Records can be created in the CRM either under an existing record or as a new standalone record.

Before creating any new records in the CRM, it's important that you've searched for any existing ones to ensure that duplicates are not created. It's recommended that you search for both the name of the record you're going to be creating, as well as the phone number and postcode, if known. This reduces the possibility of not finding a particular record if it's been misspelt. 

Whilst all information that's added in the CRM can be altered and amended after it’s been created, it's important to try and enter it in correctly the first time and to also use company-wide naming conventions. For example, using "Ltd" instead of "Limited" etc. 

In Prospect, you can communicate with customers using template documents. These templates take information from the CRM and automatically populate the chosen document. Therefore, if there are any errors, spelling or grammatical, these will be pulled through onto the document, so it's really important to make sure everything is correct when you're creating it.

Creating a Business Contact allows you to create two levels of the hierarchy all at once in one new record window; a new Company (an account/business/customer) and a new Contact (a person).

To create a new Business Contact, select the 'Create' button in the top right-hand corner and choose 'Business Contact' from the options. 

Note: If you need to create a Contact under a Company that already exists in the CRM instead, simply search for the Company Name and go to the Contacts page to add a new Contact.

Email

Enter the person's email address into the 'Email' field. With our clever social searching, if the email address is linked to any social media profiles, it'll populate other fields in the window. For example, their First Name, Last Name and Job Title.

If the social searching doesn't pick anything up, you can enter it manually.

Title, First Name & Last Name

Basic information like the person's title (e.g. Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss etc.), first name and last name can be added.

Once these have been entered, the Salutation field will automatically populate with the First Name, but this can be overwritten if required. This field can be useful to use when creating standard documents from the CRM, enabling you to populate your documents with key contact information.

Company Name & Company Type

Type in the Company Name unless this has already been picked up with the social search.

The Company Type is a drop-down menu - any drop-down menus in Prospect can be configured to your liking by an Admin user.

Account Manager

You're also able to assign the Company Account Manager using the drop-down list. The options that appear here will be automatically populated from your Users list managed in User Management.

Preferred Name
If you know that this person prefers to be known by a different name (i.e. Jon instead of Jonathan), you can enter this here.

Job Role
Select the most relevant job role from the Role drop-down list. Again, this list of options can be changed to suit your requirements by an Admin user.

Job Title
Enter the person's exact Job Title - this can usually be found on someone’s business card, email signature or LinkedIn profile. 

Once you've created the new record, you can add further details about this Company as required. 

Summary

A brief outline of the Company can be entered here. This is useful to let other users of the CRM know what the Company does or any specific information about this customer.

Industry

This is a set of codes which can be used to classify the Companies in your CRM. Again, as this is a drop-down, the options that appear here can be configured to your liking by an Admin user. Once set, these can be used for searching and reporting purposes.

Account Manager

A list of CRM users who can be assigned to the Company as an Account Manager will be shown in this drop-down. This can then be used for searching, filtering and reporting purposes. To make a user an Account Manager, head to User Management.

Alternative Reference

This can be used to add an additional, searchable, reference for the Company. For example, a phrase or name which the Company is more commonly known as, but is not the actual name of the company. 

Source

This field can be used to enter where the Company originally came from e.g. a marketing campaign, from visiting your website, referral etc.  

Priority

A priority e.g. A, B & C, or 1, 2, 3 etc. can be set for the Company to distinguish the importance of this organisation to you. Again, these options are completely configurable.

Incorporation Type

By default, the options available are ‘Public’ and ‘Private’.

Employees

This is a free text field where you can enter the number of employees working at that business if required.

Address

Selecting the Address tab allows you to view the current address for the Company. When using the ‘Search for address’ option you can enter a postcode or street name. Using postcode lookup technology, the CRM will display any available address details associated with the information you entered, and populate the fields automatically.

Once you've created the new record, you can add further details about this Contact as required.

Department

This section can be used to detail which area of the business this person works e.g. Marketing, Sales etc. 

Alternative Reference

This can be used to add an additional, searchable, reference for the Contact. This could be a phrase or name which the Contact is more commonly known as, but which is not the person's actual name. 

Address

Selecting the Address tab allows you to view the current address for the Contact. By default, the CRM will pick up the address at the Company level, but this can be changed here if required by selecting 'Add Address'.

The Online page allows you to set a password for a Contact if they need to access your ProspectSoft-hosted website. The username is always the main email address held against the Contact. 

The Communication tab allows you to add extra information about how you can communicate with the contact. As well as phone numbers, additional emails you can also add a contact's social media links. This is featured is at the bottom of the page, you can choose which social you are adding. You can fully configure those options here.