Introduction

Telephone call scripts for one purpose or another are a common requirement in Maximizer systems. This demonstration set of forms is one of two that simulate a simple telesales script and can be used either to demonstrate MaxForms or as the basis for building a real client's script.

This sheet refers to Telesales Demo Version A.

Version B is very similar but shows a slightly different approach. A Generic base version is available as the basis for building a real client's form.

What is in a Telesales script?

A Telesales script consists of a series of forms that are linked together. Each question in the script is saved as a different form and, during the call, question forms are loaded in sequence.

Typically a Telesales form is built around four main areas, a question or questions, a guidance or sales notes section that provides the user with further pertinent information, an answer recording section and a navigation section that determines which form is loaded next.

The entry of answers into Maximizer is often into User Defined Fields. They can later easily be analysed or used in reports. Sometime a Note is more appropriate, or a Hotlist task or Calendar appointment must be created. All these options are available from any question form.

It is generally important to leave some choice about where to go next so that the user can cope with the unexpected in the course of the call. Normally the user will choose to go the "Next" question. This may be a specific question or the information entered on the form can be used to determine automatically which is the appropriate "Next" question for this particular call. This is called conditional navigation and works by retrieving the name of the next question form from a lookup file using the answer just recorded as the lookup key.

The forms in this set all also give the ability to go to any of the questions by choosing the question number or question topic from drop lists. It is common to allow the user to go from any point in the script to a final question or return to the starting question ready to make the next call.

Forms can be created from a template form, which is initially defined with a common style and some standard content for the whole script. The template form is saved in a new name for each new question and the content adjusted to suit the specific question. A script is easier to use if there is a coherent style and layout to the forms.

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What is in this demonstration?

The scenario used for this demonstration is of Telesales work on a list of cold call, company records that are loaded in the Maximizer Address Book window with the overall aim of obtaining a sales appointment in connection with the provision of Web services.

The purpose of the call is to identify the appropriate person, to obtain some qualification information about the company website and the extent of its integration with other company systems and to try to obtain a sales appointment.

The information obtained is recorded, the prospect is classified and any call-back or appointment scheduled in Maximizer. The user then loops back to the beginning and moved down to, and telephones, the next company in the list.

This demonstration consists of a small series forms called 1.zmf to 7.zmf. The "Home" (1.zmf ) form has four tabs and provides the functionality typically required at the beginning of a call. The standard "Down" option on the MaxForms menu enables the next record to be chosen from a call list loaded in Maximizer. The Dialling tab can be user to activate the Maximizer dialler to dial any one of the company's telephone numbers.

The first question tries to establish the appropriate contact person at the company and the remaining two tabs on this form allow a contact to be added if a contact name is obtained and the contact and company record to be edited. When a contact is added, a "Return to Company Record" button allows the user to change the current record in Maximizer back to the Company from the new Contact. The scenario assumes the information obtained will be recorded against the Company record.

Having established (hopefully) contact with the right person, the next form combines up to four questions to determine the use, if any, the company makes of a website. These questions could equally have been presented one at a time as separate forms instead of being combined together. The choice is a matter of taste and an alternative version B of the demonstration is available built that way.

Depending upon the answers (if any) to these four questions, one of five different forms (called 3.zmf to 7.zmf) is displayed when the user clicks the "Next" button. These provide questions, offers and sales points that are relevant to the degree of sophistication uncovered.

The combination of the answers to four different questions into the logic for the navigation to a different form is an example of how reasonably complex logic tables can be used with MaxForms. These are explained below.

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Practical Use for Demonstration

The User defined fields that are used by the form are listed below. These fields must exist in the open Address Book Folder for the form to run. They are incorporated in the MaxForms Demonstration Address Book Folder. This can be sent to you by Email on request or is available for download from www.saysales.com/try-it.htm.

