In B2B Sales contacts are always linked to a particular account. If you want to record a new contact you need to access the account detail from the Accounts/Agents menu and select the Contacts tab from there. From the Accounts > Contact view, you can view the contacts associated with the account, add new contacts for the account, and set a primary contact for the account.
In this article:
- Accessing the Contacts Tab from the Accounts Menu
- Adding a New Contact
- Setting a Primary Contact
- Changing the Status of a Contact to Inactive or to Active Again
Accessing the Contacts Tab from the Accounts Menu
The list of contacts on the Contacts tab gives you a convenient overview of the contact(s) working for the presently selected account.
Accessing the Contacts tab from the Accounts menu:
- Select the Accounts icon.
- Double-click the required account.
- Select the Contacts tab.
B2B Sales displays a list of contacts recorded for the presently selected account.
- To proceed from here choose the required option. You can:
- Add a new contact by selecting the New icon.
- Set a primary contact by right-clicking the required record and selecting Set Primary from the popup menu.
- Change the status to Inactive by selecting the contact and selecting Inactive.
- Display the Contact detail including all tab options by selecting Select.
From the Contact detail, you can:- Edit the contact details (including various addresses, optional fields and remarks by selecting the Edit icon).
- View or modify optional custom-specific fields by selecting the Options
- Add, view and modify an activity for the contact by selecting the Activity
- Update/rewrite the data on the screen by selecting Refresh
Adding a New Contact
In B2B Sales contacts are always linked to an account. Therefore, to add a new contact record you must first select the required account.
- From the Account > Contact detail, select New.
B2B Sales opens the Contact detail.
Note: B2B Sales automatically extracts the address from the account detail and inserts it into the relevant contact fields.
- Fill in the required information, for details see table.
- Select the Addresses tab to modify additional addresses for the contact.
- Select the Options tab to modify additional custom-specific information pertaining to the contact.
- Select the Remarks tab to modify special comments pertaining to the contact.
- Select Ok to save the changes or Cancel to restore the previous settings.
Table: Contact details – description of fields
|
Field Name |
Description |
|
Name |
Last name of the contact person. Make sure that you spell the name correctly. |
|
First Name |
First name of the contact person. If there is a middle name or initial you can also add it here. |
|
Language |
Language used for corresponding with the contact. Click the down arrow and select the required language from the pickbox. |
|
Salutation |
Salutation used for the contact person. Click the down arrow and select the required salutation from the pickbox. The display will be based on the language you have selected. The system will display both the short and the long salutation for each pickbox entry (e.g. Mr./Dear Mr., Ms./Dear Ms.) After you have made your selection and clicked the Tab key to proceed to the next field, the system will automatically fill in the subsequent two fields, Short Salutation and Long Salutation according to your selection. |
|
Short Salutation |
Short salutation used for the contact (used in the address, for example, Mr. Herr, Signore, or Monsieur). The system defaults this information from your selection in the Salutation field. If you want to use a different short salutation you can overtype the entry. |
|
Long Salutation |
Long salutation used for the contact (used when addressing the contact in the letter, for example Dear Mr. Sehr geehrter Herr, etc.) The system defaults this information from your selection in the Salutation field. If you want to use a different or more personal long salutation you can overtype the entry. Please try to be consistent though. It may sound very awkward if you send a formal campaign with a personal form of address to your contact. |
|
Special Title |
Title used for the contact. This field is used for academic titles (used in countries such as Austria and Germany and printed on the address label; not used for the long salutation), such as Dipl., Ing., Magister, etc. Fill in the title, if required. |
|
Address Type |
This field displays the address type recorded for the primary address, i.e. the address that is displayed in the address box below this field. Additional addresses can be added and viewed from the Address tab. You have the following options: |
|
Invalid Address checkbox |
Select the Invalid checkbox (next to the Address Type field), if the respective address is not supposed to be used for mailing correspondence or is not valid. The integrated address check automatically marks the address as INVALID i.e., selects the checkbox, if the address field is empty or if the address check has found this address to be invalid. |
|
Address box |
This box displays the primary address recorded for the contact person. It is displayed in the form in which the system will print the address on a campaign label. The primary address is used for all displays and for all correspondence with the contact. If you want to change the primary address or add other addresses for the contact, select the Addresses tab. |
|
Main Phone |
Main telephone number for the contact. B2B Sales automatically defaults the phone number recorded in the account detail (usually the switchboard). Make sure that you include the area code and (where applicable) the country code for the contact. |
|
Fax |
Main fax number for the account. B2B Sales will automatically default the fax number from the account detail. However, you can overtype the entry. Make sure that you include the area code and (where applicable) the country code for the fax number. |
