Ambivo CRM User Guide
DocsCRM-002
Contacts Management
Manage confirmed contacts, communication history, and relationships after lead conversion
Contacts are the people you do business with. Unlike leads (who are still prospective), contacts represent confirmed individuals your team actively engages with. This guide covers how to create, organize, and manage contacts in Ambivo.
What Is a Contact?
A contact is an individual person in your business network — a customer, a decision-maker at a company, a partner, or anyone you maintain a business relationship with. Contacts are usually linked to an Account (the company they belong to) and can be associated with Opportunities, Orders, and other records.
Contacts are often created by converting a qualified Lead, but you can also create them directly.
Getting There
- Log in to Ambivo
- Make sure you are in the CRM application
- Click Contacts in the left sidebar
- You will see a list of all contacts you have access to, showing columns like name, email, account, status, and owner
Create a New Contact
- 1
Open the create form
From the Contacts list, click the + New button.
- 2
Fill in key fields
First Name and Last Name; Email; Phone (optional); Job Title (optional).
- 3
Link account and owner
Link the contact to an Account by selecting an existing company from the dropdown. Set the Owner — the team member responsible for this relationship.
- 4
Add details and save
Add any additional details such as address, notes, or custom fields. Click Save.
What Happens Next
The contact appears in your contacts list and is linked to the selected account. Any automation rules tied to contact creation will trigger automatically.
Understanding Contact Fields
Contacts share many of the same fields as leads, since contacts are often created by converting a lead. Here is what the key fields mean and when to use them.
Identity and Contact Information
| Field | What It Means | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| First Name / Last Name | The contact's personal name | Always required — this is how you identify the person |
| Honorific Title | A prefix like Mr, Ms, Dr, etc. | Use for formal communications, proposals, and contracts |
| The contact's email address (you can add multiple with types like "work" or "personal") | Essential for communication. The primary email is used for duplicate detection | |
| Phone | Phone numbers (you can add multiple with types like "work", "mobile") | Important for calls and SMS |
| Address | Physical mailing or office address | Useful for invoicing, shipping, and field visits |
| Website | The contact's personal or company website URL | Helpful for research and context before meetings |
Professional Details
| Field | What It Means | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| Employer Name | The name of the company or organization the contact works for. This is separate from the Account link — Employer Name is a text field on the contact, while the Account is a link to a full company record | Useful when you know the company name but have not yet created an Account record, or for contacts who work at companies outside your primary accounts |
| Title | The contact's job title (e.g., "CEO", "Procurement Manager", "IT Director") | Identifies their role and decision-making authority. Critical for knowing who to involve at different stages of a deal |
| Profession | The contact's professional field or occupation (e.g., "Accountant", "Architect", "Physician") | Helpful when the contact's expertise or industry is relevant to your sales or service — for example, in professional services, healthcare, or insurance |
Personal Details
| Field | What It Means | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth (Birth Year, Birth Month, Birth Day) | The contact's date of birth, stored as separate year (e.g., 1985), month (1–12), and day (1–31) fields | Useful for birthday greetings, age-dependent services, and personalized outreach |
| SSN (Social Security Number) | The contact's Social Security Number — a sensitive government-issued identifier | Only used in regulated industries (financial services, property management, insurance). This field is encrypted for security. Only collect when legally required |
| Relationship | The type of relationship: customer, vendor, partner, prospect, or other | Helps categorize how this contact relates to your business |
| Description | Free-text notes about the contact | Use for any additional context — background information, preferences, or important details |
Sales and Marketing
| Field | What It Means | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated Budget | The contact's approximate budget for your product or service | Helps prioritize high-value relationships |
| Decision Date | When the contact expects to make a purchasing decision | Stored as a date. Helps you time your follow-up appropriately |
| Business Need Description | A free-text summary of what the contact is looking for (e.g., "Expanding to 3 new offices, needs furniture vendor" or "Looking for managed IT services for 200 employees") | Captures the contact's specific needs so your entire team has context |
| Source | Where this contact originally came from (carried over from lead conversion, or set manually) | Tracks the marketing channel that generated this relationship |
Account Link
| Field | What It Means | When to Use It |
|---|---|---|
| Account | A link to the company record this contact belongs to | Always link contacts to their account when possible — this connects all contacts, deals, and history for that company |
| Account Number | An auto-generated unique identifier for the contact | Used for reference and integration purposes |
View and Edit a Contact
- 1
Open the contact
Click on any contact in the list to open the detail page.
