Example:  If you have an Engineering firm that offers a range of services from home design and building, government contracts for schools and public buildings, road and drainage construction then with each new Customer you are going to have specific processes that have to happen with each of the mentioned types of Customers.

A new Customer who is building a house may need an appointment for an initial consultation followed by a meeting to  go over the stages of the project and what is involved from beginning to end. These meetings can automatically be generated when a new customer is added to the 'private home' Category within Customers.

Example:  A web based company specializing in sporting goods. For each online sale that Customer will be assigned to a Category and based on the Events assigned to that Category action items are automatically generated such as a thank you email will followed with a phone call to that Customer to confirm their order and verify their shipping information. Then following the email and follow up phone call a Task will also be automatically generated to fulfill their order within 48 hours if the inventory is available.

All of these action items will be generated as soon as the New Customer is assigned to a specific Category. As you are setting up your Categories and Statuses you will notice a row of icons at the bottom of the Setup and Configure Tool. These icons are all events that can be associated with a particular Category or Status each time a Contact is assigned to that Category or Status.

Establishing Event Management within Tradepoint

Below is a screen view of the Setup and Configure Tool where Events would be assigned to Categories. The icons highlighted in red are the icons you click on to assign a particular event with a Category. Each icon will open a Template for you to assign the details and time frame for each Event to happen when a Customer is assigned to a specific Category.

 
The fields where the highlighted blue set of fields is where automated action items can be established in relation to a particular Category(in this case the category is 'Software Customer'). Any Action Items assigned to a Category will be listed in the section just above the icons.
Below is the tool bar with action items you can assign to a Category or Status. Choose events in the order that best matches your work flow process.

Example:

A Landscape Architecture Firm receives new Leads over the Internet as a Request for Information about existing Services. When that Lead comes into Tradepoint through one of our Ecommerce solutions is automatically assigned to the Category of 'Web Lead'.

The Category 'Web Lead' has a series of Events attached to it that will take the new Web Lead through a series of Action Items designed to provide the potential customer with the information through the most favorable experience possible to acquire their business. Some of the Events could include:

1. New Email - Introductory email outlining the process that prospect can expect to gain the information they are looking for .
2. New Task or New Appointment - For a Landscape Designer to follow up with a needs analysis and an on site consultation.
3. New Call - To follow up with prospect after the consultation to ensure the prospect has the necessary information they need to make their decision and to ask for the order.

All the Events can be assigned through the icons within the Setup & Configure Tool shown in the tool bar below.

Each Category and Status can have its own Events attached to it. Events are not limited to one Category or Status.
 
To Create a New Appointment in relation to a Category:
This is a template for a New Appointment   that will be generated automatically when a Customer is created. The view to link a  New Appointment is shown below.

 
Each of the field has built in calendars and drop down menus pre-populated with choices to specify your work flow process.
Once you have specified the details for this Appointment the details will be set within this template and the only details you will have to insert later will be with each Customer will be specific to each Customer as Sales are generated.

To create a New Task in relation to a Category:

The template view for adding a New Task  is shown below.

 
Template details can be added into the fields at the top of the screen. Each field has pre-populated drop down lists to specify the parameters and time frame for this task.
Similarly to the New Appointment, once the details are entered here the only details that will be added later will be specific to the Customer and sales process that goes on as you conduct business.

To Create a New Call in Relation to a Category:

Adding a New Call Log to a Category is shown below. This template is only slightly different to the main Call Log Window.

This is also a Template that will automatically alert you when it comes due as an action item that has to be completed to complete the sales process. Like the other Event templates fields are pre-populated to define your sales and post sales process.

 
When you have added the details in the fields at the top of the window Save your changes and this template will come up at the assigned time within a Sales/Post Sales process.

To create a New Email to be generated in relation to a Category:

The last action item is a New Email.  This can be an assigned email with a built in message as a thank you message or as a response further along in a post sales process.
The view of the email template is shown below.