Contacts are people who work for firms you do business with.<\/strong> Examples of contacts are attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.<\/p>\n Maintain a deep database of your contacts in MR9 in the Contacts function. If there is something you want to remember about a contact \u2014 whether it\u2019s their contact info, standing orders, anniversaries, or anything else \u2014 store it in their MR9 profile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You can:<\/p>\n Before entering a contact into MR9, check to see if they are already there to avoid duplicate entries. MR9 does not prevent you from adding multiple instances of the same contact. If there are duplicate entries, you can merge them, however, not all data will carry over from the contact that is being merged. The only information that will be saved from the merged entry is from the Notification Email, Tags, Preferred Services, Anniversaries, Award Points, Repository, and Notes Log panes.<\/p>\n To find contacts in your MR database, you can use the search criteria, singly or in combination:<\/p>\n Each listing displayed in the results shows all of this info except any tags; and includes the main address of the contact\u2019s firm, the type of firm, whether the firm is currently active, and any warnings about the contact and firm.<\/p>\n The grid in which you view contact listings is customizable to your individual preference:<\/p>\n You can save your custom grid as your default. Your customizations do not affect other users, and you can restore the original MR9 grid layout anytime.<\/p>\n From the Contacts results grid, you can view and update any listed contact\u2019s details, add new contacts, and export the grid as an Excel<\/em> spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.<\/p>\n When entering a contact in MR9, the first, most important information is their firm. If you are entering a new contact without starting from their firm, MR9 will automatically open the firm panel so you can select the firm before entering other contact information. If the contact\u2019s firm is not in your MR9 database, you can add it here on the fly.<\/p>\n Once you have designated which firm the contact belongs to, you can proceed to enter the contact\u2019s information. Some fields will auto-fill with the firm\u2019s information, such as phone numbers and billing information, which you can override in the contact listing. Until you save the contact, you can change which firm the contact is tied to. After saving a new contact, you can view maps of the firm\u2019s location, get directions to the location, and view\/update firm details from the contact\u2019s detail screen.<\/p>\n In addition to which firm the contact works for, the only other required information about a contact is their full name.<\/strong>\u00a0When entering the contact\u2019s name, we recommend that instead of entering the name in the Full Name field, you enter names in the separate first and last name fields, then select which order you want the names (first name first, or last name, then first) to appear in the Full Name field. (You can also select options that include their preferred salutation and middle initial.) This way you can use the First Name\/Last Name filters when searching for contacts in the main Contacts window.<\/p>\n You can save time entering contacts\u2019 full names by setting up Autofill in System Preferences<\/a>. You select which name parts are included (first name, last name, salutation, middle initial) and in what order. MR9 will automatically fill out the Full Name field for you as you enter the individual name fields.<\/p>\n In addition to the contact\u2019s name, the General pane of their listing contains their contact information, other basic information, and any warnings.<\/p>\n If you enter the contact\u2019s primary email address in the General pane, you can email the contact directly from within their MR9 listing by clicking the button next to the email field.<\/p>\n If you have information about a contact that your staff should know when scheduling or invoicing jobs, enter those notes in the Warning field. This information appears in red under Contact Warning in ordering clients and parties in jobs, cases, and in the Invoice panel in Turn In.<\/p>\n If a\u00a0contact is no longer scheduling jobs with you and you do not need to contact them anymore, you can deactivate their listing instead of deleting it so you retain all of your historical data about the contact but they will no longer appear in searches for active contacts anymore.<\/p>\n Store the client\u2019s preferences for receiving invoices and statements (email, print, don\u2019t send) in the Additional pane.\u00a0You can also enter their federal ID number if it\u2019s different from their firm\u2019s, and unlimited notes\u00a0about the contact for your calendaring and production\/billing departments. Style the text with different options, such as bold face, italic, text sizes, and colors, to enhance the readability of your notes.