Opening deals by themselves is useful only while it never annoys a customer or doubles up a salesperson’s work. Step 7 of a rule holds the checks, and every one of them is made again on the day the deal would open, including when somebody presses Open now.
The checks
- An open deal there already. If the customer already has an open deal in the new pipeline, however it was made, no second one opens.
- Do not contact. If the customer, or the contact person on the first deal, is marked Do not contact, nothing opens. See Do not contact.
- Once in a number of days. The rule opens at most one deal per customer in the number of days you set, 180 to start with. Untick it to have no limit.
- Never back. A rule never opens a deal in a pipeline that the first deal itself came from, however far back. So a rule from Tiles to Kitchen and another from Kitchen to Tiles cannot keep opening deals for each other. This one is always on.
Always checked
- A deal with no customer opens nothing, because there is nobody to open a deal for.
- A deal whose customer has been deleted opens nothing.
- A deal that was deleted opens nothing.
What you see when one stops a deal
The deal is not opened, and it is not tried again. The reason, in plain words, goes on the first deal’s History and on its Cross-sell card, for example Not opened: Anil Sharma is marked Do not contact or Not opened: Sharma Residence already has an open Modular kitchen deal: Sharma Residence: kitchen. Somebody who thinks the safeguard was wrong can open the deal by hand.
The checks are made at the moment the deal would open, not when it went on the waiting list. A customer marked Do not contact on Thursday stops a deal due on Friday.
Which to leave on
Safeguards apply only to deals a rule opens. A deal made by hand, and the extra deals from converting a lead, are not checked, because a person chose to make them.
Leave all four on to begin with. Untick the open-deal check only if a customer can genuinely have two deals in the same department at once, for example two separate sites. Shorten or untick the once-in-180-days check for departments where customers come back often, such as lighting or accessories.
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