CRM task management and calendar: never forget to call a client back

Without CRM task management, promises to clients live only in a manager's memory. A client says: “Call me back on Thursday afternoon.” On Thursday the manager is busy with new requests, the call is forgotten, and the client buys from a competitor. That's how the warmest money is lost — clients who were already ready to talk. And the head of sales finds out about the problem only when sales drop.

The “Tasks” section collects all of a project's tasks in one place — both those set manually and those created from lead cards. A task is a to-do with a due date and an assignee, and its reminder arrives by SMS, by email or as a pop-up in your account. Overdue tasks are visible at once. A task for a client opens their CRM card in one click, with the history of calls and messages.

Watch the two-minute video, and below you'll find the step-by-step setup.

Why businesses need CRM tasks: examples

• Online school: after a trial lesson, the manager sets “Call back about payment” for tomorrow at 11:00 AM with an SMS reminder an hour before. The promised call happens on time, while the client is still warm.
• Clinic, salon, car service: “Call to confirm the visit” the day before, with a reminder a day ahead. A “Confirmation” label highlights such tasks in the calendar with its color, and the administrator sees them right away. If a robot should make the call instead of the administrator, set up automated appointment reminder calls.
• Real estate: viewings with exact start and end times in the “Week” calendar, with the floor plan and the contract attached to the task. The agent doesn't mix up viewings, and everything needed is at hand.
• Head of sales: the “Assignee” filter shows each manager's overdue tasks. Team meetings are based on facts.
• A manager goes on vacation or leaves: their open tasks are found with the filter and reassigned to another employee. Clients aren't lost along with the person, and so that they don't take the client base with them either, protect customer data from employees.

How CRM tasks and the calendar work

The section has three views:

• “Board” — five columns by due date: “Overdue”, “Today”, “Tomorrow”, “Later”, “Done”. The column depends on the due date, so cards can't be dragged: to move a task, change its date.
• “List” — the same groups as blocks, with a manual order inside that is shared by the whole project. Drag a row by the handle on the left.
• “Calendar” — the “Month”, “Week”, “Day” and “Agenda” modes (a list of to-dos for the week).

The page refreshes itself every 10 seconds — the head of sales sees new tasks and comments without reloading.

How to assign a task to a manager in a CRM with a reminder

1. 1
   Open a new task

   Click “Add task” in the section header. A task for a specific client is easier to set from the lead card: the “Task” tab in the reply field links it to the lead right away. More in the article client card in the CRM.
2. 2
   Enter a title

   In the “Title” field, for example “Call back about payment”.
3. 3
   Set the dates

   “Start” is when to call, “End” is by what time. A task lasts at least 30 minutes.
4. 4
   Choose the assignee

   In the “Assignee” field: the person who does the task and gets the reminder. By default, it's you.
5. 5
   Turn on a reminder

   Open “Additional settings” and in “Remind me” choose, for example, “1 hour before”. In “Notification method”, tick “SMS”, “E-mail”, “Call” or “Pop-up”.
6. 6
   Save the task

   With the “Create” button. The task appears in the right board column and in the calendar.

Task calendar: planning with the mouse

In the “Week” and “Day” modes, click the hour you need — “New task” opens with that time. Drag the mouse across several cells, and the task takes up the whole interval. You can drag a ready task to another time or pull its bottom edge to change its duration. The dashboard asks “Change the task?” — confirm with the “Change” button. A task's color is the color of its label. Tasks can't be moved into the past.

How to track your managers' tasks

• The “Assignee” filter — tasks of the selected managers and their “Overdue” column with a counter.
• The “Lead owner” filter — all tasks on a manager's leads, even if someone else does them.
• “Task status” and “Task date” — how many tasks were completed in a week, a month or your own period.

Filters apply right away and are remembered for the project. Who sees a task is decided by the “Who can see the task” field: “Everyone”, “Assignee only” or “Selected staff” — in that case, tick the “Observers”. The head of sales sees employees' hidden tasks with the “Sees hidden tasks of other users” right. Assigning tasks to others requires the “Can pass leads/deals/tasks to other users” right. How to grant these rights is covered in the article employee access rights in the CRM.

Labels, files and comments

In “Additional settings”, you can add colored “Labels” to a task — for example, “Urgent” or “Refund”. To see only tasks with a certain label, open “Filters” → “Label” and tick it, or several labels: the filter works on the board, in the list and in the calendar. You can also attach “Files” of up to 50 MB each there. A saved task has “Comments”: employees discuss the work right in the task, and new comments appear for everyone automatically.

Read also: Customer profile in CRM: full history, client replies and tasks, CRM user permissions: how to add an employee and set access rights, How to protect customer data from employees and unauthorized logins