The Contact is the highest-level entity in SM. It is every individual of which SM is aware.
Much of the contact information is part of the base SM system. These are fields that SM provides regardless of the industry. Additional custom fields may be added to add features to brands and locations, much of it driven by management needs and state laws.
Your contacts in Mosquito Squad should be configured to allow entry based on our Sales 101 course in Learning Zen: Name, Address, Phone, Email, Property Size, and Lead Source.
In Mosquito Squad, we create Contact types in a standard manner across the brand. We also only label the Current Customer a "Customer" for SM--this is how SM knows to call this type of Contact for all of the standard reports.
Editing Contacts
The contact details page for each unique contact provides details for that contact. Editing the contact details provides additional options to add data, including additional contacts. Many fields are changed by clicking the Edit box at the top. Constraints and Additional Contacts are edited by clicking on the Edit word by each. The address and map location may be edited by clicking on the pencil (see below):
Duplicates
This area addresses folks with the same names. We strongly recommend not adding extra characters or letters to contact's names the handle duplicates. If they are different people but with the same name, they're safe to leave them as the same name. They can use other information fields such as their address, email, phone, etc. to differentiate them.
There is an option to make double-sure in QBO that the names remain separate. SM can be configured to append the contact's unique ID. Behind the scenes, SM uses unique ID's to keep all names unique--even if they have the exact spelling. This ID is used to also keep them unique in QBO. to the end of their name when syncing to QBO. This will ensure that they're kept separate. To enable this optional feature, go to Control Panel > Integrations > Accounting, there's a new checkbox here labeled "Add Contact ID to Name". When that's enabled, contacts who sync with QBO will start to get a unique ID added to the end of their name in QBO.
When you enter a name that already exists in the system, you get a warning. This warning is only meant as a soft suggestion that maybe this contact already exists somewhere else. If the user determines that it's someone different but with the same name, they should leave their names the same.
Should your location have for any reason duplicate contacts created (different names as in spouses at the same address), you do not delete them, but merge them into one. This will retain all the history.
To merge two contacts into one, select the target contact (one to keep primary). Click the merge button at the top. Then, on the right in the search “Find the Contact” add the name of the duplicate. A drop down list will present with choices. Select the one to merge from and at the bottom click Merge.
Only data not present in the target contact on the left will be merged. Nothing will be overwritten. Data on the source contact selected below will be lost if the field already exists on the target contact. The selected contact below will be deleted after the merge is complete.
Same people with multiple service addresses.
Reserve use of numbers for contacts with multiple addresses needing service. You might connect these using the managed by feature. For instance, John1 Doe is his first property, and John2 Doe his second, all connected via managed by John Doe.
Editing a Location
Some locations do not geocode from their address. This is usually an issue with the map set that SM uses, and is often resolved as the maps are updated quarterly.
If a location has an invalid address, you can set the lat/log manually so it will route. To do this enter the contact details page, and click on the Edit button to the right of the address.
If the address failed to geocode, please uncheck the invalid checkbox below and make any necessary corrections. Click refresh to attempt to geocode the address again. If the address can't be found, the address will remain invalid and will not show up on the Mapping view.
Owned by Managed by Created by
Service Minder tracks many data points per contact. This will work to explain their creation and use.
Created is the date stamp for the time the contact was initially set up. There is also a Created by field available on the contact grid that lists the logged-in user that created the contact. Last updated is the timestamp from the last time it was edited.
Owned by is not generally used by our brand as Mosquito Squad generally works in the team sales mode: many folks staffing an office without have a 'sales rep' that always takes care of that same customer. This feature is turned on/off in the Control Panel>General. If turned on, this field is populated by a Service Minder User.
(please note: when a contact is given an owner, only that owner may interact with the contact profile. This can obviously lead to delays in customer support and proposal follow-up)
Referred by is a field that may be added to a contact that is used to track referrals. It feeds into a report for processing referral bonuses and such.
It is added by editing a contact and attached the referred by from another contact. It shows up in the Tab Referrals.
And drives a report that lists all referrals for payment of incentives.
Managed by uses a tree-system to manage payment and contact information. There can be on "manager" with one or more managed by contacts. When contact or payment information is missing from the Managed by contact, the system refers to the manager for information or payment. This is used when a mother pays for her three kids, or an HOA pays for homeowners.
Searching
Searching all contacts may be controlled in the User Permissions here:
Membership Search
In January of 2020, membership search was added to Service Minder. This allows independent SM accounts to be "linked" for purposes of searching and setup of new contacts. Once linked, the search bar in the top left of SM will search in the same scope across all linked accounts.
Add a Contact Options are coming shortly. This will allow from the Add A Contact screen switching between Organizations in a fluid manner.
Requirements for Membership Search
- All search settings for each organization must be the same whereby Contacts are either owned or not. Control Panel>>General. This must be either on or off (the same) for each org.
- User has to be a member of all orgs to search. You can tell what organizations a User is a member of as they display at the bottom of the left menu when logged in.
- User has to have checkbox for Membership. Control Panel>>User under permissions.