What is a Company
A company is just that, a business where somebody works. The company view contains all contacts, sales projects, and prospects related to that company, as well as that company's specific information.
How to find Company information
- Membrain Menu:
All Company information is stored in the CRM area of Membrain. This is found in the main menu to the left.
- Recent:
From the CRM menu, you can also access the 5 most recent Companies you have visited. This shortcut is helpful when working with a handful of companies at a given time. - Search:
Perhaps the quickest way to find a company you are looking for is to use the search feature in Membrain. Just go to the search icon in the main menu (or hit S on your keyboard) and start typing! You will see a list appear, including Companies, Contacts, Sales Project, and Prospects. You can either choose from this list or hit enter to see a full list where you can see more options and select the company you are looking for. - Throughout Membrain:
You can also click into a company view from other areas of Membrain where you see a company name highlighted in blue font. For example, from a Sales Project, Prospect or a Contact View.
Company Information
At the top of the company view, a number of fields are visible:
- Name of the company and company logo
- Phone number, email address, website, social media links (Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook).
- Account manager for this company - This is the Sales Representative that is responsible for this Company.
Company Enrichment
Details about the Company can be updated automatically by using the Enrich icon, found just to the right of the company name. The Enrichment tool for companies can be found in several places. For instance:
- In a Company Page
- In a Prospect, Sales Project or Account Growth Project
- In the Preview dialog when hoovering on a Company from a List View or in Global Search
Clicking here sends Membrain out to a web service called Full Contact which retrieves and offers company and contact updates which you can choose to accept to keep your CRM database up to date with current information.
Fields that can be updated by using the Enrich service are:
- Company Icon
- Phone
- Website
- Social media links (LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Skype
Disable the Enrichment Tool
As a Membrain Administrator, you can disable the Enrichment tool in the Privacy & Security section in System Setup.
- Go to System Setup and scroll down to Privacy & Security
- Click on Contact/Company Enrichment Settings
- Disable Company Enrichment (as default, this function is enabled)
Current
Under this heading, you see all current Sales Projects or Prospecting Campaigns this Company is linked to. If the Company is part of a prospecting campaign, an overview of each prospect will be shown beside the binoculars icon. The same applies to Sales Projects, if there are any current Sales Projects, details of these will be shown beside a leather wallet.
History
Here you see all the historical Sales Projects and Prospecting Campaigns this company has been linked to in the past, including date stamp of when the change occurred.
You also see additional information here, such as if a Sales Project was won or archived, or if the Prospect was disqualified or converted to a Sales Project.
Search Current or History
If there is an additional list of current projects or historical prospects, you can click on the link and search for by specific field to drill down further.Preview on Hover
Hover over a sales project to see even more information (Click here to customize some of the information).
Information
This is where you find more detailed information about the company itself. Information is stored in Custom Fields, which are created by your administrator during the initial setup of Membrain.
Examples of information which can be stored here are things like Sales Characteristics, Industry, Financial Information etc. Anything that you believe is important to record about a company should be stored here. And information can be in the form of single or multiple select lists, text, or numerical fields.
The first 3 fields in this view are default system fields which can make filtering your company information even easier:
- Country - The country where this company is based
- Territory - Useful if you want to subcategorise your company list into larger global groupings (eg. Europe, North America).
- External Identifier - Necessary if you link to another program outside of Membrain and need to identify Companies by unique ID, rather than name.
If you would like to view the company page without the "Information" section, you can do so by selecting the arrow on the right hand side. This will hide everything under "Information."
Activity Stream
At the bottom of the Company View, you find the Activity Stream. This is a great resource to see all the activity, past and future in chronological order. Every appointment, email, task, note... pretty much anything that ever happens with this Company is recorded here. And all filterable of course to help you easily find the information you need.
You can also comment on these activities to keep all discussions right there in context, and even mention your colleagues to get their immediate attention on specific items.
Labels
To the right of the Company View, you will see a list of Labels that have been applied to this company. You can edit the labels assigned to the company by clicking on the edit button and choosing which labels apply from the list.
Company Hierarchy
This feature requires that you have the Add-On Dynamic Process Tools on your Membrain Account.
If you have the Add-On, you will see the Company Hierarchy below Labels, on the right hand side of the Company Page. This is where you can see a clear overview of how this company is related to any parent or subsidiary companies. From here you can set the parent company for the company view you are currently in.
Configure the Parent / Subsidiary relationship
- To set up the relationship between a Parent and a Subsidiary Company, you must start at the Subsidiary company and select the <SET PARENT COMPANY> option.
- Choose the company you would like to set as the Parent, and click Save.
- To remove a relationship previously set, click on the <SET PARENT COMPANY> and select CLEAR
- The company in bold font is the company you are currently viewing
You can also click on related companies to bring you directly to that company view, or just hover to see company information and related sales projects and prospects.
Notes
Below this again is the notes field. The notes field is designed to record information specifically related to the Company only, such as a planned expansion, or a change in address.
Addresses
And below the Notes field is the Company Address information. Here you can store multiple addresses for one company: Visiting Address, Billing Address, and multiple "Other" addresses. Simply click into the address to edit or delete it. Or click on Add Address to add new information.
Go to Managing Address for Company and Contacts to learn more.
Contacts
And finally, below the addresses, we find a list of all Contacts related to this company. From here you can:
- Hover over a contact name to see additional information.
- Click on the contacts name in this hover box to go directly to the contact view.
- Add a title or upload a photo for this contact.
- Click directly on the email link to open a new email to this contact.
From this contacts list, you can also add a new contact to the company and even view or create a new Organisational Chart.
Tools and Functionality
In the toolbar at the top of the view, a number of quick access options are available:
- Prospect - Create a Prospect for this Company.
- Sales Project - create a new Sales Project for this Company.
- Account Growth Project - create an Account Growth Project for this Company.
- Contact - add a new Contact to the Company.
- Org. Chart - create or view an existing Organisational Chart.
- More - Learn more in the paragraph below.
More
- Upload Document - click to browse your pc or drag and drop directly into the box to upload a file related to this company.
- Copy Company - click to create a new Company which has the same Country, Territory, Labels, and Custom Field Values as the source Company. Other data such as Phone, Email, Social, Addresses, and Contacts are not copied.
- Create an Appointment - create a new appointment for this company, with the option to choose which contact from this company will be a participant.
- Create Task - create a new Follow-Up Task, with the option to choose which contact from this company will be a participant.
- Delete - option to Delete this Company. Confirmation is required before the Company is deleted.
- Export Activities - allows you to export all activities related to this Company. Options are available to filter these activities before exporting.
- Merge Company- this allows you to merge duplicate company information to the correct company record. Options are available which help you choose the correct details before you merge.