Managing Customers
Customers are the core of SurelyCrm. This guide covers creating records, managing profiles, handling documents, tracking payments, and using custom fields to tailor the system to your business.
The Customer List
The customer list is your operational command centre. From here you can:
- Search across names, emails, phone numbers, and reference numbers
- Apply Custom Views to filter by status, owner, balance, dates, and more
- Switch between list and calendar views (if configured)
- Initiate calls, emails, or SMS directly from the list
- Bulk-select customers for mass actions
If a search returns exactly one match, SurelyCrm automatically navigates to that customer's profile to save you a click.
Creating a Customer
- Click New Customer from the customer list.
- Enter the customer's details. Required fields are marked with an asterisk.
- Reference Number is auto-generated, but you can override it.
- Select a Status to categorise the customer (e.g., New Lead, Active, Closed).
- Assign an Owner so the team knows who is responsible.
- Save the record. You will be taken to the customer's full profile.
Customer Profile Overview
Each customer has a comprehensive profile page organised into tabs:
| Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| Overview | Contact details, quick stats, referral source, and key information |
| Balances & Plans | Active and expired service plans, outstanding balances, payment history |
| Payments | Individual payment records with dates and amounts |
| Documents | Uploaded files with types, dates, and download links |
| Disputes | Any disputes raised and their resolution status |
| Audit | Complete history of who changed what and when |
| Workflows | Active and completed workflow instances for this customer |
| Support | Support tickets and conversations |
| Custom Fields | Your business-specific data fields |
| Notifications | History of emails and SMS sent to the customer |
Statuses
Statuses help you track where a customer sits in your pipeline. Administrators can configure statuses in Settings > Statuses. Common examples include:
- New Lead
- Contacted
- Proposal Sent
- Active
- Payment Due
- Closed Won / Closed Lost
Statuses can trigger Workflows automatically when changed, enabling powerful automation.
Custom Fields
Custom fields let you extend customer records with data unique to your business. Administrators create them in Settings > Custom Fields.
Supported field types include:
- Text — Single-line free text
- Number — Numeric values (integers or decimals)
- Date — Calendar dates
- DateTime — Date and time values
- Boolean — Yes/No toggles
- Select — Dropdown options
Tip: Custom fields can be used in Custom Views for filtering, in Workflows for automation, and in Calendar Views for display templates.
Documents
You can attach files to any customer record:
- Open the customer's profile and go to the Documents tab.
- Click Upload Document.
- Select a Document Type (configured in Settings).
- Choose the file and upload.
Documents are securely stored and encrypted. Administrators can configure document types such as Contract, ID Verification, Invoice, or Correspondence.
Payments & Balances
SurelyCrm tracks customer financials through:
- Customer Plans — Subscription or service plans with billing cycles
- Balances — Outstanding amounts owed by the customer
- Payments — Recorded payments with dates, amounts, and methods
To record a payment, open the customer profile, go to the Payments section, and click Add Payment. The customer's balance will update automatically.
Tags
Tags provide a lightweight way to categorise customers beyond statuses. You can apply multiple tags to a single customer and filter by them in custom views.
Audit Trail
Every change to a customer record is logged automatically. The Audit tab shows:
- What field was changed
- The old and new values
- Who made the change
- When it happened
This gives you full accountability and makes it easy to investigate discrepancies.
Deleting Customers
Administrators can delete customer records. This action is permanent and will also remove associated documents, payments, and plans. For data protection compliance, ensure you have a legitimate reason for deletion.
Phone Number Search
SurelyCrm intelligently matches UK phone numbers regardless of format. It automatically handles:
- +447123456789
- 447123456789
- 07123456789
- 7123456789
This is especially useful for the telephony integration — when a call comes in, SurelyCrm finds the customer even if the number is stored in a different format.