Lesson #107
Entities – Contacts function
Contacts are people who work for firms you do business with. Examples of contacts are attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.
Maintain a deep database of your contacts in RB in the Contacts function. If there is something you want to remember about a contact — whether it’s their contact info, standing orders, anniversaries, or anything else — store it in their RB profile.
Add contacts to your database
You can:
- Enter contacts from scratch in this function.
- Copy an existing contact at a firm and update only the new contact info.
- Add them on the fly within a firm, case, job, or invoice.
- If you have an existing database of contacts in another application, you can import the data into RB from an Excel spreadsheet in the Bulk Import function.
Before entering a contact into RB, check to see if they are already there to avoid duplicate entries. RB does not prevent you from adding multiple instances of the same contact. If there are duplicate entries, you can merge them, however, not all data will carry over from the contact that is being merged. The only information that will be saved from the merged entry is from the Notification Email, Tags, Preferred Services, Anniversaries, Award Points, Repository, and Notes Log panes.
Search for contacts
To find contacts in your RB database, you can use the search criteria, singly or in combination:
- Full Name, First Name, or Last Name
- Firm (which you can search for by name, number, or the name or number of a contact at the firm)
- Contact Type (single, several, or all)
- Email address
- Client Of (which you can search for by first name, last name, full name, or number)
- Sales Rep (which you can search for by first name, last name, full name, or number)
- Tag
- Phone number
- Active contacts only or all
- Contact number
Each listing displayed in the results shows all of this info except any tags; and includes the main address of the contact’s firm, the type of firm, whether the firm is currently active, and any warnings about the contact and firm.
Customize how you view contact listings
The grid in which you view contact listings is customizable to your individual preference:
- Re-arrange the columns so the most important information is most prominent
- Stick up to 10 columns to the left side of the grid so they do not scroll when you have a results grid wider than your screen.
- Stretch/shrink columns to fit the results.
- Hide columns you don’t need to see.
- Choose which column(s) to sort results by.
- If you select more than one column, choose in what column order to sort the list.
- Choose whether to sort info by ascending or descending order in each selected column.
- Save your custom grid as your default.
You can save your custom grid as your default. Your customizations do not affect other users, and you can restore the original RB grid layout anytime.
From the Contacts results grid, you can view and update any listed contact’s details, add new contacts, and export the grid as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.
Contacts are tied to firms
When entering a contact in RB, the first, most important information is their firm. If you are entering a new contact without starting from their firm, RB will automatically open the firm panel so you can select the firm before entering other contact information. If the contact’s firm is not in your RB database, you can add it here on the fly.
Once you have designated which firm the contact belongs to, you can proceed to enter the contact’s information. Some fields will auto-fill with the firm’s information, such as phone numbers and billing information, which you can override in the contact listing. Until you save the contact, you can change which firm the contact is tied to. After saving a new contact, you can view maps of the firm’s location, get directions to the location, and view/update firm details from the contact’s detail screen.
Basic contact information
In addition to which firm the contact works for, the only other required information about a contact is their full name. When entering the contact’s name, we recommend that instead of entering the name in the Full Name field, you enter names in the separate first and last name fields, then select which order you want the names (first name first, or last name, then first) to appear in the Full Name field. (You can also select options that include their preferred salutation and middle initial.) This way you can use the First Name/Last Name filters when searching for contacts in the main Contacts window.
You can save time entering contacts’ full names by setting up Autofill in System Preferences. You select which name parts are included (first name, last name, salutation, middle initial) and in what order. RB will automatically fill out the Full Name field for you as you enter the individual name fields.
In addition to the contact’s name, the General pane of their listing contains their contact information, other basic information, and any warnings.
Other General information tips
If you enter the contact’s primary email address in the General pane, you can email the contact directly from within their RB listing by clicking the button next to the email field.
If you have information about a contact that your staff should know when scheduling or invoicing jobs, enter those notes in the Warning field. This information appears in red under Contact Warning in ordering clients and parties in jobs, cases, and in the Invoice panel in Turn In.
If a contact is no longer scheduling jobs with you and you do not need to contact them anymore, you can deactivate their listing instead of deleting it so you retain all of your historical data about the contact but they will no longer appear in searches for active contacts anymore.
