Adding a customer

What this does

Creates the customer record that everything else attaches to. Two ways in: the full form under Customers & Assets → Customers → new, or inline from the customer picker on an estimate, work order, or invoice when the person isn't in the system yet.

Before you start

Search first. Type the name or phone in the customer list; the picker on the estimate form searches the same way. Creating a second record for an existing customer splits their history.

Steps

1. Customer Type — Individual or Company.
2. Individual: First name, Last name. Company: Company Name (required), plus a contact name if you have one.
3. Email and Phone. Email is needed to send estimates and invoices; phone is needed for texting. Phone is stored formatted, and SMS consent is matched on it, so enter the number the customer will text from.
4. Address, Address 2, City, State, ZIP — prints on documents.
5. Notes — anything the counter should know. Internal; never printed.
6. Billing fields (optional): Hourly rate, Billing cadence, statements. Leave blank unless you bill this customer by time; see Billing settings on a customer.
7. SMS opt-out — check only if the customer has said not to text them.
8. Save. Add their vehicle next; the record is created without one.

Inline from an estimate: choose add new in the customer picker, enter type, name, and phone, and the record is created and selected in one step. Fill in the rest later from the customer page.

Common problems

"Company name is required." The type is Company. Enter the company name, or switch to Individual.

Email rejected. The field validates format. Leave it blank rather than entering a placeholder; a fake address will bounce your estimates.

Phone number doesn't match for texting. Consent lookups compare digits only, but the record must hold the number the customer actually uses. Check for a second record with the right number.