Max 8.0 Strategies

I note there have been no replies to this question, which indicates either nobody else is using this facility OR everyone is just as puzzled as I am.

The option is definitelhy there but seemingly does nothing or is unusable.

Am I missing something here ?

There are no strategies for Maximizer 8 only Maximizer Enterprise and you apply them in the strategy tab when creating an opportunity.

Thanks for the response.

Very weird however, because I definitely only upgraded to Maximizer 8.0 ( single user ..small business )and when I click on wizards it gives me opportunity to create strategies, through several screens, but they seem to appear nowhere else.

Your reply explains why but then it shouldn't be an option by the sound of it. Perhaps another software bug ?

Hmmm ... I can't speak to v8 as we're using v7, but my experience is there are no real "Strategies" in v7. The closest you can have are Opportunities, to track their anticipated close dates, probabilities, etc.. You can also link To-Do's to specific clients and assign them to specific people.

I can see where you might use Opportunities to cobble together something considered a "strategy", especially given the UDF's, user-defined Ratings, etc. I looked into doing something like that in another life. It depends on if you simply want to document your sales strategies and track where customers are in them (I think doable), or if you want the strategies to actually trigger actions - more of a workflow application (not doable).

- R.

Very strange..Thanks for reply. I agree that it was not there in v. 7.0 as I upgraded from that recently however it is very definitely there in Max 8.0 in the wizards menu.

If I select Add Strategy it allows me to go through the various screens , establishing a strategy and finally saving it.

Guidelines are given as to how these "strategies" should be applied but I can see nowhere else they are referred to, either in Opportunities or the help file. It seems to be meant as an "aide memoire" to sales people, guiding them on steps to follow depending on type of prospect...type of business they are chasing for.

Sounds to me they're laying the foundation for some type of workflow thing - or maybe to tease us all into upgrading to Enterprise? Anyway, I guess you could use it for some type of tracking/reporting, especially if you can use UDF's to track progress against steps in the strategy. I used to sell for a large US software firm, and I can see where tracking Opportunities against Strategies would have made sales forecasting a lot faster & easier. Not to mention more consistent for management.

Maybe the thing to do is check what pre-formatted repiorts there are for Strategies - that may give you hints as to how to use them.

- R.