Additional information
Store the client’s preferences for receiving invoices and statements (email, print, don’t send) in the Additional pane. You can also enter their federal ID number if it’s different from their firm’s, and unlimited notes about the contact for your calendaring and production/billing departments. Style the text with different options, such as bold face, italic, text sizes, and colors, to enhance the readability of your notes.
If you have RB Connect, this is where you set up the contact’s login credentials. After saving the new contact, this is also where you:
- Reset their password.
- Unlock their account if they tried to log in too many times with the incorrect credentials, and RB Connect locked them out.
Marketing
Use the Marketing pane to specify what type of contact the entity is for marketing and billing purposes plus enter personal information about the contact, including their home address. Some of the billing information will automatically populate from the contact’s firm listing, but you can change it for the contact.
You can also designate which resource receives commissions on this client’s jobs. If a reporter brought in this contact, set them as the Client Of. If an account manager or sales representative went out and got this client for you, set them as the Sales Rep. This information will be used for allocating sales commissions and to generate Sales Commission Reports.
Use the Client Of feature in RB to attract and retain highly talented reporters who can bring attorney clients to your business. By designating resources responsible for clients, you can track the amount of the business being generated from those attorneys, and pay incentive bonuses based on the new business generated, in addition to commissions on existing accounts.
After initial setup, add more information
Once you save a contact in RB, additional panes, fields, and functions become available. You can:
- Enter more information.
- Update existing information, including resetting the contact’s RB Connect password.
- View the contact’s financial & job trends.
- Copy the contact to create a new contact with the same firm information.
- Merge contacts if you find duplicates.
You don’t have to go into the Contacts function to update a contact. Most RB functions that include a Contact field allow you to directly access that contact’s listing to view and edit details.
Also, if you have multiple contacts that you need to update the same information for, such as assigning a new sales rep or changing the billing rate, you can use Bulk Update to change them all at once.
If a contact moves to another firm, you cannot change the firm in the contact’s listing. Instead, you have to de-active the current listing and set up a new listing for the contact at their new firm. You can use RB’s Merge To sub-function to save some of the contact’s historical data from the original listing in the new contact listing.
Additional panes in saved contact listings include:
Notification Email
If a contact has more than one email address or has someone else on staff who should receive their emails, you can designate which one(s) to use for:
- Job confirmations and cancellations for jobs they schedule.
- Invoices and statements (if the contact’s firm does not request consolidated statements).
- Repository file upload alerts.
If you entered an email address in the General pane, it will automatically populate each of these notification email slots. You can change, delete, and add email addresses for any of these email types.
Tags
If you use tags (keywords or phrases) to monitor and market to contacts, you add tags to contact listings, either by keying in tags or selecting them from the tag list you made in Lists. Each contact can have an unlimited number of tags, and you can delete tags from a contact when they no longer apply. (You can also use the Tag Manager to add or remove tags quickly from multiple contacts at once.) Label entities with tags (keywords or phrases) to mark them as part of specific groups, which you can use for different purposes, such as monitoring or marketing.
Grant Access To
In RB, jobs and invoices are tied to the Ordering Contact (attorney). So by default if you have RB Connect, related information is accessible by that contact only. But in real life, the attorney isn’t the one who will be accessing RB Connect and scheduling jobs, paying invoices, or downloading the repository files. Instead, it is paralegals or secretaries that take care of that work on behalf of the Ordering Contact.
In Grant Access To, you select contacts at the same firm who can access this contact’s information on RB Connect. In addition to giving access to paralegals and secretaries who work for this contact and to the attorney’s senior(s) at the firm, you can also grant access to contacts at other firms.
Have Access To
Similar to Grant Access To, use Have Access To to grant this contact access to other contacts’ RB Connect, including contacts at other firms. Use Have Access To when you want to give one contact access to multiple other contacts’ RB Connect accounts instead of going into each of the other contacts’ listings and granting access one by one.
Any contact that you give access to this contact’s RB Connect will automatically list the contact in their Have Access To pane.
Preferred Services
Add your clients’ standing orders to their contact profiles. Then you can use Prefill Services on a case, job, or invoice to easily select all of the service items a client expects.
