Keeping track of customer information and interrelationships is vital to running a successful business. Customer record tracking helps you maintain a positive business relationship with that customer, and determine the business practices that work best. In addition, a complete record of all activities and transactions associated with a customer helps build out the trail of breadcrumbs that ensures you and your staff remain up to date on all your business dealings. This section will detail how to add a new customer to Method and how to edit an existing one, as well as provide a screen overview of all the pertinent fields and other elements on the screen.
Type in the name of the new customer in the Customer Name field (for example, Superior Plumbing).
Type in a contact name for the new customer in the Contact field (for example, Bob Crenshaw).
The above fields are the only required fields on this page and represent the minimum amount of information Method needs to create a record of this Customer. However, the more information you provide, the more useful your Customer record will be! For more information on the remaining fields on this page, please see our screen overview below.
Clicking Save at the bottom of the page will save all information you've inputted into the above fields. This customer will now appear in your Existing Customer Contacts List.
The following is a breakdown of the New Customer screen. We'll take a closer look at each element of the screen (drop down menus, buttons, etc.) so you know exactly what each element does. We hope this will be a useful roadmap for new users!
You can access the New customer page by clicking on the New customer tab link, or by clicking the New Customer button on your Existing Customer Contacts List screen. Let's take a look at the individual elements of this screen – understanding them is the key to learning how to create a new customer! Many of these fields are common knowledge (first name and last name, for example), so let's focus on the ones that are unique to this page.
Customer name: The customer name is a required field. It appears in the Customer section of the "Contact/Customer/Company" column in your Existing Customer ContactsList.
The Customer name field in Method corresponds to the Customer entity in QuickBooks.
Contact: Also a required field, the Contact is your go-to person at the customer's company. This could be the owner of a small business, the receptionist for a larger company, or an account manager with a major corporation, just to name a few. This name appears in the "Contact" section of the "Contact/Customer/Company" column in your Existing Customer Contacts List.
Copy address: This handy button will save you time by automatically filling in the "Ship to" address fields with the information you input into the "Bill to" fields!
The New customer screen also features a check box labeled Add additional info. If you click it, it will open a second part of the screen called Additional Information. Here you will see a series of fields that allow you to add job information, customer defaults, payment and sales tax information related to this customer. None of this is mandatory information, but the more information you have on a customer, the more valuable the record!
Job of customer: This dropdown list lets you assign your customer to a parent organization.
Assigning a job here will add a job to the customer entity in QuickBooks.
Type: This dropdown list allows you to assign a filtering option to this customer to make it easier to group with customers of similar type.
Terms: This dropdown list deals with terms of payment – it is a list that originates in QuickBooks and so might be familiar to those of you who use QuickBooks regularly. The types available out of the box are as follows:
1% 10 Net 30: Payee gets a 1% discount if the full amount is paid within the first ten days; however, the full amount must be paid within 30 days.
2% 10 Net 30: Payee gets a 2% discount if the full amount is paid within the first ten days; however, the full amount must be paid within 30 days.
Consignment: This usually refers to products, and means your company retains ownership of the product until the second party sells it for you.
Date driven: A date driven payment is any payment that pertains to specific dates (for example, due on the 15th of the month, regardless when the invoice is received).
Due on receipt: The payment is due when the invoice is received.
Net 15: The payment is due within 15 days of reception.
Net 30: The payment is due within 30 days of reception.
Net 60: The payment is due within 60 days of reception.
Sales rep: This dropdown menu allows you to choose a sales representative from your Method users to associate with this lead. You can also create a new sales representative, which you can learn how to do in the New Sales Rep documentation.
Tax code: This dropdown menu lets you determine whether a sale associated with this lead is taxable or not.
Tax item: This dropdown menu lets you determine whether a sale associated with this lead will be taxed in or out-of-state. Refer to your local state laws for specific information as to whether or not sales are taxable.
Resale number: You can input a resale number, if applicable.
A resale number is issued by a state or local municipality and gives your company permission to buy products at wholesale prices and re-sell them.
Account number: This number is assigned in QuickBooks and syncs to this field in Method.
Credit limit: Sometimes you will be made aware of a customer's credit limit. This is the field in which to record that information.
Preferred payment method: This dropdown list allows you to choose from a list of payment options, from credit cards to cash to e-check.
Credit card information: The fields in this section are self-explanatory, and refer to the credit card the customer will use to pay outstanding balances.
When a customer is pushed to QuickBooks, any credit card information included will be returned by QuickBooks (which is PCI-compliant) as a series of **** **** **** XXXX with the last four numbers included.
At the bottom of each screen you will see the same set of buttons: More actions, Save, Save & Close, and Close. This is a breakdown of what they do.
More actions allows you to Clear/New which will clear the fields in this customer and make room for a new one, or Delete customer which cannot be undone.
Save saves the information on the screen without closing it.
Save & New saves the information on the screen and clears the fields to make room for a new one.
Save & Edit saves the information on the screen and takes you to theEdit customer screen.
