Audaxium Blog

This post is a repost from NetSuiteguy.com, with minor edits.

As of a couple years ago, a rep, or anyone really, could look at a transaction, and could hit the email button, either on purpose or accidentally, and NS would, without prompting, send an email to the address the transaction was attached to.  Basically we warned people to be careful.  But that’s no longer the case.  (As of when escapes me)

So, if you’re like me you want to:

Email a pdf of the transaction of the attachment
Put an appropriate subject line, email body, and signature in your email
Potentially attach other documents
Use a template
So if you want to set this up go to Setup, Company, Printing Fax and Email Preferences, Email (Tab)

Turn on the button, “Use pop up for main transaction email button”

That will cause the pop up to occur for all users. But your work doesn’t end there. You’ll need to prompt users to make a few more setting adjustments. (Ones which incidentally I believe should be allowed to be done by an admin)

Here’s the procedure I sent to the users.

• Go to, Home, Set Preferences
  • General Tab
  • Add your Signature (Text only)
  • Click, add signature to messages
  • Put in the from email address you want to use
  • Go to the Transactions Tab
  • Turn OFF Print Using HTML
  • Turn OFF Email Using HTML
• Go to the Transaction of your choice
  • Click the email button
• A pop up should appear
  • Confirm the Recipient
  • Add any cc or bcc you like
  • go to the message tab
  • Select a template if you wish
  • Or, type your message
  • Please note you don’t need a signature if you are typing free text.
  • Please note, the field tags don’t seem to work
  • Go to the Attachments Tab if you want to attach the actual Quote, Invoice, etc.
  • Click Include Transaction
• The Default should be fine (if you can follow instructions it’ll be PDF)
   
• Hit Merge and Send when you are ready

So try that and play around with the pop up. There’s a few options there that should allow you to get pretty close to where you want to be.

One important note. I notice that in the email body the fields you can insert into the message don’t seem to work, so test before assuming they are working.

This is a repost from my old NetSuiteGuy.com blog.

DKIM stands for Domain Key Identified Mail.  Check out the wiki here.  Essentially it is a way for you to digitally “sign” your campaign emails and then be authenticated by the recieving email systems.  Doing this will improve the delivery rate, and therefore your response rate, of your email campaigns no matter the volume of email you send.

NetSuite also has a rule that if you send more than 10,000 emails in a month you must have DKIM set up.  We started getting error messages before this cap.  This prevented us from sending emails until it got fixed.  Needless to say, it’s important to turn this on well before you get into trouble.

So, if you are implementing NetSuite, just turn it on in the beginning and be done with it.

Now, if you go read the help files in NetSuite on DKIM you might end up being confused.  Hopefully they’ve been fixed by the time you read this.

First things First

What you need to do is to go to Setup, Company, Printing, Fax & Email Preferences

Now go to the email tab. Look under Domain Keys.

The only thing that you do that is different than the help file is to put in the “Domain Name”.  That’s your domain name probably that you use for your company.  Example “audaxium.com” no www.

If you look up the screen a bit you’ll see “default mail merge domain”  don’t touch that!

Now you’ve read this far.  Don’t click the check box and set up DKIM yet.

When we set it up, maybe it was just us, but when our emails went out they began using a “mail merge domain” that completely messed up all links in our emails.  So… in hindsight, we should of set the mail merge domains first even though supposedly they have nothing to do with DKIM.

The benefit of setting up the mail merge domain is that it replaces the “forms.netsuite.com” or “www.netsuite.com” in the links and uses your domain.  It’s more professional and possibly helps delivery rates.

With me?

