Every deal has a next step, or it is marked yellow

In re:praesent a deal is a piece of possible work: who it is for, roughly what it is worth and what happens next. Every open deal should have a next step with a date. When a deal has none, re:praesent marks it in yellow and lists it on the Today page, so offers do not go quiet without you noticing.

Where work is lost

A kitchen studio sends an offer on Tuesday. The customer says they will think about it. Three weeks later nobody has called, because nobody wrote down that somebody should.

The customer was not lost to a competitor on price. The deal simply had no next step.

Most small businesses lose work this way more often than they think. An offer is sent and then nothing is planned after it.

What a deal is

A deal starts from an inquiry. When you have spoken to someone and there is real interest, tap “Make a deal”. The form has four fields.

• What is it? A few words, such as “Kitchen, ground floor”.
• Roughly worth. An estimate is enough. You can change it later.
• Next step. The app suggests “Send an offer”. Write your own if that fits better.
• When. The day the next step is due.

The deal keeps the person, the value and the next step in one place. It can be assigned to a member of your team, so it is clear who looks after it.

Deals sit on a board in the Deals section, in columns you can name yourself. We explain those in the post about deal stages.

“What’s next?”

The next step is a normal task with a date. On the day it is due, it appears on the Today page.

When you tick that task off and the deal has nothing else planned, the app asks “What’s next?”. It offers three quick answers and a free field.

• Call back
• Send an offer
• Meet
• Something else, in your own words

Pick one, pick a day, and the deal has a next step again.

From the same question you can also close the deal. There are two endings: “New customer” and “Didn’t happen”. Closing is a big step, so the app asks you to tap a second time to confirm.

The yellow mark and getting paid

Each deal card shows its next step and the day. If there is none, the card shows “No next step” in marker yellow. It is the one thing on the board that is meant to catch your eye.

A line above the board counts your open deals, how many are without a next step and your new customers this month. The Today page lists the same deals under “Deals with no next step”.

A new customer is a promise. Money in the bank is something else. When a deal is closed as a new customer, it shows “Not paid yet” and a button, “Mark as paid”. If the customer paid a Stripe invoice created from the deal, it is marked for you and says “via Stripe”.

The Results page then tells you how much of what you earned is paid and how much is still to collect.

What it does not do, and what it costs

re:praesent does not write the offer or chase the customer for you. It makes sure you see that something is due.

It will not stop you from leaving a deal without a next step. It marks it and keeps it on the Today page until you decide.

This is what people call a CRM, a customer management system, with the reporting kept to what a small business needs. It is part of re:praesent, which costs €300 a year or €30 a month. Everything is included and there is no fee per user. The pricing page has the details.

Questions