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1 - Empty your trial database

How-to: Empty your trial database

Congratulations, you are now ready to start implementing your Rentman account. It will be full of useful information in no time. But where to start? We understand that it can seem overwhelming and this is why I will guide you through the different steps. So bear with me!

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Who are my Contacts?

Let’s start with your contacts. To run your business properly, you need to communicate with customers, potential leads, locations for events, or suppliers. These people are external to your company and essential. They are what we call contacts in Rentman. Think about the contact_phone Contacts module of Rentman like your address book.

2 - Go to the contact_phone Contacts module

If you get lost or stuck at a point of the process, don’t hesitate to ask our Support team for Help in the bottom right corner of your screen. They will be happy to meet and assist you.

• Build your address book

There are different types of people external to your company that you will need to be in contact with. You don’t want these contacts to be all mixed up. Therefore, you first need to create an organized folder  structure. Do this before creating your first contacts, so they can be well-organised straight away.

• Organize your contacts book

How-to : Create and edit your folder structure

3 - Create a folder Folder structure showing the different categories of contacts you may have. 

Hint

Here is an example of a structure you could create: 

• Create new contacts

Now that the organization is all set up, we can start creating the first contacts in Rentman. You have two choices to do so. You can either manually create new contacts or import them into Rentman from an Excel sheet. Choose one of the following options: 

Manually create contacts in Rentman

How-to : Adding contacts

You want to start filling in your contact database with a few contacts only or you are not sure how to proceed yet. And that’s normal, we are just beginning. This means that you will start by adding your contacts manually, just to get a grip on the process.

4 - Select the first folder you want to fill in with a new contact by clicking on the “folders” dropdown. Click + Add contact.

5 - Fill in all the necessary information

5b - (optional) You are always in contact with the same person when you deal with that company. Go to the Contact persons tab and add them as a new contact person.
Create at least 10 contacts to continue.

Import contacts with an .xlsx sheet

How-to : Import your contacts

You have quite a few contacts to enter in Rentman and want to go fast. You prefer to start working straight away instead of spending too much time setting everything up. Perfect, Rentman is meant to make you save time!

6 - Go to your Excel file make sure that: 

• All your contacts are in rows and the different pieces of information about these contacts are split into different columns
• You have a column called “Folder” or “folder structure” with the folder in which the item should be.
• No contact has the same database number
• You have less than 68 columns
• The document does not contain several sheets or any formula
• If you also import contact persons associated with a contact, you will need to duplicate the row belonging to that contact for each contact person.

• You have at least 10 contacts in that sheet 

7 - Click on the More options more_vert button next to + Add contact and either upload or drag your import .xlsx sheet. Fill everything in and import your contacts by following the instructions on the screen.

How to filter my list of contacts? 

You now have a pretty good-looking address book. However, this list may be a bit overwhelming when you just look at it. It shows plenty of information and you could get lost, right? 

• Label your contacts

8 - Select at least one contact and add a label Tag. 

How-to: Using tags

9 - Click on the tag (or one of the tags) that you have just created from the tags dropdown list. It should be located in the top-right corner of your window. What happens? 

How to be sure I never forget anything about my customers? 

It happens quite often that you work with customers you have already worked with. That’s how you build a relationship with them. Sometimes the experience is positive and you promise them a discount whenever they use your services. Other times, it can be negative, they do not pay on time and you promise yourself it will never happen again. 

• Add preferences and remarks

10 - Go to the information of one of your contacts for which you want to remember something. Go to Data > Remarks and either add a project note or a warning. This will show up in a project if you add that contact as a customer. We will do it together later.

11 - Either stay within the same contact or use another one and go to the Payment tab. You can indicate a discount that will be added to a project if you add the contact as a customer. 

How-to: Giving discounts to a contact

Well done, you now know have now conquered your contacts! ...or have you? Test your contact knowledge below; you'll then be ready to set up your inventory.

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