So your steps should be:

• Setup your subdomain if you haven’t already at Setup, Website, Domains
• It should be “hosted as” Email Campaign
• Go to Setup, Company, Printing Fax & Email, Email Tab
• Select the subdomain for your “default mail merge domain”
•  example campaign.audaxium.com   
• Create a cname record on your DNS record that redirects “campaign” to shopping.netsuite.com
• Validate that it’s working 
•  open a command prompt and type nslookup campaign.yourdomain.com  
• It should return shopping.netsuite.com as a non-authoritive answer with the proper alias
• Send a Test email campaign, making sure the links all work  
• Take a deep breath 
• Follow the help guide on DKIM using the defaults except for the subdomain 
• Talk to your IT guy and get him to set up the txt record with the “dns entry” 
•   remember the txt name is “selector1._domainkey” 
• After a few hours click the validate button 
• Then, and only then, turn on the DKIM checkbox 

  A couple of tips.  You can’t figure it out using only the first DKIM help file.  Follow the godaddy instructions even if you don’t use godaddy to host your dns record.  It’ll explain how to set up the text record a bit more clearly.

I guess the key message is to validate that the bits are working along the way before turning them on. 

If one person finds this helpful that’s great, please leave me a comment.

Shortest tip ever.

If you ever extract data from NetSuite, and hand it off to someone with the intention that it might get manipulated and imported back in, please remember to export the Internal ID of the record!

End tip.

It doesn’t matter what the record is.  It could be contacts, companies, transactions or items.  It is possible to work without the internal ID but it’s a lot simpler to use it.  Most records have 2 or 3 fields the import utility can key off of but the internal id is the one that gives you the most confidence when messing with data.  

You don’t need to worry yourself with doing this in normal searches, just when you want to re-import your data later.  And if you’re unsure, include it.  It’s also useful if you want to compare data exports later.

Here’s a video on the very very basics of NetSuite. 

Often I’ll have to explain to a new employee of a customer just what NetSuite is.  So this video is just what I would scrawl on a whiteboard and chat about for 5 minutes.  It’s not for someone who knows what NetSuite is.

It’s also an opportunity for me to mess with uploading a video to youtube.  I plan on doing some video casting and wanted to experiment first.

So, if you’re here you probably know what NetSuite is.  So don’t watch this video.  Deal?

How can you tell that people need information 24 hours a day?  By seeing when they log in to their most important work application.  

And just in case you’re stuck in the last decade, that’s not their email.

This is a graph that shows the number of logins of a company that uses NetSuite.  My first NetSuite implementation.

It clearly shows that while there’s a lot of logins in the morning, there are quite a few in the early hours in the morning.  

Even when many users are deskbound, they will log in at all hours to clean up issues, check their calendar, and check on things.

If you have a system that limits users, and their connectivity to the system based on either time or location, then you’ll simply miss out on giving your employees information when they want to consume it.

Yes, they do have a few night owls… Strange but true.

The other day I wrote about implementing CRM, NetSuite and the WIFM principle.  It’s very important that you think from the end users perspective “What’s in it for me.”   After writing that post I asked, via email, a number of users what was the first thing that came to their head when asked, “What impact has NetSuite had on your day to day”

Here are all the responses, unedited and my comments.  It’s great to see such positive answers. 

Read More »

We have a logo!  And I’m super happy with the result.  Rod MacKay, our web guru did a great job on it and incorporating what this company stands for.

We want to be bold.

Audaxium is about being out front, working as a team, with our customers.

We want to provide great information to the NetSuite Community.

We want to be just a bit different.

We’re real people who are accessible.  Not some black box of a company you can’t penetrate.

What do you think?

I’ll be making a bit of a series out of this I think.  Rather than post walls of text I think I’ll post some smaller, bit sized pieces of information.

I have been managing a NetSuite implementation for 2 years and have helped out a few people with their implementations and in doing so I’ve learned a few things about what made us successful.

One thing I learned is that it is easy to get very distracted by the ROI and high level strategic rationale behind implementing CRM/ERP during the rollout.   Pretty simply, your employees really don’t care a whole lot about that.  Their question?  “What’s in it for me!”

When deploying NetSuite it’s important to get feedback from the diverse group of people that will be using it.  After all, it covers a lot of ground as an integrated system.  Find out what people care about, what’s getting in the way, and how they visualise improvement.

Once you round up that data, and of course, by continuing to talk to people throughout the deployment, you’ll stay on target with what really matters.

