which you can even password protect using the Security form.

2.The Balance Field will display the Prospect  current outstanding balance. This is based on all their Posted Invoices, Opening Balances, Deposits and Receivables.

3.The Tax Code field  and Freight Tax combo box fields are very important.  They allow you to setup a default Sales Tax ID for each individual prospect  so that when you select this prospect for a sales or service transaction the sales tax assigned here will automatically fill in that form.  You must make sure you have already setup your sales tax in the Sales Tax Codes form before you can use this.  The Tax Code and Freight Tax  fields will automatically be filled in with the values setup in the Security form > Default Accounts tab > Sales.

4.In the Rep Group field you may assign this prospect  Sales Rep Group from the Sales Rep Group combo box.

5.In the Sales Rep field you may assign this prospect' normal Sales Rep from the Sales Rep combo box.

6.In the Warehouse field you can assign the Warehouse you would like by clicking on the drop down button in the  combo box and select the warehouse of your choice from the mini-form that appears.  The Warehouse choice(s) that appear in the combo box will be the one you entered during warehouse setup.   You also have the option of going directly to the Warehouse form by clicking on the Ellipse button to the right of the Warehouse field.

7.The Pricing field is a very powerful way to assign specific pricing discounts to each of your prospects.  There are several you can choose from including Discount Sales Price, Markup Standard Cost, Multi-Level Pricing or None.  When you add a new prospect the default for this field is None, which means the prospects pays the normal price for all items.  Below is a description of how the other 3 pricing levels work.  If you would like additional information on the extent of the pricing levels, please see the Inventory Pricing Levels document.
 
Discount Sales Price
When you select this pricing a field called "Percent" will appear to the right of the "Pricing" field.  Here you enter a percent that you want the selected prospect to get off of the normal sales price of every item sold.  If you enter 5% in this field and you sell an item to this prospect  that normally sells for 100.00 the program would automatically give this prospect a 5% discount and the price would be 95.00.
 
Markup Standard Cost
When you select this pricing a field called "Percent" will appear to the right of the "Pricing" field.  Here you enter a percent that you want the selected prospect to get added to your cost of every item sold.  If you enter 5% in this field and you sell an item to this prospect that normally sells for 100.00 but costs you 75.00 the program would automatically added 5% to your cost of 75.00 and the price would be 78.75.  The Markup Standard Cost is useful for prospects that purchase a lot from you or maybe for close friends, family members or employees you want to give a good price to.
 
Multi-Level Pricing
When you select this pricing a field called "Level" will appear to the right of the "Pricing" field.  Here you enter a level number between 1 and 20 that you want the selected customer to have.  If you enter 2 in this field and you sell an item to this prospect  that prospect would get level 2 pricing on that inventory item if there is any level pricing breaks for that inventory item.  This pricing option is solely based on whether or not there is multi-level pricing setup in the Inventory form for the selected item being sold.

Credit Card Details

1.You can enter the Card type by clicking the drop down button, there are available Card Type options store in VisionCore, to be able to add or edit the Card Type you want, just click the ellipse button to be able to open the Card Type Form.

2.You may enter a prospect default Credit Card and Expiration Date if you wish.  This information can also be printed at the bottom of all the printed invoices if you wish by selecting an option in the Print Invoice form.

3.You can fill up the other Credit Card Information such as Name, Billing Address, Zip/Postal Code and Country.

Detail Tab

You can get to the Detail page of information by clicking on the Detail tab.  The Detail Tab consists of three areas which will be described below: Company Information, Default Information, and Prospect History.
 

Company Information Area

The Company Information area has several fields like Manager, Assistant, Office, Department, Profession, Nickname and Location that are all completely optional fields, which you can use for any data you see fit.
 

If the Default Information area you may enter data in the fields such as Rep Group (with the Prospect Company's name), Sales Rep (the Salesperson's name in the Rep Group), Referred By, and Source (where the Prospect learned of your Company or Products).

Default Area

1.In the Rep Group field you can assign this Prospect a Sales Rep Group (their Company name), or, select the Sales Group from the Sales Rep Group combo box.

2.In the Sales Rep field you can assign this Prospect their Sales Rep, or, select the Sales Rep from the Sales Rep combo box.

3.In the Referred By field you can enter additional information on who or what source the Prospect was referred to you by.  This can be helpful if you track how a Prospect found out about your business--such as from a magazine ad, Web site, direct mailing, friend or referral.

4.The Source field.  This a great Campaign tool that enables you to track where your Prospects are finding out about you.  You have the option of selecting other Sources from the combo box as well as adding sources to the combo box by clicking on the small magnifying glass button to the right of the Source field.  See the Source form for further information.

Prospect History Area

Prospect History Area is read only and the information displayed here is calculated and displayed for your reference.

The Entered field will reflect the date this Prospect was first input into the program.  Click the little clock button in the Prospect History area to change the date field view to display the exact time the Prospect was entered in the date field.  Then click the little date button to view the date again.

The Modified date will reflect the date this Prospect's file has been changed in any way.  Click the little clock button in the Prospect History area to change the date field view to display the exact time the Prospect was modified in the date field.  Then click the little date button to view the date again.

Fields Tab

The User Fields area is used to store the names of different contact methods used like Phone, Fax, E-mail, Web Site, and any other contact information that you use.  Under the Field tab, simply click on the drop down button (the arrow head pointing down) to select the type of user field you wish.  Then, type in the Value (whether it be a phone number, an E-mail address, etc.) in the Value field.  As you can see, you may add a number of User Field by clicking the ellipse button beside the word Field.

Documents Tab

You can add Document in a Prospect Form by clicking the Add Document button and choose documents that is relatively important for you and your prospect. And if you wish to edit your document, just click the Edit document button. And if you wish to remove your document, just click Remove document button. All the fields in the Document Tab are read only.

Activity Tab

The Activity tab displays a single line item list of all the activities that have been entered for the selected prospect.  Clicking on the yellow folder button next to a specific activity will open the activity form displaying the details of that activity.  All the fields in the prospect activity are read only but you can click the right mouse button to sort any field in a different order.

To add new Prospect Activity click the last ellipse button next to a blank line item or click the Schedule button at the bottom of the form.

Notes Tab

The Notes tab displays a single line item list of all the notes that have been entered for the selected prospect.  Clicking on the ellipse button next to a specific contact notes will open the Prospect Notes form displaying the details of that contact log.  All the fields in the prospect contact notes list are read only.

Data Tab

The Data Tab provides you an area to setup an unlimited number of fields to record prospect data or questions along with setting up tabs to organize the data. The Data Fields form can be used to setup an unlimited number of fields in the Data tab.

You could have a tab labeled "Prospect Questions" with questions such as "How did you hear about us?" or "Do you own a store location?"

Special Pricing

Prospect Special Pricing is used to track any special pricing that you want to give a prospect on one or more inventory items or subcategories.  If you would like to add special pricing for your prospect.

Analysis

The Information Analysis tab consists of read only monthly and yearly total invoices sales updates.  This is a quick and convenient area to track your customers'' sales.When you are through filling out all of the information about your customer you can click on the New button to add another prospect or click the Close button to save the prospect and return you to the previous open form.