Contact Classes
Contact Classes are a catalog you use to classify the individual people you register inside your Customers, Prospects, Vendors and Opportunities/Leads (for example: "Decision Maker", "Billing Contact", "Technical Contact"). They don't classify the Customer or Vendor itself, but each person on the Contacts tab of its record.
What is it and what is it for?
It's a simple catalog: each record is a required, unique Name, with optional notes and, if your company configured them, extra custom fields.
Once you create a Contact Class, it becomes available on the Contact Class field of every person you add on the Contacts tab of a Customer, Prospect or Opportunity/Lead. That way you can mark, for example, that John is the "Billing Contact" of a customer and Mary is the "Decision Maker", so you know who to reach out to depending on the reason for the contact.
How to use it
- Open the catalog. Go to the Contact Classes list, where you'll see every class you've already created, sorted by name.
- Create a new class. Use the add button and type the name of the class you want to register; if your company has custom fields for this catalog, fill those in too.
- Save. AdmCloud checks that the name isn't empty and that no other class already uses the same name.
- Assign it to a contact. Open a Customer, Prospect or Opportunity/Lead record, go to its Contacts tab and, while adding or editing a person, pick the class on the Contact Class field.
- Review or edit an existing record. Click the name on the list to see its detail, and use the edit button if you need to correct the name or its custom fields.
Main capabilities
- Review a read-only detail screen for each class, including its custom fields when applicable.
- If your company has the Custom Fields module active, you can define your own extra fields for this catalog from Customization, and they'll show up on the class form.
- Separate permission levels for browsing, adding, editing and deleting, controlled by the user group.
Key fields
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the Contact Class. Required, can't exceed 200 characters and can't repeat. |
| Notes | Optional free text to clarify the class's use or scope. |
| Custom fields | Extra fields your company defined for this catalog, if configured in Customization. Optional unless marked as required. |
Validations when saving
- Name is required and can't repeat between Contact Classes.
- The name can't exceed 200 characters.
Deleting
A Contact Class can't be deleted if any contact (person) has it assigned. AdmCloud shows you the list of contacts using it, so you can assign them another class (or none) before trying to delete it again.
Availability, plans and conditions
- This feature must be active for your company, in addition to having the CRM module enabled. It's available on the Premium Plus CRM plan and on the Enterprise plan with the CRM module active. If it isn't active, the screen shows a "not available on this edition" message, and the Contact Class field won't appear on the Contacts tab of Customers, Prospects or Opportunities/Leads. If you need it, contact your AdmCloud account executive to activate it.
- To view, create, edit or delete records you need the "Contact Classes" permission (CRM module) at the matching level (View, Add, Edit or Delete).
Tips and common mistakes
Think in roles, not exact job titles. Classes like "Decision Maker", "Billing Contact" or "Technical Contact" tend to be more useful long-term than very specific titles, since they stay relevant even when the person changes.
"A record with that name already exists". This message appears if you try to create or rename a class with a name already used by another record in the catalog; pick a different name.
You can't delete it while it's in use. Before deleting a Contact Class, check the error message: it tells you which contacts have it assigned, so you can assign them another class first.