Customer Overview
Customer List view
The Customer Module offers a comprehensive and detailed view of each customer’s account, providing essential insights into all customer-related activities. Every interaction, from contacts to invoices, purchases, and customer history, is meticulously logged and captured within the system. This also includes detailed records of costs, jobs, and deliveries, ensuring that all aspects of customer engagement are fully traceable.
When new customers are added to the system, and your accounts system is Sage 50, they are automatically synchronised with the accounts package, a process designed to ensure seamless integration. During this synchronisation, the system performs checks to prevent the creation of duplicate records, maintaining the integrity of your customer database. This automated approach reduces manual data entry, improves accuracy, and ensures that all customer information remains up-to-date across platforms.
Key features of the Customer Module
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Contacts: Maintains detailed records of all contacts associated with each customer, including names, positions, phone numbers, email addresses, and any notes from interactions.
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Invoices: Tracks all invoices issued to the customer, including dates, amounts, statuses (paid, pending, overdue), and links to the corresponding orders.
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Purchases: Logs all purchases made by the customer, detailing the items bought, quantities, prices, and dates of purchase.
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Customer History: Provides a chronological history of all interactions and transactions with the customer, giving a clear picture of the customer’s engagement over time.
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Costs: Keeps a record of all costs associated with the customer, including direct costs from purchases and any additional fees or charges incurred.
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Jobs: Manages all jobs or projects associated with the customer, including job descriptions, statuses, timelines, and assigned personnel.
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Deliveries: Tracks all deliveries made to the customer, including delivery dates, shipment details, and delivery confirmations.
Additionally, when new customers are added to the system, the module automatically synchronises with Sage 50 accounts if set to default. This synchronisation process includes rigorous checks to prevent the creation of duplicate records, ensuring that the customer database remains clean and accurate. This seamless integration with the accounts helps maintain consistency and reliability in financial records and customer information across the organization.
Overall, the Customer Module is designed to provide a holistic view of each customer’s relationship with the organisation, facilitating better customer management, improved service delivery, and more informed decision-making.
Icon Functions
Add Customer
To add a new customer in SAM, click the Add icon at the top of the screen to open the customer Details window. When the customer details window appears enter the required information in all applicable fields to create a new customer and click the save icon at the bottom of the window. Customers can also be converted from opportunities.
Delete Customer
Customers can be deleted individually or in bulk. To delete a customer, select the customers you wish to delete by ticking their selection boxes, then click the Delete icon located at the top of the screen. Customers with transactions logged against them cannot be deleted.
Sync Customers
The sync icon allows users to sync customer records with the accounts system, click to select the records that you wish to sync then press the sync icon.
Export Customers
To export one or more customers to a CSV file, select the required customers and click the Export icon at the top of the screen. The selected customers and all the data within the customer record will be exported to your local hard drive.
Email Customers
SAM supports mass emailing. To send the same email to multiple customers, select the relevant customers and click the Email icon. The email drafting window will open with all the associated customer email addresses inserted automatically.
Create your message and click the Send icon at the bottom of the email window.
Note: When drafting the message, ensure you include the placeholders “First Name” and “Last Name” (in inverted commas). These will be replaced with the appropriate contact names when the email is sent.
Email List Management
The system allows you to save email lists for future use (e.g., customers that may be interested in similar solutions or may just need to be updated on the status of the customer).
- To save a new list, click the Mail List icon, you will be asked to enter a name for the list, then click Save.
- To load a saved list, click the Mail List icon and select the list you wish to upload the click Load.
- To reset and return to the full list of customers, click the Mail List icon and select Reset.
Manage Customers
Clicking the Manage Customers icon provides two administrative options:
- Assign Customer: Allows an administrator to assign a customer to a specific user. A dropdown list of users will be displayed. Select the user and click Assign.
- Unassign Customer: Removes the assigned user from the selected Customer.
By utilising the Customer Module, businesses can efficiently manage customer relationships, track their purchase history, and ensure that invoicing and deliveries are executed smoothly. This module also provides valuable data for analysing customer trends and making informed decisions to enhance overall customer service and satisfaction.
Customise Columns
SAM allows you to customise the columns displayed in the overview screen so you can focus on the information most relevant to your workflow.
Column Headers
To customise columns, click on the customise columns dropdown option located on the top right hand side of the screen. A dropdown list of column headers is displayed allowing the user to select or deselect column headers. You can also resize column widths by dragging the edges of each header. SAM remembers your layout automatically, so your preferred column setup will be restored the next time you use the module.
Search
The SAM search function allows you to quickly locate records within any list view. Simply type a keyword, name, reference number, or partial text into the Search box at the top of the list. As you type, SAM instantly filters the results to show only the matching records.
Gear Icon
The search works across all visible columns, you can click on the gear icon to deselect columns that should not be included in the search making it easy to find the information you need without scrolling or navigating through multiple screens.
