CRM Contact Tabs

This article provides a guide on how to effectively use the CRM Contact Tabs in BigChange. These tabs are essential tools for managing customer relationships and ensuring efficient operations.

Overview Tab

The Overview tab provides a snapshot of the main contact information, account overview details, recent jobs, financial documents, notes, and sales opportunities. It is updated daily and provides a quick reference for the contact's activities.

(1) This area contains the main Contact information, including the address, the Primary Person and their known details i.e. email, phone, number, etc.  Here and throughout the Overview page, where information is unavailable or fields are not pertinent to this Contact, they will be hidden.

{2) This includes secondary information for this Contact, including the Contact Group, Reference and Parent Contact.  This area will also show additional information, including whether the account has been flagged or put on stop. Hovering over the field will show the reason it has been flagged/put on stop:

(3) Here you can find your Account overview details, including balance, status, credit limit and whether a direct debit agreement is in place.

(4) This area will be blank unless there are Custom Fields against this Contact, in which case the first four Custom Fields will be displayed.

(5) The 'Recent Jobs' section displays the most recent 10 entries over the last 31 days. Clicking on a line will open a popup window displaying the form, whilst clicking on the graph image will open a popup graph, displaying an extended 6 month period:

(6) Recent Financial Documents. See (5) above:

(7) Recent Notes. See (5) above:

(8) Recent Sales Opportunities. See (5) above:

Please note, the graphs are updated in the evening, therefore items created during the day will not be included in the graph until the following day. The data is taken from the contact that is viewed only, and not a sum of any children it may have.

Additional Information

• Hovering

Once a graph is open, hovering over a date will open a panel with a detailed breakdown of the information shown in the key:

The graph displays the value (ex VAT) and is presented in a stacked format i.e. the gaps between the points is the value. So, in the example above:

• The Quotation peaks on the graph at 5,039

• The Invoice peaks on the graph as 6,553

• The Value of the invoice is represented by the gap between the bars i.e. 6,553 - 5,039 = 1,514

Detail Tab

The Detail tab allows you to add custom fields, enabling you to tailor the CRM package to your business needs. You can add questions and set them as mandatory or optional, and visible or hidden from tablet devices.

• To add a Contact Custom Field, navigate to Account Settings > Settings > Contacts & Notes > Contact Custom Fields.
• Select the Contact Group you wish to edit from the drop-down list. If necessary, you can create a new Contact Group first; this option can be found directly above Contact Custom Fields on the side Contacts & Notes menu.

• Once you have selected the group, select add to start adding questions:

• When asking a question, depending upon the type of answer you are expecting, additional (conditional) fields may appear.
• For example, if your answer will involve selecting from a list, a field named possible answers will appear. You should input your answers with a comma in between and they will ultimately appear as drop-down list choices on the Detail tab:

• When creating questions, remember to appropriately check the boxes asking whether or not you wish the question to be mandatory and if you wish the answers to be visible (and response enabled) from tablet devices.
• Once listed, questions can be dragged and dropped to rearrange the order and you can go back and add to/edit/delete them at any time.
• A further option exists if the questions which you would add to an existing group are true of the one you are newly creating. If this is the case, select on the Copy list to button which can be found next to the Add (questions) button. You should then complete the popup window with the appropriate Contact group name and it will automatically copy the Custom Fields across to your new Group.

Person Tab

The Person Tab serves as an enhanced address book, storing specific information about your contact personnel. It allows you to manage access to the Booking Site, set flags, and manage GDPR consent.

The setting of flags is found in the administration section. There can be many different named and coloured flags.

Once set against the person, the flags are used to assist when sending or providing information for marketing messages. Some typical examples of flags are 'CEO', 'System Administrator', 'Finance':

To create a Person Flag, navigate to Account Settings > Settings > Contacts & Notes > Person Flags.

Other things to note in this section:

• Blue tick - A blue tick next to a Person's name means that they are the 'Primary Person' ie the chief point of contact, the default recipient of marketing information and emails and the person whose details appear on the General Tab against this Contact. If you wish to change the Primary Person, simply click on the name of your choice and select 'Make Primary':

Custom fields settings are found in the administration section of BigChange.

Navigate to Account Settings > Settings > Contacts & Notes > Contact Custom Fields/Person > Custom Fields.

Add a custom field applicable to a Contact Group or Person, or for the former, you can copy existing ones across when creating a new group but it shares the same information requirements as an existing group.

Once added, these fields will appear in your CRM on a Contact's card on the Persons tab:

• Booking Site - If you tick the checkbox allowing access to the Booking Site some additional options will appear. You should ensure that the person you are adding has access to all of the areas they need and, conversely, are not able to access those which are inappropriate for their role:

For more information on this area, please read the relevant section of the Booking Site article.

Booking Site Tab

The Booking Site tab allows authorised users to create a login name, add a company logo URL, and manage visible job types and job list columns.

For those with suitable permissions, this tab allows for the creation of:

1. A login name eg https://booking.bigchange.com/boothsinternationallettings
2. A Company logo URL which adds the logo into the top left header of your site
3. The addition of Visible Job Types
4. Job List columns

Jobs Tab

The Jobs tab provides a history of jobs for the contact, including scheduled, completed, and planned jobs. It also allows you to set up Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with specific constraints on time, vehicles, or resources.

