Time is precious. Every minute leasing counselors spend copying and pasting information from one software to another cuts down on the time they can spend helping prospects. That’s why we’re excited to roll out a new integration that directly connects Sherpa to Microsoft Outlook so users can create Sales Notes and update calendars without going back and forth.
In this blog post, we’ll illustrate how simple it is to use this integration with a story about Ellie, an 84-year-old prospect looking to make a move. Follow along as Ellie’s leasing counselor uses the Sherpa integration with Microsoft Outlook to:
- Sync her Sherpa and Outlook calendars.
- Create a Sales Note from her email inbox.
- Update a Sherpa calendar event from Outlook.
Meet Ellie
Ellie is an 84-year-old grandmother of five who lives in Kentucky with her dog, Roxy. She loves gardening, reading and attending the symphony. Arthritis has made cooking and cleaning difficult for Ellie, who feels lonely in her three-bedroom home. Ellie wants to downsize to an apartment in a senior living community near her children in Henderson, but she’s not sure she’s ready.
Our story begins with a phone call…
*Ring, ring* Ellie calls Shady Pines of Henderson for information. The call goes to Jane, a leasing counselor who asks Ellie about her life, her family and her daily schedule. Ellie agrees to come in for a tour, and Jane schedules the tour in Sherpa for the following Saturday. Now Jane wants to automatically sync the event to her Outlook calendar.
Sync Your Calendars
When you sync calendars, you’re adding Sherpa tasks and face-to-face events (including tours) to your Outlook calendar with the click of a button. No more manually duplicating events from calendar to calendar.
To sync, start by opening an event in your Outlook calendar. Make sure it’s an event you created, not an event added from a shared invitation. Then click the orange Sherpa icon in the upper-right corner and select “Sync events and tasks from Sherpa.” (If you don’t see the icon, make sure the integration is correctly installed by checking our Installation Guide.)
Next, click the blue Sync Calendar button. A success screen will appear to tell you how many events were synced. Return to your calendar and refresh the page. You should see new Sherpa events, including the time, date, prospect or referral name, event title (i.e. Tour) and a description.
Pro tips:
- Microsoft Office does not currently support the Sync Calendar function on the Mac desktop application. You can still sync calendars via a browser. If you click “Sync events and tasks from Sherpa” in the desktop app, you will be automatically redirected to a browser.
- To add an All Day event, keep the start and end times blank in the Next Steps section of your Sherpa journal entry.
- After you sync, the integration creates a new calendar called Sherpa under the calendar menu. To prevent errors, don’t delete or change the name of this calendar.
Two weeks later…
Ellie seemed to enjoy touring Shady Pines with her son Sean, but Jane hasn’t heard from them since. Jane sends an email to check in. Sean responds to say that Ellie has some hesitations, especially about the food. Ellie has food allergies and a sensitive stomach, and she’s used to cooking for herself.
Jane empathizes with Ellie’s dietary concerns and asks if they’d join her and some residents for a meal next week. Jane promises to instruct kitchen staff to prepare a meal that meets Ellie’s dietary restrictions. Now Jane wants to record her email offer in a Sherpa Sales Note so she and the Shady Pines sales team can reference it later.
Create Sales Notes in Outlook
With the Sherpa-Outlook integration , you can add an “Email In” or “Email Out” Sales Note to a prospect’s Sherpa profile without leaving your inbox.
Get started by clicking the orange Sherpa icon in your Outlook window. (If you don’t see the icon, make sure the integration is correctly installed by checking our Installation Guide.) When the Sales Note sidebar appears, fill in how much Time in the Selling Zone you spent. Everything else about the email—including the body, date, time, counselor and action (Email In/Out)—will be included in the Sales Note automatically. If you’d like, you can also type a note to appear before the email body.
Pro Tips:
- Choose the right email. Email chains can be long and involved. Before creating a sales note, select the exact email you want submitted into Sherpa. To record an Email In, make sure to select an email with your email address in the “To” field; for Email Outs, choose an email with your address in the “From” field.
- Go the extra mile for Advances. For now, Sherpa automatically classifies any Sales Notes sent from Outlook as a Continuation. To change the status to Advance, Deposit/Waitlist or Sale, edit the note directly in Sherpa.
The next day…
Ellie agrees to come in for dinner on Thursday. Jane schedules the event in Sherpa and syncs it to her Outlook calendar. Then Ellie calls back to say she can’t make it Thursday. Can we do lunch on Friday instead? Ellie asks. Jane agrees. Now Jane wants to update the date and time to the event in both Outlook and Sherpa.
Updating Events from Outlook to Sherpa
Need to change the date and time of a Sherpa event in Outlook? No problem. The Sherpa-Outlook integration allows you to update events and tasks already synced to Outlook.
Get started by clicking on the event you want to edit. Change the date and time as necessary. Then click the Sherpa icon and select “Update this event’s date/time in Sherpa.” When a sidebar appears with more information, click the Update Event button. If your event is updated correctly, a success screen will appear.
Pro tip: Sherpa includes an ID number in curly brackets (i.e. {11643}) in each synced event. To prevent errors, please do not delete this ID or use curly brackets elsewhere in the event description.
Contact Sherpa
Jane used Sherpa’s newest integration to record her interactions with Ellie in both Sherpa and Microsoft Outlook. Have questions about how you can do this for yourself? Call Sherpa at (314) 432-1234 or email our Customer Experience team at support@sherpacrm.com.