<\/p>\n If you have MR Connect<\/a>, this is where you set up the contact\u2019s login credentials. After saving the new contact, this is also where you:<\/p>\n Use the Marketing pane to specify what type of contact the entity is for marketing and billing purposes plus enter personal information about the contact, including their home address. Some of the billing information will automatically populate from the contact\u2019s firm listing \u2014 such as default billing rates<\/a> \u2014 but you can change it for the contact.<\/p>\n You can also designate which staff member receives commissions on this client\u2019s orders. If an account manager or sales representative went out and got this client for you, set them as the Sales Rep. This information will be used for allocating sales commissions and to generate Sales Commission Reports.<\/p>\n Once you save a contact in MR9, additional panes, fields, and functions become available. You can:<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to go into the Contacts function to update a contact. Most MR9 functions that include a Contact field allow you to directly access that contact\u2019s listing to view and edit details.<\/p>\n Also, if you have multiple contacts that you need to update the same information for, such as assigning a new sales rep or changing the billing rate, you can use Bulk Update<\/a> to change them all at once.<\/p>\n If a contact moves to another firm, you cannot change the firm in the contact\u2019s listing. Instead, you have to de-active the current listing and set up a new listing for the contact at their new firm. You can use MR9\u2019s Merge To sub-function to save some of the contact\u2019s historical data from the original listing in the new contact listing.<\/p>\n Additional panes in saved contact listings include:<\/p>\n If a contact has more than one email address or has someone else on staff who should receive their emails, you can designate which one(s) to use for:<\/p>\n If you entered an email address in the General pane, it will automatically populate each of these notification email slots. You can change, delete, and add email addresses for any of these email types.<\/p>\n If you use tags (keywords or phrases)<\/a> to monitor and market to contacts, you add tags to contact listings, either by keying in tags or selecting them from the tag list you made in Lists. Each contact can have an unlimited number of tags, and you can delete tags from a contact when they no longer apply. (You can also use the Tag Manager to add or remove tags quickly from multiple contacts at once.) Label entities with tags (keywords or phrases) to mark them as part of specific groups, which you can use for different purposes, such as monitoring or marketing.<\/p>\n In MR9, jobs and invoices are tied to the Ordering Contact (attorney). So by default if you have MR Connect, related information is accessible by that contact only. But in real life, the attorney isn\u2019t the one who will be accessing MR Connect and scheduling jobs, paying invoices, or downloading the repository files. Instead, it is paralegals or secretaries that take care of that work on behalf of the Ordering Contact.<\/p>\n In Grant Access To, you select contacts at the same firm who can access this contact\u2019s information on MR Connect. In addition to giving access to paralegals and secretaries who work for this contact and to the attorney\u2019s senior(s) at the firm, you can also grant access to contacts at other firms.<\/p>\n Similar to Grant Access To, use Have Access To to grant this contact access to other contacts\u2019 MR Connect, including contacts at other firms. Use Have Access To when you want to give one contact access to multiple other contacts\u2019 MR Connect accounts instead of going into each of the other contacts\u2019 listings and granting access one by one.<\/p>\n Any contact that you give access to this contact\u2019s MR Connect will automatically list the contact in their Have Access To pane.<\/p>\n Add your clients\u2019 standing orders to their contact profiles. Then you can use Prefill Services<\/a> on a case, job, or invoice to easily select all of the service items a client expects.<\/p>\n When listing which service items are included in a contact\u2019s standing orders, you can also include relevant details like how many units of an item they usually order, how many business days the order is due in (MR9 will calculate the due date for a specific job excluding weekends and holidays), the delivery method, their preference on rush deliveries, and any additional instructions for the service item. Any information entered here will appear as the default for jobs ordered by the contact and can be overridden in individual jobs.<\/p>\n Add important personal dates to contact profiles and set reminders so you never forget those dates. Important anniversaries could be birthdays or the anniversary of when they became your client. When setting reminders, you determine how many days and at what time of day to send an alert and which staff member(s) the alert should be sent to.<\/p>\n You can use Anniversary Inquiry<\/a> to print labels for cards to send to clients celebrating upcoming anniversaries.<\/p>\n Award Points are used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services. If you have MR Connect, you can allow contacts to request point redemptions online. You set up your own rewards, such as cash or gift certificates, plus designate what services earn points.