Phone number not set as textable

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BroadwayAutoSports
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Phone number not set as textable

Post by BroadwayAutoSports »

First off, we've been with SocialCRM for about 5 weeks so far and well, I'm less than impressed. The feature list is great and the overall idea is great, however.. The execution, how to customize things, documentation and support is severely lacking. All of them are severely lacking. I've been in I.T. for 22+ years and there is a huge disconnect between what SocialCRM does (or is supposed to do) and actually doing it effectively for us as a customer. But, maybe my background is the problem. Being in I.T., I expect certain things to be up to par and when they're not, I'm disappointed and seek out another product. I can't seek out another product. We were given a complimentary 90-day trial period and if I back out, our sales rep will have to pay for the remainder of the contract. She's an incredible person and there's no way in hell I would do that to her - however, the Owner will feel differently, which is why I'm busting my hump trying to resolve these issues.

Here are my biggest issues so far:
1) Under the Customer Tab in Mitchell1, we have 'Home' and 'Office' phone number listed. We use the Home blank to input phone numbers for our customers, which is 99% of the time a mobile number. It isn't set as a "textable number." So when I go into SocialCRM for each customer, I have to manually set this for each customer (which isn't fun and isn't going to happen because it's too much work) by doing this: Go to the Customer Tab, click on the SocialCRM Details button on the right, click 'Set As Texting Number' at the bottom next to the phone number and then I can click the phone icon at the top to request a review. How can I have the phone number entered into Mitchell1 automatically set to be a mobile and textable phone number? We have several thousand customers. I'm not editing them by hand. Can Mitchell1 edit the database directly to fix this? (In my experience in asking them to edit the database in the past, they always say, "That's not something we do." This is a SQL database. I've taken multiple classes on it in college and it's easy to make changes if you know what you're doing. If I had access to the database directly, I could make the changes, but of course they don't give us access.)

2) Likely because of #1 and the numbers not being set as 'Textable,' the system emails all of the customers and doesn't text them at all. Is this because 'Customer Prefers Email Service' is checked on every single customer profile? If so, how do I disable that by default AND disable it on past customers profiles? This will likely take editing the database. See above.

3) Templates sent thanking customers, asking for reviews, etc. How can I access them and/or edit them to our liking?

4) Is there a specific series of actions that will happen once a customer leaves the shop? For instance, they're sent a thank you note within 'x' hours/days, they're asked for a review within 'x' hours/days. Etc. We'd like to know what's happening once they leave our business.

We're just really, really frustrated over this and the Owner feels like we were sold a product and left on our own. We've been with Mitchell for more than a few years (although I've been here less than 90 days) and it's a great product (although we don't use anywhere near as many features as is offered) and we don't want to switch to something else.

Lastly, we're not an auto repair shop like so many others. We sell tires, wheels and aftermarket products. We don't use the vendor/inventory system (although we'd like to soon). We don't service vehicles at all so the VIN number is useless and service reminders are useless. No oil changes, no regular maintenance of any sort.


Can anyone help? I see this isn't a very active forum, which is discouraging but considering the industry that uses this, it's not all that much surprising.

Thanks in advance and I really hope someone can help us because our other avenues aren't.
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ricmorin
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by ricmorin »

Welcome to the Forum.

1. Since you have been placing cell phone numbers in the 'Home' field, there is not much that can be done. I would start off by immediately ending that practice. Support won't usually go in a make mass changes like that; some results can be undesirable. My guess is some are true cell numbers and some are not.

2. No. That setting IIRC is for differentiating between emails and post cards, long before texting was available.

3. Check with your CRM agent. There may be some flexibility on their end; this is not adjustable via the login page.

4. This depends on what other notifications have been recently sent. Check with your agent for the finite details.

I have found over the years that there is much more flexibility in CRM than meets the eye. Once I contact my agent, I can usually get what I need.
Ric Morin - Volunteer Forum Moderator, Shop Owner, ASE Master L1
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Pauls Automotive
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by Pauls Automotive »

Just a thought......Bolt-On Technologies does offer database services. For a fee they would most likely be able to do what you want. It would be worth a call to see if they are willing and if it wasn't too expensive.
Paul
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BroadwayAutoSports
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by BroadwayAutoSports »

Pauls Automotive wrote:Just a thought......Bolt-On Technologies does offer database services. For a fee they would most likely be able to do what you want. It would be worth a call to see if they are willing and if it wasn't too expensive.

Awesome!! I was under the impression that Mitchell1 doesn't give you direct access to the database and it's heavily protected, but maybe not. Will check it out however.

Thanks Paul.
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by BroadwayAutoSports »

Thanks for the reply, Ricmorin.

