3.1 Adding New ContactsThe success of any business depends on how well it serves the clients. Therefore you will naturally want to keep track of them in the best way possible. The contact database contains all the necessary information for you to contact your clients, including phone recall dates to remind you when to phone them. The contacts are grouped together under the company they work for (or their own name if they don’t work for a company).
3.1 Adding New ContactsGo to the contacts area of the main screen and click the contacts button. The find company/person screen will list all your contacts.
Click on new to get a blank contact screen.
Type the company details in the top half such as company name, dial code (STD code), and phone number. Select 'Yes' in list box if you want the company to be listed in the phone directory or other listings (including the find company/person screen). If the contact does not work for a company, just enter their own name as the company name. If the company is inactive, or one you don’t provide for any more, you can set List to No to avoid cluttering your active businesses. The large section at the right is for miscellaneous notes you may want to include about the company such as working hours, type of business, and so forth. The Email address is used for Emailing Invoices and Statements.
The bottom section contains the company staff you need to contact. Enter the first name and surname of the contact. If you need to phone them back, enter the phone recall date as well. The notes section allows you to record the person’s phone extension or mobile phone number as well as their company position or any other details. Once a persons details are entered a new blank line will appear for the next person.
When you have finished adding a company’s details you can add another company (F9 or the add button). The close button will go back to the main screen when you are finished.
ZOOM HINT: Don’t be put off if a box appears to be too small, you can enter as much data as you like. If the contents of the box appears too short, you can double click on the box to zoom, enabling you to view all the contents.
3.2 Searching for Existing ContactsClick on the contacts button on the main screen in the contacts area. The find company/person screen will show the companies and people working for them.
Check/tick the show all box if you want to search for unlisted companies (companies with their list tick box unchecked).
A search facility is available, making it easier to find a particular name. Click on the search box and type the name or part name of the company or person, then press enter to show only the matching companies or people.
Checking/ticking the search all box will allow you to search all the fields (eg. notes and address).
Select the line with the company and person required then double click or click lookup to view that company’s details on the contacts screen.
3.3 Changing Existing Contact InformationOnce the company has been selected and displayed on the contact screen (see above) you can change details such as contact phone numbers, and add or delete contacts. If a person’s name was spelt incorrectly it can be corrected but it will not automatically be corrected on quotes or invoices (to change a contact’s name on a quote, the quotations will have to be accessed - see Changing a Quote).
If a company name changes or is spelt incorrectly, then it can be changed on the contacts screen. Being a relational database, all records (including quotes, invoices etc.) will be updated automatically.
3.4
Deleting ContactsCompany contacts can be freely deleted without fear of removing their names from the quote records. To delete a contact click on the grey button to the left of the person’s first name and the entire row will be highlighted. Press the delete key on the keyboard and the row will be deleted.
Companies cannot be so freely deleted. Company information is connected to invoices and projects. If there are no quotes, invoices or project records held for that company, it can be deleted. To delete the company, click on the delete button, found at the top of the screen. For companies which are no longer active, the list box can be unchecked instead.
3.5
Importing ContactsThe import contacts screen provides you with a way of importing your existing contacts. This saves time by not having to re-enter all of your current contacts. Before attempting to import contacts, it is highly recommended that you become familiar with the process.
To view the import contacts screen, click on the contacts menu, and select import contacts. You will be presented with the screen shown below.
The first step to importing contacts is to make sure that you have a windows based program such as Microsoft Excel so that you can copy and paste columns of data. The next thing to do is get your contacts data into your windows based program, and have it arranged in columns (preferably similiar to the layout found on the import contacts screen).
Note: It is recommended that for your first import you only import one contact (one line of data).
From the program that contains your contacts data, select the column that contains all of the company names. Copy this column into the clipboard (usually by clicking on the edit menu, and then selecting copy). On the import contacts screen, click on the company column. The column should be highlighted. Paste the company name into the column by clicking on the edit menu, and selecting paste. It will ask you if you want to save what you have pasted, click OK to continue. Repeat the copy and paste procedure for the remaining columns. It is ok if columns remain blank, the rest of the data will still be imported.
It is now a good idea to have a look at what you've pasted. If things need to be modified or changed, then do so now. Once you are ready to import simply click on the import button. The time needed to import will depend upon the number of contacts being imported.
Once the import is complete, a message box will appear informing you of how many contacts were imported. If there were any errors during the import, then the message box should tell you why. Any contacts that haven't been imported will remain on the import contacts list. From there you can either try and fix them and import again, or delete them, and enter them manually. The most common reason an import won't work is because the company already exists (in which case it is best to enter it manually).
Note: You can close the import contacts screen and not lose all the contact data that you have pasted.
3.6
Phoning ContactsThe people to call screen lists all the people you need to contact today. This includes all your clients and suppliers who have a recall date of today or earlier. Click on the people to call button from the main screen. Contacts are listed by recall date (earliest first) up to today’s date. If the people to call list is ignored, then contacts will remain listed until the next time it is looked at. This helps to ensure that contacts are not forgotten.
Once a call has been made the recall date can be changed for the next time, or deleted if no call is required (the contact will disappear from the people to call screen when the screen is closed).
To view contact information from the people to call screen, click on the small binoculars button next to the contact of interest. Any contact details can be changed in the contacts screen. Close the contacts screen to go back to the people to call list.
3.7 Phone ListThe phone list is accessed from the contacts menu. It lists the phone number of all contacts in the order of company name. The phone list only displays contacts whose list tick box is ticked.
3.8
Address ListThe address list is also only accessed through the contacts menu. It lists the postal address of all companies whose list tick box is ticked. The address list is sorted by company name.
3.9
Cashbook IncomeTo view all income from the selected contact, click on income on the contacts screen. This displays all income (found in the cashbook) relating to the contact selected. The date range can be changed at the top of the screen. This offers you the ability of seeing how much income was generated from a particular contact within a month or week. If no income is found for the selected contact, then a message appears informing you.
You can preview or print out the list, using the preview or print buttons.
3.10
Cashbook ExpensesOn the contacts screen, click on the expenses button. The expenses screen displays all expenses (found in the cashbook) relating to that contact. The date range (found at the top of the screen) can be changed to allow you the flexibility of looking at how much you have spent on a particular contact, within a given period. A message appears if no expenses are found.
You can preview or print out the list, using the preview or print buttons.
3.11 Invoice, Project, and Quotation HistoryThe invoice, project and quotation histories can be viewed by clicking on the corresponding button on the contacts screen. These screens display invoice, project, and quotation history. Like cashbook income, and cashbook expenses, you can change the date range on any of these screens. If no data for the selected contact are found, then a message will appear.
You can preview or print the list using the preview or print buttons.