Then you’ll be ready to sell the change.  It’s critically important that you can articulate, to each user, just how their life will get better after NetSuite.

Here’s some real, actual examples.

Inside Sales – With NetSuite you’ll be able to hand off opportunities to the sales team without having to craft and send individual emails each time you run across an interested prospect.

Marketing – You’ll be able to run more targeting email campaigns. (Should you choose to do so!) You’ll be able to track in real time the responses to your emails.

Sales Reps – You’ll be able to access the system from anywhere. You’ll be able to track commissions realtime.  You’ll see new leads and opportunities fast.  You’ll be able to spend less time managing spreadsheets and more time in front of customers. You’ll be able to quickly log your calls to keep yourself on track with the sales process.

Sales Management – You’ll be able to track activities by Rep. You’ll be able to see outstanding quotes and opportunities. Forecast review meetings will be able to be focused on the important deals, not just what the rep brings in his latest spreadsheet.

Admin – You’ll be able to process orders much more quickly.  Orders will be cleaner with less fire fighting to do.  Tracking orders, shipments, payments will all be done in one spot with no cutting and pasting.  

Tech Support – You’ll be able to pick up, respond to and close cases faster with NetSuite.  You’ll be able to see case history for a whole company, not just by email address.  You’ll be able to create opportunities for the sales team without switching applications. You’ll be able to see and manage onsite visits and projects in the same spot with NetSuite.

IT – You’ll be able to stop worrying about keep the system up, backed up, and updated and can instead focus on interesting value add projects to configure it and make it work better.

Those are just a few examples.  I think I’ll have to run a poll of some folks and get some other responses of users and managers who have been around NetSuite for a while.

Homework

Before you go and select a new CRM, ERP or Support application, create a survey for your team and ask them what’s standing in their way, and what they want to see in the tools they use each day.  Then think very hard about what’s in it for them before you commit to an implementation.

One of the problems with New Years Resolutions is that they typically have to do with your personal life and it’s tough to keep going with them once you get back to work.  So, here’s some new years resolutions that will improve your bottom line and, therefore, give you the flexibility to get outside and become the champion you know you can be!

Love your customer

There’s nothing like an out of date customer database.  Full of customer contacts who have retired, or worse. The information hasn’t been kept up to date so when they call in you really have no idea if the information you’re looking at is accurate.  That means you don’t get engaged and appear slow to find answers.

2009 is the year you’ll clean up your customer information.  There’s no better way to do that than to implement a new system!  It’s very cathartic. But, if that isn’t in the cards, schedule some time for your team to call customers, tell them that you care, and update the records.  You’ll feel better, they’ll feel better, and I’ll bet you turn up some opportunities for more business.

Show Progress

Is your sales team down in the dumps?  Do you field the same complaints over and over about the tools they have to use?  There is real value in picking some key pieces of technology and improving them.  

Your business systems, CRM, ERP, Support, are what sits in front of users all day.  Well, that and email.  Giving users modern technology that works they way they expect can do wonders to motivate people. People like to work for companies that invest in productivity.

Show Results

It’s pretty common knowledge that we all need praise now and again.  And the younger the person it seems like it needs to be a bit more regular. Personally I like to be given compliments on an hourly basis…  

So how long does it take for you to get the information you need on someones productivity?  What hoops do you have to jump through to show your boss that report that confirms you are the rock star of the team?

Implement a system that gives, in real time, a snapshot of what your team is up to.  It could be sales, website hits, calls made, quotes delivered, cases closed, or forecast accuracy.  If you have a dashboard with immediate access to these things it’s a lot easier to call someone up and say “Nice job, thanks for the fine effort”

Fix Problems Faster

If problems would get fixed faster we’d all be that much farther ahead.  2009 is the year that you put in place a system to give everyone in your company visibility into internal, and customer “issues.”  

Customers do actually like to know that their issue is being tracked.  So if you’ve waited to move away from that excel spreadsheet or stand alone application for tech support maybe now’s the time to look at a tool that can set off fireworks if problems lag for too long.

