Sort companies by type (customers, suppliers, government)

How it works#

Your company keeps one list of companies. Besides sales customers, it holds the suppliers and service providers your back office works with, banks, and government offices such as the tax office, separated by Type. Because there is only one list, a company that is both a customer and a supplier is registered once and its address never drifts apart.

Types#

• Customer: companies you do business with
• Prospect: companies you are talking to or just met
• Supplier: suppliers and subcontractors
• Service provider: building management, cleaning, IT, insurance, leasing, tax or labor advisers and other back-office vendors
• Bank: banks and credit unions
• Government / public body: tax office, pension office, city hall, chamber of commerce and similar
• Partner / referrer: agencies and people who refer business
• Other

A company can have several types (for example, customer and supplier). Companies without a type count as customers.

Switch views in the list#

Open Customers in the left menu and switch views above the list.

• Customers & prospects: your sales contacts (shown first)
• Suppliers & vendors: suppliers, service providers and banks
• Government
• All

Your browser remembers the last view. Companies that are not just customers show their types as small tags next to the name.

Set or change the type#

1. Open Add Customer in the list, or Edit on a company.
2. Under the company name, pick every Type that applies (at least one). New companies start with the type that matches the view you are on.
3. Click Save.

Types set automatically#

• When the corporate number belongs to a government body or local authority, a new company switches to Government / public body and says it was identified from the corporate number (you can change it).
• Companies created when you turn a business card into a deal start as prospects.
• When a deal is won, the company gets Customer and loses Prospect. Other types such as Supplier stay.
• Customers, suppliers and lenders in the accounting counterparty list are added automatically (see Link with the accounting counterparty list).

Rank and sales figures#

Customer rank only applies to customers and prospects. Suppliers, government offices and the like show no rank, and the rank picker is hidden when you edit them. Rank counts only include customers and prospects.

FAQ#

• What happens to existing companies? Companies without a type stay customers and appear under Customers & prospects. Add types only where you need them.
• Do sales email and sequences look at the type? They send to contacts, so they do not look at the type yet. Keep supplier contacts out of marketing sequences.
• Is the type in exports? CSV and Excel exports include a Type column.