|
Direct Phone |
Second phone number of the contact. Usually, you will use the Main Phone field to record the switchboard number of the account and the Direct Phone field to record the complete number, including the extension of the contact. If the contact has provided other phone numbers as he/she does not work from the office, you can use the fields to record these numbers. |
|
Mobile |
Mobile phone number of the contact. Fill in where applicable. |
|
|
Email address of the contact. B2B Sales Campaign uses this field for sending campaigns. Please take extra care to avoid typos. |
|
Invalid Email checkbox |
The Invalid Email checkbox (next to the Email field) can be set to Invalid manually. The integrated address check, however, also automatically marks the email as INVALID i.e., selects the checkbox, if the email field is empty or if the email address (syntax or domain) is not correct. |
|
Priority |
Importance of the contact. Type in the priority or select the down arrow and select the required priority from the pickbox. This can be based on various factors. The Managing Director of a company may receive a high priority even though he/she will not be the person booking room nights. Mark crucial contacts with “Top” and important contacts with “High” etc. |
|
Influence |
Influence the contact holds at the company (i.e., none is the default, decision-maker, consultant, etc.) select the down arrow and select the level of influence from the pickbox. |
|
Birthday |
Birthday of contact person. Should always be filled in if known. |
|
Opt-out fields |
The opt-out checkboxes are used to exclude one or more contacting options for the customer. |
|
Do not Email |
Do not send emails |
|
Do not Mail |
Do not mail (i.e. send regular mail to an address). |
|
Do not Call |
Do not call |
|
Department |
Department in which the contact person is working. Select the down arrow and select the department from the pickbox, for example Accounting. |
|
Free-entry field |
If the company uses a different name for the department or if you want the department information added to the address, you can enter the exact term here. |
|
Print checkbox |
You can include the department name and/or job title in the address label by selecting the Print checkbox and filling the exact text in the free-entry field next to it. The address box at the bottom left of the screen will be updated accordingly. |
|
Job |
Job the contact holds at the company. Select the down arrow and select the respective job from the pickbox. |
|
Free-entry field |
If the company uses a different job title for the job of the contact person you can enter the exact term here. |
|
SalesRep |
Displays the name of the primary sales rep. |
|
Info Fields: Last/ Created/Primary Sales Rep |
These read-only fields are for information only and cannot be edited. They display the user ID of the person who last edited the contact and the last edit date, the creation date of the contact, the respective user ID, and the primary sales representative for the contact. |
Setting a Primary Contact
The primary contact is the most important contact person for the account. In the list of contacts for the account you can identify a primary contact immediately as the record is highlighted in bold.
Note: If you only have one contact for an account then this contact is your primary contact. If there are several contacts and you want to set a new contact primary take the steps described below.
Setting a primary contact:
- From the Accounts menu select the required account and then select the Contacts tab.
B2B Sales opens the Contact detail. - From the list of contacts right-click the required record and then select Set Primary from the popup menu.
- On the confirmation message select Yes to confirm select No to abort the operation.
The new primary contact is highlighted in bold.
Changing the Status of a Contact to Inactive or to Active Again
When you set the status of a contact to inactive, you record the fact that the respective contact person is no longer working with you but the contact itself is not deleted. It remains in B2B Sales with all the information that has been recorded.
If the status changes at a later date you can simply reactivate the contact again. Activities linked to the contact in question will also be set to inactive or to active again.
Changing the status of a contact to inactive:
- Do one of the following:
- Select the Contacts icon and filter by Active Contacts.
- Click the Accounts icon, select the required account, and then select the Contacts
- From the list of contacts, select the required contact and click the Inactive icon.
- On the confirmation message select Yes to change the contact status to inactive select No to cancel.
If you confirm the status change B2B Sales prompts you to enter a reason for the status change in the Enter reason dialog box. The contact record will automatically display this reason in the Remarks box on the Details tab.
- select Ok when you are done.
B2B Sales will set the status of the contact to inactive.
- The contact will no longer appear in the list of active contacts. The contact has not been deleted; you can still see it by displaying the list of all contacts or all inactive contacts.
- On the Contacts tab the inactive contact will be displayed in italics.
Changing the status of an inactive contact to active again:
- Do one of the following:
- Select the Contacts icon and filter by Inactive Contacts.
- Click the Accounts icon, select the required account, and then click the Contacts
- Select the required inactive contact and select the Activate icon.
B2B Sales displays a warning.
- Select Yes to change the status, select No to abort the operation.
If you select Yes B2B Sales will set the status of the contact to active; the contact will appear in the list of active contacts again.
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