Add Your First Client

What this covers

Every piece of work in the program hangs off a person. Before you can invoice someone, send them a file or set a Follow-Up, they need a record. This guide shows you how to add a Client, which fields actually matter, and the one field most people skip that causes trouble later.

It takes about twenty seconds once you know what you are doing. You will also see the two faster ways to get people in — scanning a business card, and importing a spreadsheet you already have.

If you have renamed “Clients” to something else — Members, patients, students — everything here still applies. Only the label changes.

Step by step

1. Open the Client List Open

From the main menu choose Database Management › Database › Clients › Client List. You will see everyone you have added so far, most recent first. If this is your first time, the list is empty.

2. Click Add Client

The Add Client button sits at the top of the list. It opens a blank record on the Main tab, where all the core details live.

You do not have to come through the menu every time. Your Dashboard has Add Client in Quick Actions, and a + Add under the Clients tile — both land on the same blank record in one click.

3. Fill in the essentials

Three fields identify the person, and a fourth decides where they sit in your list:

1. Name — first and last. There is a second name field if you are dealing with a couple or two business partners on one record.
2. Email — needed for Invoices, Campaigns and sending files. You can save without it, but you will be back.
3. Phone — optional, but you will want it.
4. Client Type — your database code. This is the one people skip and later regret.

The Client Type is how you segregate your list. Say you work with electricians and builders: give each trade its own code, and from then on you can pull up just the electricians, invoice them, report on them or email them without touching anyone else.

You define the codes yourself, so they match how you actually think about your Clients — by trade, by service, by referral source, by whatever you sort people by in your head. It is covered properly in the next step.

Everything else on this tab — address, birthdate, extra Contact details — can wait. Come back to it any time.

4. Set the Client Type (do not skip this) Open

Further down the Main tab you will find three database filters:

• Client Type
• Client Rating Type
• Web Type — where they came from. The settings screen still calls this one Lead Type; it is the same field.

These look optional. They are not. They are how you filter reports and target Campaigns later. If you ever want to email only your commercial Clients, or run a report on everyone rated A, these are the fields that make it possible. Setting them now takes two seconds. Adding them to two hundred records in six months does not.

You define these types yourself in settings, so they match how you actually think about your Clients. Someone serving the trades might code by trade — electrical, plumbing, building. An accountant might code by entity type, or by which month their Year End falls in. There is no right answer, only the one that matches how you group people when you are deciding who to call.

Start with three or four codes rather than twenty. You can add more once you see which distinctions you actually use.

5. Save

Click Save. The record is created and the other tabs — Tasks, Emails, Invoices, Notes — become available.

6. Two faster ways

• Scan a business card. From Database Management › Business Card Scanner, photograph a card with your phone and the details are read into a record for you.
• Import a spreadsheet. If your Contacts are already in Excel, use Import / Export to bring them in as a batch.

Tips and best practices

Add the Client before you need them. It is tempting to wait until you are invoicing someone, but a record costs twenty seconds and means every email, Task and file from then on attaches to them automatically.

Use the Client Type from day one. This is the most common regret. People add fifty Clients, decide they want to email one group, and end up going back through every record by hand.

Do not over-fill the record. You do not need an address, a birthday and the names of their children before you can start working. Name and email is enough.

One record per relationship, not per person. For a couple or a partnership, use the two name fields on a single record rather than creating two that you then have to keep in step.

Check for duplicates before importing. If you are bringing in a spreadsheet, scan it for people you have already added by hand.

What this connects to

A Client record is not just a name in a list. It is the thread that ties your work together.

Their Tasks hang off it. Their Invoices hang off it — and when you invoice them, the revenue posts to your accounts without you typing it anywhere else. The files you sent, the emails you scheduled, the Payments they made: all in one place, in order.

Six months from now, when you are trying to remember what you quoted and whether they paid, that is one screen instead of four apps. That is the whole idea.

AI tips

With the AI module enabled you can add and update people by describing what you want instead of filling in the form. Try:

• “Add a Client called Sarah Noodle at My Noodle Company, email sarah@internoodle.com, phone 604 111 1111.”
• “Add a Note to Sarah Noodle’s record that she prefers email over phone.”
• “Create a Follow-Up Task for Sarah Noodle next Tuesday.”

The AI prepares the entry and shows it to you before anything is saved. It never writes to your database without your approval, which makes it safe to use while you are still learning where things live.

Troubleshooting

Save does not do anything. A required field is usually empty or invalid. Check the email address — a missing @ is the most common cause.

I cannot see the Clients menu. Client records may be switched off for your account, or for you as a team Member. Check User Settings › Custom Views, or ask whoever owns the account to enable it.

The tabs I expected are not there. Tabs such as Employment, Children and Financial Plan can be turned on and off per account. A missing tab has been hidden, not removed.

I added someone twice. Mark the duplicate inactive rather than deleting it. Inactive records drop to the bottom of the list and are excluded from reports and Campaigns, but the history stays intact.

The list looks empty. Check whether a filter is applied at the top, and whether you are looking at Clients rather than Prospects.

Common questions

Can I import my Clients from Excel?

Yes. Use Import / Export under Database Management to bring the whole list in at once rather than typing them individually, then tidy up any duplicates afterwards.

What is the difference between a Client, a Prospect and a lead?

A Client is someone you do business with. A Prospect is someone you hope to. A Web Lead usually arrives from your website and has not been qualified yet. They are separate lists so you can treat them differently.

Can I call them something other than Clients?

Yes. Rename the label in settings and it changes everywhere in the system — Members, patients, students, whatever fits your business.

What is a database code, and do I need one?

It is the Client Type — a code you assign so you can pull one group out of your list later. Electricians, builders, retainer Clients, whatever the split is in your business. You do not have to use it, but everything you might later want to filter, report on or email depends on it being there.

Can a Client have more than one code?

There are three separate fields — Client Type, Client Rating Type and Web Type — so you can code the same person along three different lines. Trade in one, how good a Client they are in another.

Do I have to fill in every field?

No. Name and email are enough to save the record. Add the rest as you learn it.

What happens if I delete a Client by mistake?

Mark records inactive rather than deleting them. An inactive record keeps its full history but disappears from lists, reports and Campaigns.

Can my team add Clients too?

Yes, if you have given them access. Team Member permissions are set per person, so you can let someone add Clients without giving them the accounting.

Video transcript

Related guides

• Record Types - Client, Prospect, Lead, Contact — Client, Prospect, Lead or Contact?
• Send Your First Invoice
• Import and Export Your Data — bring the whole list in at once
• Talk Your New Client File — add one by talking instead
• Add a Task and Set a Follow-Up

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