35Decision Issues

Decision Issues

This chapter describes how to use the Decision Issues view to associate customer questions and concerns with an opportunity. It includes the following topics:

• About Decision Issues

• Scenario for Managing Decision Issues

• Creating Decision Issues

• Associating Decision Issues with an Opportunity (End User)

About Decision Issues

Decision issues are the criteria a prospective customer uses to evaluate a potential supplier and product before making a decision to buy.

Decision issues are specific areas of interest that can influence a prospect’s buying decision. Customers and prospective customers can ask questions and express concerns about the solutions you propose, and your company in general, during the sales cycle. Decision issues provide you with an opportunity to develop a sales strategy and address customer concerns.

Scenario for Managing Decision Issues

This topic gives one example of how decision issue management might be used. You might use decision issue management differently, depending on your business model.

A sales representative logs into the Siebel Sales application and discovers a new opportunity for a software module his company sells. The 2,500-seat opportunity has been qualified by a colleague in the Telesales department, and the sales representative wants to move forward with the opportunity. The sales representative reviews the list of contacts, and then calls the main prospect to introduce himself and gather some initial requirements. After this conversation, the sales representative adds two new decision issues which are important to this prospect (customer references and search engines in the software).

Creating Decision Issues

Typically the administrator sets up the list of decision issues. Users associate these decision issues with other records, but cannot edit the decision issue text.

To create a decision issue

1. Navigate to the Administration - Data screen, then the Decision Issues view.

2. Create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

3. Navigate to the following views to add details to the decision record:

   • Related Issues view

   • Literature view

     Select the Auto Update check box if you want to update associated literature when source literature files are updated.

   • Attachments view

Associating Decision Issues with an Opportunity (End User)

After you qualify an opportunity, you can associate the related decision issues with the opportunity and rank the decision issues in order of importance to the prospect.

Note: Your application administrator enters decision issue data that has been defined in your company. For more information, see your application administrator.

To associate a decision issue with an opportunity

1. Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List view.

2. Drill down on the Opportunity Name field of an opportunity record associated with the decision issue.

3. Navigate to the Decision Issues view.

4. In the Decision Issues list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.