#1 is very confusing to me. Logic tells me that if a number is placed in the home field, it would actually be a Home number and not a textable number. However, for the last 5 years (or more - I've only been here 90 days) phone numbers have always been placed in that blank and I'd bet 99% of them were mobile numbers. Because it's the 'Home' field, does this mean that it isn't set as textable by default?

You say stop inserting cell phone numbers in the Home field? How do you do that? How do you get the Mobile field to show up? Everything I try doesn't work.

Each time you mention CRM Agent, I grit my teeth. Slow on answering emails (if at all) and just doesn't seem to answer the specific questions I ask thoroughly enough.

I really want this to work, but I'm just not seeing how it will at this point in time.
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by Pauls Automotive »

BroadwayAutoSports wrote:Thanks for the reply, Ricmorin.

#1 is very confusing to me. Logic tells me that if a number is placed in the home field, it would actually be a Home number and not a textable number. However, for the last 5 years (or more - I've only been here 90 days) phone numbers have always been placed in that blank and I'd bet 99% of them were mobile numbers. Because it's the 'Home' field, does this mean that it isn't set as textable by default?

You say stop inserting cell phone numbers in the Home field? How do you do that? How do you get the Mobile field to show up? Everything I try doesn't work.

Each time you mention CRM Agent, I grit my teeth. Slow on answering emails (if at all) and just doesn't seem to answer the specific questions I ask thoroughly enough.

I really want this to work, but I'm just not seeing how it will at this point in time.

If you go to setup> standard discriptions> phone....you will see your phone discription list. Just click the ones you want to display and drag them to the top of the list. The first two will show up on the customer screen.
Paul
Pauls Automotive
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Baltimore, Md 21209
410-825-2224
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by ricmorin »

BroadwayAutoSports wrote:Thanks for the reply, Ricmorin.

#1 is very confusing to me. Logic tells me that if a number is placed in the home field, it would actually be a Home number and not a textable number. However, for the last 5 years (or more - I've only been here 90 days) phone numbers have always been placed in that blank and I'd bet 99% of them were mobile numbers. Because it's the 'Home' field, does this mean that it isn't set as textable by default?

You say stop inserting cell phone numbers in the Home field? How do you do that? How do you get the Mobile field to show up? Everything I try doesn't work.

Each time you mention CRM Agent, I grit my teeth. Slow on answering emails (if at all) and just doesn't seem to answer the specific questions I ask thoroughly enough.

I really want this to work, but I'm just not seeing how it will at this point in time.
As Paul said, when you click on 'Telephone List' button, it opens up a window where all the other fields live. You can alter what appears in the two slots on the Customer tab.

If you're really dissatisfied with your agent, you can request another. i had one that we never really 'clicked' and it was affecting my CRM success. I changed and all is good now. Sometimes it's about personalities.
Ric Morin - Volunteer Forum Moderator, Shop Owner, ASE Master L1
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BroadwayAutoSports
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by BroadwayAutoSports »

Spoke with my CRM Agent earlier. We made progress on the phone but not so much on email. Perhaps I need to call him more often.

Here is the solution to my issues:

On his end, he set the SocialCRM to text the 'Home' number that we've always inputted into Mitchell1. This way, we don't have to re-enter everything by hand (no way in hell that'll happen) or edit/change the SQL tables in the database. That change was instant and I wish I knew it could have been done two weeks ago. This solves the fact that our customers weren't being texted after having an appointment but instead all communication was done by email.

There are still a few more small issues but I feel more confident in him now and hopefully we can work well together moving forward. We'll see.

In hindsight, instead of just emailing him with questions, I should have just picked up the phone and asked. Each person responds to phone and email differently so now I have him figured out....I think
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by ricmorin »

Awesome to hear! Mitchell1 makes CRM a very personal experience and a good agent essential. The onus is on the user as to what they want to get out of it. It can easily chug along unaided or rev into high gear with a heavy right foot! :shock:
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www.motorcaralternatives.com

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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by timbre4 »

Note: I am told that social CRM support reached out to the customer on these issues.
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by BroadwayAutoSports »

timbre4 wrote:Note: I am told that social CRM support reached out to the customer on these issues.

timbre4 - after posting this message and getting a few replies above, I called my CRM Agent myself. They didn't reach out to me before I called them.

I'm not saying my Agent isn't doing a good job because since this conversation, we're fine. We even spoke today with a few questions and I even called Mitchell1 Tech Support twice and had a pleasant experience.

- Benjamin
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Re: Phone number not set as textable

Post by timbre4 »

Hello Benjamin, I’m the main moderator currently on vacation; apologies if the chronology is off. I was asked to post a quick note for readers here that would have no way to know much of this thread continued off-line directly with SCRM support folks.

Thanks for using Mitchell 1

Tim
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