- 2
Review information
Review all contact information, organized in sections.
- 3
Edit and save
To edit, click on a field or click the Edit button. Make your changes and click Save.
The contact detail page also shows:
- Activity Timeline — History of emails, calls, meetings, and notes
- Linked Account — The company this contact belongs to
- Opportunities — Deals associated with this contact
- Orders and Invoices — Financial records tied to this contact
- Tasks — Action items related to this contact
- Files — Attached documents
- Notes and Comments — Team discussions about this contact
Contact Statuses
Contacts have statuses that help you categorize them:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Open | New contact, not yet worked |
| Assigned | Assigned to a team member |
| Attempted | Outreach attempted but not yet connected |
| Contacted | Successfully reached the contact |
| Meeting-Setup | A meeting has been arranged |
| Customer | Active customer relationship |
| Lost-Followup | Previously active, marked for follow-up |
| Lost | Relationship did not progress |
| Inactive | No longer actively engaged |
| Incorrect | Contact information is invalid |
| Disqualified | Contact does not meet criteria |
Your administrator may customize these statuses. This includes renaming, recoloring, or reordering the built-in ones (for example, renaming Customer to "Active Client") as well as adding new ones. The underlying status key is preserved so reports and automations keep working; only the display changes. A customization can be reset at any time to restore the original.
Changing a Contact's Status
- 1
Open the contact
Open the contact's detail page.
- 2
Update status
Find the Status field and select the new status.
- 3
Save
Click Save.
Link a Contact to an Account
A contact can be linked to an Account (company) to show the organizational relationship.
- 1
Open the contact
Open the contact's detail page.
- 2
Select account
Find the Account field, search for and select the account you want to link.
- 3
Save
Click Save.
Once linked, the contact appears on the account's detail page under its list of contacts, and the account appears on the contact's page.
Filter and Search Contacts
Quick Filters (Presets)
- To Follow Up — Contacts that need attention
- Assigned Today — Contacts recently assigned to you
- Favorites — Contacts you have starred
Search
Use the search bar to find contacts by name, email, phone number, or company name.
Advanced Filtering
- Click the Filter icon
- Add conditions (e.g., Account equals "Acme Corp", Status equals "Active")
- Apply to narrow your list
Duplicate Prevention
Ambivo automatically checks for duplicate contacts when new records are created. If a contact with the same email address or phone number already exists, the system will update the existing record instead of creating a duplicate. This helps keep your data clean without manual intervention.
Common Questions
What is the difference between a Contact and a Lead?
A Lead is a prospective customer not yet qualified. A Contact is a confirmed person you have a business relationship with. Leads become contacts through the conversion process.
Can a contact belong to multiple accounts?
Each contact is linked to one primary account. If the same person works across multiple companies, you may create separate contact records or update the account association as needed.
How do I find contacts without an account?
Use advanced filtering to add a condition where Account is empty. This helps you identify contacts that still need to be linked to a company.
Can I import contacts from a spreadsheet?
Yes. Go to Settings > Object Import, select Contacts, upload your CSV file, map the columns, and start the import. See the Data Import and Export guide (CRM-005) for details.
Tips and Best Practices
- Always link contacts to their Account to maintain clean organizational relationships
- Keep contact information up to date — outdated emails and phone numbers lead to missed opportunities
- Keep your contact emails up to date — the system uses them to prevent duplicates automatically
- Add notes after every meaningful interaction so your team stays informed
- Use Favorites to star your most important contacts for quick access