The Many Ways To Slice A Cake: Q-Assign

At Ortoo not only do we take pride in the Salesforce applications we create, we also try to make them as universally accessible as possible. For all the companies out there that use Salesforce, the processes they have in place and the structure of their teams naturally vary. We understand this and that’s why we have completed extensive research and designed our lead assignment application Q-Assign to cater for the many possible scenarios, not the few.

If you’re new to lead automation in Salesforce, then let us explain. Q-Assign is an automation based app which analyses incoming Salesforce Leads, Cases, Opportunities and more; it then automatically sends those details to the most appropriate Salesforce user in your team. There are many rules which can be created within the app, defining which Salesforce user or que gets the incoming leads or cases. Q-assign is getting smarter all the time and as a result Salesforce active assignment rules are now giving you more control on how you share and divide new leads across your business. From territory based assignment rules right through to assigning leads based on current workloads or specific skills.

Let’s take a look at some of the primary ways Q-Assign can be utilised and how you can begin to use our assignment AI to begin distributing leads across your teams:

Leads and other Salesforce records are evenly distributed amongst each appropriate team member. Here all the assignments happen in strict rotation with team members typically being distributed the same volume of leads, everything is fair and the individual situations of team members are not explored by the application.

Round Robin At Its Best – Round robin assignment can be useful in lots of situations and is relevant for all industries. It can be useful to create an atmosphere of fairness in the office, particularly if the team is brand new without any performance data behind it. It can also be setup with minimal effort, so if half the team are out on an away day and you need to change how assignment works for just one day – round robin will always be a strong option.

If you want to get more sophisticated, load based assignment rules look in detail at the workload each team member currently has. Q-assign looks at the number of leads built up in each users’ que, how frequently users typically respond to items in their ques and how time extensive each user’s workload is likely to be. This means Q-assign can allocate leads and other Salesforce records to the team members who are most likely to respond the quickest.

Load Based Assignment At Its Best – There are plenty of uses for load based assignment in Salesforce and it’s one that we generally advocate here at Ortoo. Load based assignment is particularly useful if you are experiencing unusually high levels of leads coming into the business or during peak times of the trading year. It can also be incredibly useful for reducing wastage. If you are exploring the data and finding that too many cases or leads are being responded to late then switching to load based assignment often ensures that important leads don’t get placed into the ques which are already at capacity.

Finally, if the Salesforce team you are working with is varied in experience and the output differs dramatically from one team member to the next then points based lead assignment may be ideal. With point based assignments, Q-Assign looks in detail at the volume of existing workload each team member has, and bespoke rules can be created which score each team members current situation. This is perfect for creating a tailored plan for each Salesforce user which plays to their strengths, you can also configure the rules to reward hard work or ensure that the most experienced team members are getting the required amount of leads or cases. There are numerous options on how Q-Assign scores points across the team, from the difficulty of each case in team members ques to certain skills each Salesforce user may have – you can setup territory assignment rules based on where users are based or even rules based on which languages they speak.

Points Based Assignment At Its Best – This is an incredibly useful setup for organisations and teams with complex structures or who work with leads that requires specific skills or experience to be able to deal with them effectively. If there is a clear disparity between certain leads and cases being closed effectively and other types not, then point based assignment can be used to get more granular with the distribution. For example, if Q-Assign was processing various IT tickets and found that hardware tickets were very rarely solved in the required time then point based assignment could be used to ensure those tickets are automatically diverted to the Salesforce users most skilled in IT hardware.

We find that busy departments can straight away see the benefit of automating the assignment of cases, leads and other Salesforce objects. This is because as a workforce we are constantly getting busier and whilst we may have good intentions when it comes to manually assigning leads more organisations are finding this is an uphill struggle and one which is often rushed. As employees need to manage their time more efficiently than 15 years ago, we are clear that being able to automate this process and use assignment AI to manage new opportunities in Salesforce is only going to get more popular. Not only do we utilise the 3 assignment delivery options above, but Q-Assign also has a vast amount of configurable options and settings.  With our latest application you can also:

• Configure Exception Handling – So if a Salesforce user has certain tasks in their que but then becomes unavailable either through forced leave or an important project then Q-Assign can automatically redistribute the leads they haven’t started on yet.
• Measure Team Performance Across Designated Tasks – Q-Assign also records the performance of how Salesforce users are reacting to the items in their que’s. This enables management to see if the current status quo is working or if the assignment rules need to be changed based on how the team is currently functioning.
• Quotas & Caps – Daily, weekly or even monthly quotas can be set at the team level or individual level. This sets the maximum number of cases and leads which can be assigned during a set period, this is another way of gaining more control and putting clear rules in place which must be adhered to.
• Load Forecasting – Q-Assign can also be used to help forward planning, with load forecasting you can block out users’ diaries ahead of time. Letting Salesforce users know when leads are scheduled to be assigned to them and also ensuring you can assign leads efficiently during specific time periods. This is incredibly useful if team members are particular busy or not always in the office, meaning leads can be distributed during the timeframes they are most likely to respond.

We hope this blog has sparked your interest in Q-Assign and has showcased some of the pioneering enhancements the app brings to the standard active assignment rules in Salesforce. We know that if you can get new opportunities to the right Salesforce user as quickly as possible, then great things can happen. The feedback we regularly receive is that employees are happier using Q-Assign based logic and that the application greatly improves lead conversion rates and response times.  If you would like to hear more head on over to the Salesforce AppExchange and read some of our 5* reviews.