To add a new contact to your CRM, hover over the Add icon from your Top Right Menu Bar:
You'll then see the below options:
Click the Contacts area. You'll then need to choose what type of Contact Record you want to add:
The Type of Contact you choose here will determine what fields are available when adding your contact, as these do vary dependent upon the Contact Type you are adding. Here we'll click "Individual" and break down the sections you'll see after doing so. In some instances I'll provide a bit of commentary on a field when it isn't self-explanatory or where more information may be helpful. In each case my screenshots will include sample information for each field in the section.
Basic Information:
Preferred Pronouns field: learn more about adding these here.
Family Information:
Family Name field: This is an important field within Redtail, particularly if you plan to utilize Redtail for mail merges or labels. You can read more about Family Names here. Note: You will want to use Family Names for single individuals as well as for Family Heads.
Note: information entered in the Basic Information section and in the Family Information section show up in the Contact's Basic Information area on their Overview.
Spouse Information
Spouse First and Last Name Fields: You can add records for spouses and link them to their Family Head here, as long as you enter at least a First and Last Name for the spouse. To add a spouse at a later time, you can follow these instructions for creating family relationships in Redtail.
Addresses
You can enter multiple addresses here by using the "Add another address" button. You can choose the Address Type for each address as you are entering it. And, note the box for designating whether or not the address is their Primary address (which is the address that will pull when you run mail merges within Redtail CRM). Note: the address marked as Primary also controls the "Local Time" displayed at the top of their Contact Card. If no address is marked Primary, no Local Time will be displayed for the contact.
Phone Numbers
You can enter multiple phone numbers here by using the "Add another phone number" button. You can choose the Phone Type for each number as you are entering it. And, note the box for designating whether or not the number is their Primary Phone Number.
Email Addresses
You can enter multiple email addresses here by using the "Add another email address" button. You can choose the Address Type for each address as you are entering it. And, there is also a box here for designating whether or not the address is their Primary email address. Note: a contact's Primary Email address is the one that will be used when including that contact in a Broadcast Email. Further note that while a contact can have multiple Email Addresses marked as Primary, only the last one that you check off as Primary will actually function as the Primary Email Address.
Web Addresses
You can enter multiple web addresses here by using the "Add another web address" button - you can also choose the Address Type for each address as you are entering it.
Note: Addresses, Phone Numbers, Email Addresses and Web Addresses show up in the contact's Contact Card.
Contact Details
You can check off "Enable DOB Reminder" next to the Date of Birth field if you want reminders for the contact's birthday to show up in your Birthday Reminders.
Keywords & Tag Groups
In this section you can:
- add the new contact to existing Tag Groups (or create a new Tag Group to add them to from the search box). Search for a specific Tag Group, "select all" to add them to all of your Tag Groups, or handpick specific ones by checking off their corresponding radio button. Note: Tag Groups are scrollable here if you have more than will display in the box. Learn more about Tag Groups here.
- assign the new contact an existing Keyword from your database (or create a new Keyword to assign them from the search box). Search for a specific Keyword, "select all" to assign all Keywords in your database to them, or handpick specific ones by checking off their corresponding radio button. Note: Keywords are scrollable here if you have more than will display in the box. Learn more about Keywords here.
Contact Permissions and Roles
Click inside the "Permission To" box if you want to set up Permissions for the contact, rather than leaving their contact record accessible to all database users. Note: if you're adding a spouse here as well, the same Permissions you set for the Family Head will be applied to the spouse.
You can also select from between your database users to assign them Advisor, Associate Advisor or CSA roles in regard to the contact, using those boxes here.
Once you have completed all the data you have at the time of entry, just click the Save Contact button at the bottom of the screen and you will have successfully added the contact.
The process for adding contacts with a Type of Business, Association, Trust or Union is very similar to the above, though you will encounter less fields for completion.
Note: When adding a new Contact Record, if the First and Last Name fields (or the Name field for non-individual Types) match those of an existing record that you have access to in your database, you'll see a warning message across the top of the screen to alert you to the possible duplication:
You can then go ahead and save the record (if they are not the same individual) or avoid creating a duplicate if they are.
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