When listing which service items are included in a contact’s standing orders, you can also include relevant details like how many units of an item they usually order, how many business days the order is due in (RB will calculate the due date for a specific job excluding weekends and holidays), the delivery method, their preference on rush deliveries, and any additional instructions for the service item. Any information entered here will appear as the default for jobs ordered by the contact and can be overridden in individual jobs.
Anniversaries
Add important personal dates to contact profiles and set reminders so you never forget those dates. Important anniversaries could be birthdays or the anniversary of when they became your client. When setting reminders, you determine how many days and at what time of day to send an alert and which staff member(s) the alert should be sent to.
You can use Anniversary Inquiry to print labels for cards to send to clients celebrating upcoming anniversaries.
Preferred Resources
If a contact has resources they prefer assigned to their jobs, you can keep a list of those resources in the contact’s listing. When assigning resources to tasks on jobs the contact scheduled or ordered, preferred resources will appear at the top of the list.
Blocked Resources
If there are resources a contact does not want assigned to their jobs, you can keep a list of those resources in the contact’s listing. When assigning resources to tasks on jobs the contact scheduled or ordered, RB will alert you and not allow the assignment.
Award Points
Award Points are used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services. If you have RB Connect, you can allow contacts to request point redemptions online. You set up your own rewards, such as cash or gift certificates, plus designate what services earn points.
If your state does not allow reward programs, use points to track your clients’ order history and see who your best customers are by which contact’s calls generate the most revenue instead of by firm only.
If you reward contacts with points, you can monitor a contact’s points in the Award Points pane, plus view their points history, which includes which services earned how many points on which invoices, current status of those points, how they were redeemed, and any notes about the points.
You can also designate which contact(s) within a firm will receive points earned by this contact, and allow the contact to view and redeem their points online via RB Connect.
You can boost a contact’s points-earning ability by automatically multiplying their points. For example, if this is one of your best clients, you might want to award them double-points for every point-eligible service you offer. Or award extra points for special promotions that are limited in time, then revert back to the original point scheme afterwards.
Repository
Keep files related to a contact, such as signed contracts, in their RB listing. When viewing the contact’s listing, you can see information about uploaded files, including their description, in the Repository pane without having to click into each file’s details. You can upload, download, or delete files here, and update file information, such as which groups can access the file.
If you have RB Connect, you can give contacts access to specific files in their repository. You can also view the download history of each file in the repository, including when it was downloaded and by which contact at the firm.
Notes Log
The system enters some notes about contacts automatically in their individual Notes Logs, and you can also enter notes yourself about a contact in their Notes Log for internal purposes. Some examples of automatic Notes Log entries are notes recording when a sales rep has been assigned, when statements are sent to the client, and if the client information was updated using the Bulk Update tool.
When you add a note to the Notes Log, you can include what type of note it is, how you communicated with the contact, details about what occurred, and if needed, designate who should follow up and set a date and time for a reminder to be sent to them via RB’s message system.
Export contact data for other uses
In these additional panes, you can export the information as Excel spreadsheets or CSV(comma-separated values) files to save, share, print, or use in other applications.
View financial/job trends
In a contact’s Account Overview, highlights of their financial and job activity history, future projections, and trends are displayed visually. A table displays the contact’s total receivables since they became your client and upcoming scheduled jobs. One line graph displays revenue generated, a second line graph displays jobs scheduled/canceled, and a third line graph displays jobs that have occurred.
The line graphs are interactive. Hovering over a point in a line on a graph displays that month’s total $ amount or number. The line graphs default to the contact’s trends over the last six months. You can also view the contact’s trends over a year or 2 years.
TL;DR: Maintain a deep database of your contacts in RB, including contact, billing, and personal information, files related to the contact, notes about the contact, and more. View interactive graphs of their financial and job activity trends.
RB concepts in this lesson
Award Points: Used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services.
Client Of: Resource that receives a commission for jobs their clients scheduled or that are part of a case the resource was designated as the Client Of resource. You can also give reporters right of first refusal on their clients/cases’ jobs by displaying unassigned jobs from their clients/cases in Resource-side online calendars in RB Connect.
Firm: Business you provide services to, usually law firms, but can also be other court reporting firms, vendors, insurance companies, corporate clients, and courts.
Ordering Contact: Contact at the firm that is responsible for a job with your company. Can be different from the contact who scheduled the job.
RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >
Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters.
