HOW TO CREATE CUSTOMER GROUPS

hello, @ALARMNETADMIN.

Thanks for stopping by the QuickBooks Community. I'm happy to offer assistance with your question. Do you mind telling me what version of QuickBooks you're using? Leave me a comment below when you get a chance, so I can provide you the help you need. I'll be on standby, waiting for your response.

HELLO Sorry for the late response,

I am using QB 2016 - Premier contractors edition.

Thanks

I am a pest control company - im using qb for the accounting and I would like to create groups to use for promotional. Example: Monthly, Quarterly, and EOM.  I have like 300 monthly customers. Would it make sense to put 300 regular customers under a group name? Wont hurt nothing? Im concerned that because there down a level, they will be lost or forgotten. I want to be able to report on those groups and export if I should need to. I am trying to interface to mail chimp. If I can get the groups to be sent out to mailchimp, that will help our daily processes dramatically. Thanks in advance

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@tecboy696 wrote:

I am a pest control company - im using qb for the accounting and I would like to create groups to use for promotional. Example: Monthly, Quarterly, and EOM.  I have like 300 monthly customers. Would it make sense to put 300 regular customers under a group name? Wont hurt nothing? Im concerned that because there down a level, they will be lost or forgotten. I want to be able to report on those groups and export if I should need to. I am trying to interface to mail chimp. If I can get the groups to be sent out to mailchimp, that will help our daily processes dramatically. Thanks in advance

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No, making customers, sub customers of a dummy customer titled for the group name will not affect anything, you still sell to the sub customer

to interface with mail chimp, you run a customer contact list, customize the columns for the email address,name, etc that you need, and export to excel. 

this explains various importing options, other options at the bottom are what you will need as I remember

https://mailchimp.com/help/import-contacts-from-other-services/

Thanks Rustler,

Starting to understand this thing better now that I am getting some questions answered.

Hello

I'm using QuickBooks Version 4.0.7-217 (online). How can I create customer groups in this version?

Thanks for providing your QuickBooks version, CyndyR.

I can give some details on how to create customer groups in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

While we are unable to create customer groups in QBO, I have a workaround to share. You can add a customer type in their profile. Then, run the Customer Contact List report and sort it by customer type.

I'll be happy to show you how:

To add a new customer type:

1. Choose the Sales menu.
2. Choose Customers at the top.
3. Click the Customer types button.
4. Select New customer type.
5. Enter the needed detail and click Save.

To assign:

    6. Choose the Sales menu, then choose Customers at the top.

    7. Select the customer's name, then click Batch actions.

    8. Choose Select customer type.

    9. Add the type, then click Apply.

To customize the report.

1. Click Reports on the left pane.
2. Enter and choose Customer Contact List in the search field.
3. Click the Customize button.
4. Under Rows/Columns select Customer Type.
5. Click Run report.
6. Select the Sort button, then choose Customer Type.

The screenshots show these steps as well.

Here's an article that may come in handy: Set up and assign customer type.

That information should get you back in order. I'd like to make sure that you're able to resolve this concern, so please let me know how that works. Best regards. 

@PreciousB Thank you.

However, your solution is only for running the contact list report. What about sales reports when generating statements? And how can I see invoices for just a particular group (customer type) of customers?

Currently, we can only group the Statement List Report by Customer and other date ranges (Day, Week, Month, and etc.), Cyndy.

Thanks for sharing your idea about adding the Customer Type filter/function to the sales reports. I'll let our Product Development Team know about this. They'll evaluate and put it into consideration for future product updates.

You can always get back to us if you need anything else.

How do you do this for existing customers though without creating them new.  I don't want to loose their historical data, but want to streamline how to find people in a group in customer center.

Hello there, JJHS Cheer.

You can follow Rustler's suggestion. You can create a dummy customer with the group name and make the members a sub-customer. This way, you won't lose their historical data. 

First, let's create a dummy customer. Here's how:

1. Click Sales, then go to the Customers tab.
2. Click New customer, then enter a desired group name.
3. Click Save. 

Then, make the member a sub-customer. Here's how:

1. Choose a customer, then click to open the profile.
2. Click Edit.
3. Put a check mark in the Is sub-customer box.
4. Click the Enter parent customer drop-down arrow, then choose the group name. 
5. Click the Bill this parent drop-down arrow, then choose Bill this customer.
6. Click Save.

I've got screenshots to guide you.

You can leave a comment below if you have more questions. We'd be happy to answer them. 

Hello,

How do I add the existing customers to the 'Dummy Customer' in Quickbooks desktop 2017?

Linda

There's an option to merge customers in QuickBooks Desktop, Linda.

This way, you can make the existing and the dummy customer as one. You can follow these steps:

1. Go to the Customers menu and select Customer Center.
2. Double-click on the customer's name that you want to merge.
3. Change the name with the one you want to keep, then click OK.
4. Click Yes to proceed with the merge.

Once done, it's best to remove those duplicate transactions to avoid discrepancies. Simply open the transaction and click Delete.

Don't hesitate to post again if you have additional questions. I'll be glad to help.

Hi, thank you very much for the information that you are sharing. I would like to know if there is a way to use an existing customer instead of creating a new one so the balance due for that particular customer shows on the job.

Thank you!

Hello Hernan900,

Yes, you can also use an existing customer when following the steps provided by AlexV. Just make sure that the existing customer profile won't affect your other sales reports or data.

You can get back to us if you have additional queries about the process.

Hello, thank you for the information above. We have a corporate store who pays all of the invoices on one cheque however the previous bookkeeper set up the customer files as individual customers as the billing address remains the same however the shipping addresses are all different. Posting payments can be a lengthy process as I have to receive pmts 1 by one. Can I use the mentioned technique to batch all stores into “Corp Group” and have all invoices displayed when I apply payments?  Thank you in advance.

Yes, NicoleONT.

When making the customers a sub-customer to the parent, make sure to select the Bill with parent option. This way, all invoices from that sub-customer shows up in the Receive Payment window after selecting the parent.

Here's a sample screenshot for reference:

I'm also adding this article that you can bookmark: Manage your customer list.

The Community is open 24/7 if you have any additional questions or other concerns. Take care!

Hi,

I am using quickbooks for mac 2020...I am a landlord with a building with 9 units. I put the building as my customer. It doesn't seem to have a sub customer so I though to make a group...thoughts?

Hello, debnee718.

You can create a dummy customer with the group name and make members of that group as sub customers. Let me walk you through how.

1. Go to Customers menu at the top, then select Customer Center in the drop-down.
2. Click New Customer & Jobs on the upper left, then New Customer.
3. On the CUSTOMER NAME, enter the group name, then select OK.
4. Right-click the name of the group that you created then choose Add Job.
5. On the JOB NAME, enter the name of your customer.
6. Once done, click OK.

You'll also want to create and manage two company files to separate and better identify each company's transactions. Please check this article for more information: Record Transactions for a Property Management Company.

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.I'll always be here to assist you.