<\/p>\n If your state does not allow reward programs, use points to track your clients’ order history and see who your best customers are by which contact\u2019s calls generate the most revenue instead of by firm only.<\/p>\n If you reward contacts with points, you can monitor a contact\u2019s points in the Award Points pane, plus view their points history, which includes\u00a0which services earned how many points on which invoices, current status of those points, how they were redeemed, and any notes about the points.<\/p>\n You can also designate which contact(s) within a firm will receive points earned by this contact, and allow the contact to view and redeem their points online via MR Connect.<\/p>\n You can boost a contact\u2019s points-earning ability by automatically multiplying their points. For example, if this is one of your best clients, you might want to award them double-points for every point-eligible service you offer. Or award extra points for special promotions that are limited in time, then revert back to the original point scheme afterwards.<\/p>\n Keep files related to a contact, such as signed contracts, in their MR9 listing. When viewing the contact\u2019s listing, you can see information about uploaded files, including their description, in the Repository pane without having to click into each file\u2019s details. You can upload, download, or delete files here, and update file information, such as which groups can access the file.<\/p>\n If you have MR Connect, you can give contacts access to specific files in their repository. You can also view the download history of each file in the repository, including when it was downloaded and by which contact at the firm.<\/p>\n The system enters some notes about contacts automatically in their individual Notes Logs<\/a>, and you can also enter notes yourself\u00a0about a contact in their Notes Log for internal purposes. Some examples of automatic Notes Log entries are notes recording when a sales rep has been assigned, when statements are sent to the client, and if the client information was updated using the Bulk Update tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n When you add a note to the Notes Log, you can include what type of note it is, how you communicated with the contact, details about what occurred, and if needed, designate who should follow up and set a date and time for a reminder to be sent to them via MR9\u2019s message system<\/a>.<\/p>\n In these additional panes, you can export the information as\u00a0Excel<\/em> spreadsheets or CSV(comma-separated values) files to save, share, print, or use in other applications.<\/p>\n In a contact\u2019s Account Overview, highlights of their financial and job activity history, future projections, and trends are displayed visually. A table displays the contact\u2019s total receivables since they became your client and upcoming scheduled jobs. One line graph displays revenue generated, a second line graph displays\u00a0jobs scheduled\/canceled, and a third line graph displays jobs that have occurred.<\/p>\n The line graphs are interactive. Hovering over a point in a line on a graph displays that month\u2019s total $ amount or number. The line graphs default to the contact\u2019s trends over the last six months. You can also view the contact\u2019s trends over a year or 2 years.<\/p>\n TL;DR: Maintain a deep database of your contacts in MR9, including contact, \u00a0billing, and personal information, files related to the contact, notes about the contact, and more. View interactive graphs of their financial and job activity trends.<\/strong><\/p>\n Award Points: <\/strong>Used to encourage clients to book with your\u00a0agency by rewarding them with points for different services.<\/p>\n Firm:<\/strong> Business you provide services to \u2014 usually law firms.<\/p>\n Ordering Contact:<\/strong> Contact at the firm that is\u00a0responsible for a job with your company. Can be different from the contact who scheduled the job.<\/p>\n MR Connect:<\/strong> Online repository, orders, and access to your office for clients and others. More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add contacts to your database<\/h2>\n
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Search for contacts<\/h2>\n
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Customize how you view contact listings<\/h2>\n
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Contacts are tied to firms<\/h2>\n
Basic contact information<\/h2>\n
Other General information tips<\/h3>\n
Additional\u00a0information<\/h3>\n
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Marketing<\/h3>\n
After initial setup, add more information<\/h2>\n
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Notification Email<\/h3>\n
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Tags<\/h3>\n
Grant Access To<\/h3>\n
Have Access To<\/h3>\n
Preferred Services<\/h3>\n
Anniversaries<\/h3>\n
Award Points<\/h3>\n
Repository<\/h3>\n
Notes Log<\/h3>\n
Export contact data for other uses<\/h2>\n
View financial\/job trends<\/h2>\n
MR9 concepts in this lesson<\/h4>\n