TARGET Sales Management System - Application Notes
Prospect selection codes
What they are
TARGET provides a quick and easy way to categorize prospects
for later selection using selection codes. Each code
is a single character (A-Z, 0-9, special characters); each
prospect may be assigned up to 10 of these codes. The order
is not significant; ABC means the same thing
as BCA, that the prospect is on list A, list B
and list C. Since all printable characters are usable, a
selection code list of A,B means the prospect
is on list A, list comma, and list B.
What they mean
The meaning of selection codes is left to the user. There are
two main approaches in current use. The first of these is to
use codes to indicate the type of business done by a prospect;
thus F might mean fabrication shop, A aircraft manufacturer, etc.
The other approach is to specify the type of equipment the prospect
uses; here, L might mean lathe and P mean press. The level of
detail is adjusted based on the types of equipment sold by the
dealer in question. The selection code maintenance function in
the back office may be used to track meaning of the codes, but
this is not required.
How many codes should you have?
The most common use of selection codes is the
prospect list generator to send bulk
faxes or bulk emails. One technique for deciding the level of
detail for selection codes is to decide on a reasonable number
of faxes you might send in one batch. Suppose you would normally
be willing to send 500 faxes in one batch and you have 5000
prospects in the database; this means at least 10 codes would
be needed to produce the necessary numbers.
Assigning codes as you go
The best way to assign selection codes is to check and assign
if necessary each time you have contact with a prospect. This
requires discipline but pays off in the long run. Codes are
usually assigned by entering them into the appropriate field on
the Prospect Maintenance (F3) screen.
With the release of TARGET version 16.4 it is also possible to
have a selection code assigned automatically to an end user when
you quote a machine. The field on the Quote Maintenance (F5)
screen may be filled in manually or automatically based on the
UED category of the machine as controlled by the Category
Maintenance screen in the Systems Controls section of the Back
Office.
Catching up
So you've been using TARGET for weeks, months, years... and still
haven't assigned selection codes. Here are some ideas for getting
caught up.
1. Use the prospect list generator to assign selection codes; some
suggested methods for selecting companies to get a given code are:
- Partial name: if the company has "gear" in its name, it probably
uses gear machinery. Want fabricators? Check for "fabr" and
"custom metal" in the nanes.
- Use quote history by category to find all prospects you have
quoted a particular type of machine
- Use selection by machines to check for machine types WSBX;
if a prospect has one of these in a particular category he
should probably get that selection code.
2. Put the proper selection codes into the category maintenance
screen so that future quotes will generate proper selection codes.
3. Print a list of selection code definitions in big letters
and make sure everybody with a phone and a computer has copy. The
idea is to try to assign at least one selection code on each call.
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