Go Mobile

One way to make everyone in your firm a lot happier is to offer a little flex time.  Working from home can do wonders for your carbon footprint.  And, it lets you check on things from the golf course.  Shhh.  If you give employees access to your systems no matter where they are, you’ll notice that stress levels come down a bit.  No need to hammer out some quotes before racing off to pick up the kids at 5.  You’ll see people logging in after hours to clean up tasks.

This doesn’t mean that you’ll get an extra 3 hours or work out of people.  It just means that by having options, everyone will feel that much better about the work they do do.

Oh, and, from personal experience, trying to remote desktop to the office, or trying to sync apps is not good for anyones morale!  Go for a nice, tasty, hosted app.

Eliminate Double Data Entry

It’s 2009.  Isn’t it time that you got away from exporting and importing data from a million different systems as a Lead becomes a Customer?  Now doing a system integration isn’t exactly everyone’s definition of a good time, but maybe having an integrated system is?

Good Luck

Perhaps the above resolutions give you some ideas.  Perhaps they prompt you to take a look at a system like NetSuite or it’s competitors.

Today I went for a excellent run.  And during that run I had one of those moments where you achieve perfect clarity, vision, and visualise an entire blog post in an instant.

This is not that post, because, of course, the next thought through my head was “That’s obvious, now keep up the pace.”

This post formed from the kernel I remember from that thought.

The Question

Essentially what ran through my mind was the following.  Does your company aim to be a high touch, customer responsive, and customer aware organization?  Or, and it’s not better or worse, is your company well positioned to be a low cost provider?

For small and medium businesses it is very easy to get caught in the middle.  Heck, I’ve had years of experience getting smashed by a boulder and some other really hard thing.  All to often there is a desire to over service customers, or, lose business based on dated views on pricing, either discount too much, or not enough.

Now, as times are tough.  Figuring out your strategy becomes increasingly important. Both in the short term, and long term.  There are probably several exceptions out there, where companies can be successful doing both.  But I’d venture to say it’s rare.   And, of course, I neglect all those companies who really compete with their product functionality and placement in the market.

One System

So what you ask?  Well, my endorphin induced thought was that Netsuite, being the awesome system that it is, can really be used by companies employing either strategy, but will implement each slightly differently.

NetSuite of course, can both help get a much better picture of customer habits, information, and profile while at the same time giving tremendous visibility into the profitability of the business, each transaction, and each customer.  What you chose to focus on will drive how you approach your implementation.

If you’re a high touch, customer centric organization you’ll focus much more on a few different areas.  You’ll start with marketing and the customer record.  You’ll track more custom information and have more reports written to drive the behaviours of your sales team. You’ll have a more detailed review of the sales force automation tools.  There will be more focus on the commission tools.  And, of course, you’ll want to nail the customer support end of NetSuite and give your customers the attention they deserve.

If you’re a cost and volume focused company you may in fact implement the above areas of NetSuite but they may be less critical.  Or you’ll give them a pass altogether.  NetSuite will provide you with detailed financial reporting and real time updates of the trends.  You’ll focus more on inventory management, perhaps time and expense billing, or maybe even project management if you’re a services team. Your dashboards will be chalk full of custom key performance indicators driven by the numbers.

Homework

So if you’re about to implement NetSuite here’s some homework.  You might want to do this with a whiteboard.  And, if you’re really inspired give me a call and I’ll stand beside that whiteboard and wave my arms and talk a lot, stoking the fires.

What, today, really causes people to argue in management meetings?  Usually in those debates 1 or 2 areas of information are at the root.  What are they and where would that information come from in NetSuite?

In the cost/customer matrix where do you sit as compared to your competitors?  Where do you want to go? Do you have the information to manage that shift day to day?

Write your vision at the bottom of the board.  Write some behaviours you need your team to exhibit at the top.  Leave lots of room.  Now fill in the following from the bottom up to connect the two.  Strategies, Processes, KPI/Metrics.  

Do you have the system to get you there?  What is the area you need to improve the most?

Figure that out and you’ll be well on your way to getting out of the mushy middle and implementing a system that keeps you laser focused on your goals.