At first glance, changes in contact information appear simple, but there are several best practices in a regulated industry like Pest Control.
Error Correction
Any correction to contact information is always acceptable. Please feel free to fix any mistakes as you find them.
Contact Changes Address
Whether a contact moves within your territory or to another, do NOT simply change that address. This will shift prior appointment addresses and make your regulatory reporting incorrect. Instead, set up a new contact with the new address and mark the old contact as a Cancelled Customer.
If this is done mid-season, you will need to manually write off and re-enter any remaining invoice balances or appointments. Also, use notes extensively.
Here is a summary of a best practice for moving/new customers:
- When a customer moves, mark his account as a 'Cancelled Customer.'
- If the customer is moving within our territory, create a new contact with the new name and address. The old (cancelled) customer will mark that customer as 'referred'. This gives us an easy link between the two accounts so we can easily access that customer's full history of information.
- Any credits will be written off the old contact and then created as a credit memo on the new contact.
- If a new contact moves into the old house, create a new record for that contact at the same address.
API Connection that Load Contacts
If you have API (Application Programming Interface) connections that load contacts from outside sources like Web Leads, Answering Services, or Sales Portals, do NOT allow merging of contacts with the same address:
This will keep your appointment records consistent and force you to set up new contacts for new owners. If the API lead is actually from an existing contact that has not moved, you may merge them manually as you would if you set up two partners living in the same house separately.