What a customer record should do at the door: a trade business CRM that works on your phone
Gate codes on the back of an invoice, addresses in three apps and a customer who owes you from March. Here is what a customer record for a trade business should hold, and how to check it works on a phone, at the door.
A customer rings to say the side gate sticks and the dog is friendly but very loud. You write it on the back of an invoice. Three weeks later you are outside the house, you cannot remember which door they use, and the invoice is in the footwell of the van. Most small trade businesses do not really have a CRM problem; they have a "where did I put that" problem. This guide covers what a customer record should hold, how to tell whether a CRM works on a phone and not just at a desk, and how TradeYoke puts the lot in your pocket.
Key takeaways
- One record per customerAddress, contact details, access notes, job history and what they owe, all in one place, not split across a contacts app, a notebook and WhatsApp.
- It has to work at the doorThe phone is the only device with you on the doorstep. If the record is awkward on a phone, you will stop using it.
- Notes are the part people forgetGate codes, parking, pets and who to ask for are what actually saves the visit.
- Know what they owe before you knockA balance on the record stops an awkward moment, and tells you when to ask.
- Start from the spreadsheet you haveYou do not retype your customers: import them, tidy the duplicates and carry on.
Quick answer
Quick answer: a CRM for a trade business is one record per customer that holds their address, contact details, access notes, job history and what they owe, and it only earns its keep if you can open it on your phone at the door. In TradeYoke you search from the top bar, open the customer, and read their details, finance, jobs and notes in tabs you swipe along, with a map preview, Directions and Street view underneath.
What should a customer record in a trade business hold?
Quick answer: the things you would otherwise have to remember or phone someone about: where they are, how to get in, who to talk to, what you have done, and what they owe. Anything beyond that is a bonus, and anything missing from that list is a visit that goes wrong.
The six things worth having on every record
- The right address, on a mapText alone sends you to the wrong end of a road. A pin means you can see the house and the parking before you set off.
- How to get inGate codes, key safes, "knock twice, the bell is broken", the dog. Put it where you will see it before you get out of the van.
- Who to talk toThe person who pays is not always the person at home: a partner, a tenant, a landlord, a site manager. Their numbers belong on the record.
- What you have done, and whenLast visit, next due, what you charged. It stops "did you do the gutters last time?" from being an argument.
- What they oweA balance you can see before you arrive, so you ask at the right moment and not three weeks later.
- The trade-specific detailA window cleaner needs the round and the frequency; a heating engineer needs the boiler, the stopcock and the gas safety date; an electrician needs where the consumer unit lives.
Why does a customer record have to work on a phone?
Quick answer: because the doorstep is where you need it and a phone is all you have there. A record that only works well at a desk turns into the evening admin you were trying to get rid of.
A quick test: do a whole morning from your phone, standing up, in daylight, with damp hands. Count how many times you reach for a laptop or ring home to ask what the gate code is. Look for tabs that fall off the edge of the screen, tiny buttons next to each other, and maps that grab the page when you only meant to scroll. Our guide to running a window cleaning round from your phone goes through the same test for the whole day.
How do you find a customer quickly in TradeYoke?
Quick answer: tap the search icon in the top bar. On a phone the search opens across the whole bar, so it is bigger and easier to type in, and it has a clear Close button when you are done. Type a name, a street or a postcode and the matching customers and jobs come up together.
What do you see when you open a customer?
Quick answer: the person first: name, trade, phone, email and their balance, with their address on a map preview. Under the map are two buttons that do the useful work: Directions opens directions to the address, and Street view shows you the house before you arrive.
The rest of the record sits in tabs you swipe along in one row: details, finance, jobs and, depending on the modules you use, recurring plans, equipment and quotes. Notes sit on the first tab, Send SMS and Send email are one tap away, and the finance line tells you at a glance whether they owe you anything. Tap the map and it opens full screen, where Layers lets you choose what shows: vehicles, jobs and customers, in Map or Satellite.
What if my customers are in a spreadsheet?
Quick answer: import it. TradeYoke takes a spreadsheet of customers (CSV), checks it first and shows you, row by row, what will happen before anything is written. You then tidy any duplicates: it finds likely matches and lets you merge two records, showing you the record it will keep.
Do not wait until the data is perfect. Import what you have, fix the addresses and notes on the doorstep as you go, and the records improve every time you use them.
Five mistakes that make a customer database useless
What to avoid, whatever software you choose
- Keeping the notes somewhere elseIf the gate code is in a different app from the address, it will be in the wrong one when you need it.
- DuplicatesTwo records for one customer means two balances and two sets of notes. Merge them early.
- Only the account holder's numberWhen the tenant answers the door and the landlord pays, you need both.
- No postcode or pinWithout it you cannot sort a round by area or see who is next door.
- A tool that only works in the officeIf it is slow or awkward on a phone, you will go back to the notebook.
Questions people ask
What is a CRM for a trade business?
A CRM (customer relationship management) system is where a business keeps its customers: their address, contact details, notes, history and what they owe. For a trade business it should also be usable on a phone, at the customer's door. TradeYoke's customer records hold all of that, with the jobs, quotes and invoices attached.
Can I see my customer's address and get directions on my phone?
Yes. Open the customer in TradeYoke: their address is on a map preview with a Directions button that opens directions to the door and a Street view button to see the house first. Tap the map to open it full screen.
Can I keep gate codes and access notes on a customer?
Yes. Customers have notes, and every trade's customer record has access notes, so the gate code, the parking and the dog are on the record before you get to the door.
How do I get my existing customers into TradeYoke?
Import them from a spreadsheet (CSV). TradeYoke checks the file and shows what will happen row by row before it imports, and you can find and merge duplicate customers afterwards.
Does it work without a signal?
Yes, after one visit. Open the web app once with signal and it keeps working with no signal; in Chrome or Edge it even sends your changes after you close the tab, and in Safari or Firefox they send the next time you open a tab. A few pages need a connection and say so. The Android, iPhone and Windows apps, which also send your changes in the background, are in pilot and not yet in the app stores; email hello@tradeyoke.net for early access.
What does it cost to try?
Thirty days of Essentials free, no card. See the pricing page for the plans after that.
Try your customers on your phone
30 days of Essentials free, no card. Import your spreadsheet and open a real customer at the door.
