Clients and Contacts

The client record is the account that receives a quote and booking. The contact record identifies the person at that account, with email, phone and a role. A studio needs both: a customer name alone cannot tell the team who accepted a price, who should receive a follow-up or whose details belong on the offer.

• Keep. Keep the account number and customer name stable when a repeat inquiry arrives.
• Link. Link each contact to its client and identify the primary contact where appropriate.
• Review. Review the client owner, currency and payment terms before preparing a priced offer.

Agree whether the studio records a household, company or partner as the client for each kind of job. The available account types are Customer, Vendor and Both. Agree how the team resolves duplicate records and keeps an old contact traceable. Check billing and shipping details with the customer before the first booking; a mailing address is a different decision from a session location.

Sales Coordinator should choose whether the customer record represents the person paying or a company commissioning the work. Confirm the contact who receives the offer and the contact who handles billing when they differ. Review active state, owner, currency and payment terms with Finance Manager before a quote is prepared. For a returning customer, compare the incoming name and email with existing contacts before adding another account. Keep the original contact linked to earlier offers when responsibility changes.

A returning business customer requests a set of staff portraits. Sales Coordinator finds the existing client, confirms the accounts contact and adds the new buyer as a contact on that client. The photographer then links the booking opportunity to the same account and selects the person who will review the quote. The resulting offer and order carry a consistent customer identity, while the studio can still see which individual handled each decision.

Follow the staff portrait request from inquiry to existing client. Sales Coordinator adds the new buyer to that client and checks which contact the quote addresses. Photographer then uses the same client on the opportunity. Studio Manager compares the customer and contact on the submitted quote with the linked opportunity before deciding. If a billing contact is different, record that person on the same client. A later inquiry should use the existing account history.

• Active Customers — Current client accounts with owner and active state.
• My Inquiries — Requests that may need matching to an existing customer.

See the connected process and implementation for the first rehearsal.