Hi Andres. Good question. That’s such a long-winded answer, so I apologize if this is too long to read. And I’ll forgive you if you don’t read it. To understand the reason for cramming so much on the Deal form, it probably helps to know the business goal. I am automating a booking process for entertainment. When a prospect (potential client) reaches out to book a gig, I want to operate with lightning speed. Suppose I am driving to a gig when a prospects calls to book a gig (this happens a lot). My vision is to pull the car over, call them back, type all their info on my cell phone into 1 single form, tap a button, and automate everything. That includes saving the event details to Google Calendar (which is currently working as a scenario), sending an electronic contract (which is currently set up), sending an electronic rider (which is currently set up), and then invoicing the client via email (not currently set up).
When I get back home after that phone call, I will still get around to creating CRM records for associated Contacts and associated Companies. I see the value in doing that (e.g. filtering for all past customers when I want to do a mailing campaign), but I don’t want to navigate around & open/close 3 separate forms every time. The client would be waiting on the phone for too long. (Now, I could use software like Google Forms and integrate it, but stay with me.) Also, there are so many possible contacts for each gig that it can easily be 3 separate contacts, which totals 5 separate CRM records. If a company hires me for an event, I may be talking to the Executive Assistant. That is my “communicator.” Then there is the executive (e.g. HR Manager or VP Region Sales) who he or she assists. That is the “signer” of the contract. Then there is the person who I actually see face to face when I show up in person for the gig. This is the “onsite contact”. That’s 5 separate CRM records (3 Contact records, 1 Company record, and 1 Deal record).
So, let’s address the alternative for filling out 1 form: separate software or web page with a form that connects to Make (and indirectly to the CRM). The first problem is that I would have to create an associated Contact and associated Company for my other Make scenarios (e.g. Google Calendar), which I don’t know how to do and will force me into a very long computer programming project that isn’t time efficient. It’s just complicates the Make set-up to add new software with a form, and add new steps to pull from associated Contact and associated Company. I was trying to keep the scenarios as simple as possible (including the least number of scenarios possible and least amount of software programs) so I can understand how to maintain and update the automations.
Also, I just fully automated everything I needed on Zoho Flow, and it just stopped working out of nowhere due to a bug (that Zoho admitted). So, I don’t want to spend lots of time learning software (or spend a lot of money) on software that I haven’t tested yet (although, based on reputation, I suspect Make is far more stable than Zoho Flow).
The list of reasons could go on, but I’ll cut it short to spare you time.
Edit: I am not opposed to you creating an associated Contact each time the Stripe invoice is sent. I just want it to all be triggered by me filling out the Deal form. I welcome you to send a price if you’re interested in this. Thanks for reading!