A Column View and Macro are also included in it to produce a matching call report for all the Telesales information. (Remember Login is as MASTER with a password of "password" after conversion to the present Maximizer version format)

If you have built extra functionality into the MaxForms demonstration Address Book Folder which you have developed and do not wish to lose, then you can transfer the User Defined Fields and the accompanying Column View and Macro from a copy of the new Address Book Folder into your old one. To do this you should follow the same instructions as for "Practical Use for a Real Client".

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Demonstration Tips

As with all MaxForms demonstrations, you must open a suitable Address Book Folder that contains the appropriate user defined fields and then run MaxForms and the MaxForms file, in this case the Home question 1.zmf.

If you have used the form before, this is conveniently done by double clicking it in the recently used file list. We suggest you leave both the Maximizer and MaxForms windows open and use the Taskbar to switch between the two as necessary.

For this demonstration we suggest that you show the way a prospect list is built in the Address Book window in Maximizer. You should then run the demonstration and show how the telephone functionality works and how you can go up and down the list.

Simulate different answers starting with "No web site" and show how the Next form loaded depends on the answers received and how these answers are being recorded back into Maximizer,

Having covered the practicalities of using a script you might show how results can be presented in Maximizer by running the Macro and discuss how they can be used in a report writer or exported for analysis. At the same time they are available instantly to all users including remote synchronised ones.

You might then discuss how simply new scripts can be created and scripts modified, how flexible they are. The conditional Navigation is most easily explained by showing the structure of the lookup file that relates the topics to the forms. (Lookup30.zml) (Associate the .zml file extension with Notepad to enable you to display it easily by double-clicking it.) This makes it easy to grasp the way that an item chosen from a list is related to a specific question form.

It is unlikely that you will wish to show clients the way the logic is used to combine the results of four questions but you may be interested to see yourself how MaxForms can incorporate quite sophisticated logic to arrive at a result. The same techniques can be used of course in data recording as well as pure navigation around a script.

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Logic Tables

The third form of the demonstration combines the answers of four Yes/No a questions to determine where to go Next. The Yes/No values for each answer are converted into numeric values so that they can be logically combined. The table below is saved in a file called Lookup31.zml, and shows the values for each answer.

These four values from the four Yes/No answers are added in another control to provide a total score that is then used to determine which is the next question using the Navigation table. The name of the next question file is found by a lookup into file Lookup32.zml as shown below.

Although some of these scores are in practise highly unlikely, a result has been included for every possible score to ensure robustness. A range lookup could have been used to achieve the same result and would be more appropriate where there are more options or a response has a continuous range. (eg How many……?)

For simple logical combination of several answers, this method provides total flexibility so that any specific combination of answers can cause navigation to any specific question. In this case there are several values which point to the same file.

(As file LOOKUP31.ZML)

(As file LOOKUP32.ZML) The files are actually stored as "3.ZMF" and so on and are placed together in a single folder. MaxForms defaults to adding the ".ZMF" extension and looks in the same folder as the active form.

If there is only a single question on a form, then a single lookup file is sufficient to give a form name for each possible answer. This is the technique that is used with the "Divert to Topic Number Displayed" button on this form. This loads a list of possible topic titles from the file Lookup30.zmf and each returns the value of the name of the form related to the topic.

Although in this case the selected information is not saved into Maximizer, for a data collection field it would be.

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Practical Use for a Real Client

To transfer the required structure to use the form as it stands into the Client's Address Book Folder you should open up the MaxForms Demonstration Address Book Folder and choose the File Menu, Transfer, User defined fields and then select the fields below.

D01 Have a website?
D02 Orders off website?
D03 Integrated Order Process?
D04 Integrated Stock Control?
D10 Website Builder
D11 Website Maintenance
D12 Website Host
D99 Prospect Status

Repeat the operation with File Menu, Transfer, Column View and then select the View below.
Telesales Call Report

Repeat the operation with File Menu, Transfer, Macro and then select the Macro below.
Display Telesales Results

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