 The 'Reference' field (1) allows you to search for a specific job, whilst the 'Job Status' field (2) offers a drop-down menu choice, enabling you to view all jobs at a specific stage i.e. Complete, Completed with Issues, Suspended, etc.

The SLA tab allows you to set up the terms of Service Level Agreements, which relate to agreements between your business and that of this specific Contact.  It may include constraints on Time, Vehicles or Resources:

Selecting the 'New SLA' icon will open a new window:

1. Name - the title of the agreement e.g. 'GS Boiler Repair'
2. Job Type - these are your Job Types set up in Account Settings > Setting > Schedule > Job Types
3. Time - any relevant time constraints:

4. Resource - this refers to any constraints which may exist around Resources or essential Resource skills:

Navigate to Account Settings > Settings > Resources > Groups to add a new Resource Group or Account Settings > Settings > [side menu] Resources > Resource Skills to add a new Resource Skill

.5. Vehicles - constraints around which vehicle can be used and any attributes which they might need e.g. size, high sides, etc:

Navigate to Account Settings > Settings > Vehicles > Groups to add a new Resource Group or Account Settings > Setting > Vehicles > Vehicle attributes to add a new Vehicle attribute.

When creating a job against a site with an SLA, you have the option of selecting the required SLA from the dropdown box. When selected, the constraints added in the above step will be added to the job once saved:

Stock & Equipment Tab

The Stock & Equipment tab shows any stock and equipment allocated to a contact. It also allows you to set reorder levels for stock items.

Additional detailed movement history can be shown with (1) representing the pick-up location and (2) showing the Drop-off location:

Reorder levels can also be set by selecting a make and model from your stock/equipment list and then setting the minimum stock level quantity at which a reorder is triggered:

This can also be set up in the main Report tab under the Stock heading:

Financial Tab

The Financial Tab provides a record of all financial transactions for the contact. It also allows you to set up specific financial contracts, track sales opportunities, set custom rates, and manage VAT-related information.

You can search by specific reference number as well as filter down by site or supplier. Additionally, you can also opt to include sub-contact jobs i.e. those carried out in parent, child or grandchild relationships to the contact.

Contracts

If a specific financial contract has been arranged which includes a deposit and future payment programme, click on the 'Contracts' tab and then click 'Add':

1. Set the contract end date – this is used for filtering contracts and reporting purposes
2. Add initial payment (i.e. deposit)
3. Contract start date.
4. Click edit to set the payment frequency
5. Enter the monthly payment
6. If a contract runs beyond the set period (minimum period) complete this section
7. Attach any scanned contracts or documents

A. View jobs scheduled against the contract

B. View the invoices created and sent status

C. Add any stock/equipment that has been supplied against the contract or consumable stock

By following the process outlined above, a monthly invoice will be created and appear in the Financial section along with any additional jobs specifically associated with the contract. The invoice will show the date created and need to be sent manually to the customer. All unsent invoices can be pulled out as a Report if desired using the Report tab on the top menu:

Sales Opportunities

This feature allows you to easily keep track of potential customers, providing detailed information regarding the stage you are at in each instance from initial prospect to realised customer. The information in this section of the Financial Tab is replicated in filterable detail in the specific 'Sales Opportunities' section of the side menu:

Once the information is entered into BigChange you will be able to produce easily readable reports identifying everything from Sales opportunities conversion rates to how each Salesperson is performing.

 For more detailed information, please view the separate Sales Opportunities article.

Terms

This section is particularly useful when a non-standard contract has been negotiated with, for instance, extended payment terms.  Once the credit limit has been set, additional fields will appear, allowing decisions around 'On stop' should a credit limit be exceeded and whether or not this will apply equally to descendants:

Rates

Here you can customise rates for this contact which will then be pulled through and used for invoicing and quotations.  Select the tabs 1-3 below:

The 'Rates' popup window will now have opened:

Complete the form with the relevant information, completing a different form for each time period if the prices differ. You can also add discounts or markups using the Add discount icon

Rates can be set for all Job types or for each specific Job type, as necessary.

VAT

The VAT subtab allows you to keep VAT-related information about your customers that can be used for a variety of reasons.  For example, you can create a VAT profile for your customer, useful if you need to apply Domestic Reverse Charge (see separate DRC article for more details).

These also have associated Keywords are available in Templates under Account Settings > Setting > Templates > Keywords > Contacts & notes > Contact/Parent contact.

Tailoring a Contact's Financial Configuration

For those customers with overlapping rates, it is possible to customise a Contact's rate configuration, either for one or all Job types.

Navigate to CRM > Contacts > select a Contact > Financial > Add discount.

Notes/Mail/Alerts/Attachments Tab

These tabs collate all information relating to the contact in their respective categories from all parts of the system, providing a centralised location for easy reference.

Conclusion

Using the CRM Contact Tabs in BigChange can significantly enhance your customer relationship management and operational efficiency. By effectively using these tabs, you can tailor the system to your business needs, track activities, manage resources, and streamline financial transactions.