Top Producer^® 8i CRM: Searching for Contacts

Once you’ve entered your contacts in Top Producer CRM you’ll want to be able to quickly find them so you can start using them productively in all your day-to-day activities. With Top Producer you’re just a few clicks away from any contact you want to view.

You can search for contacts in one of three ways. When viewing the Dashboard, you can search for any contact, view a summary of contact information, and open a contact record to view additional details.

Searching for a Specific Contact

1. Select what contact detail you want to search on from the drop-down list.
2. Type in the information you want to search on in the field above.
3. Click the Go button.
4. Contacts that meet your search criteria display below.

Searching for a Group of Contacts

1. Click on a letter to search for contacts alphabetically.
2. A list of contacts whose first or last name begins with the specified letter displays below.
3. Click on the black arrow beside a contact to open his or her details below. You can view the full contact details by clicking the View Contact link.

The Contacts Summary Page

1. From the main menu, select Contacts and then click Contacts Summary to display the Contacts Summary page.

   The following search features are available:

   • Alphabetical searching: Click a letter to display only contacts with first or last names beginning with the selected letter.
   • Favorites: Click the blue star next to a contact to mark it as a favorite. To view only favorite contacts, click the yellow star to the left of the alphabet.
     
   • Show all contacts: Click the All link to list all contacts in your database.
2. Once you’ve found the contact, click the contact’s name to open the contact details.

The Advanced Contact Search Feature

Use the Search for Contacts feature when you want a more targeted search – for example, by individuals and contact groups based on specific contact, property, listing, closing, or activity details. You can even search on notes. You can access the Search for Contacts feature from the Contacts main menu icon. There are 2 tabs on the Search for Contacts page – the Quick Search and the Advanced Search tabs.

The Quick Search Tab

Use this tab to search on fields taken from the contact details to return a list of contacts that meet your criteria, or search using a search template you’ve saved.

1. When you’ve entered your search criteria, click the Search button.

2. Contacts that meet your criteria are displayed on the Search Results page.

   Note: When searching by address information, both investment and primary properties are searched.

3. Select your contacts by placing a check mark beside the contact’s name, and use the links on the page to perform a mass update, schedule an activity or email for all selected contacts, export contacts, add or remove them from the prospect list, or create a report. Click the Delete link to remove the selected contacts from your database.

   Tip: Select all contacts by clicking the check box in the column header.

4. To reopen the search, click the Search Criteria segment. From here you can click the Clear Search Criteria button to remove the previous search and start a new one

The Advanced Search Tab

The Advanced Search tab allows you to create searches using details from the contact, property, listing, closing, and activity records, as well as notes. To create an advanced search, you need to complete a search condition, which is made up of 4 components:

• A record type, such as a contact.
• A field to search on, such as a last name.
• The value of the field, such as “Banks.”
• An operator to determine how to search on the field and value, such as “contain any of” or “start with.”

You can create complex searches by clicking the Add Condition link to create and link multiple search conditions for a given advanced search. For example, you may want to search your database for contacts who’ve been in their homes for four years who might want to think about selling. Follow the steps below to create these advanced searches.

Saving an Advanced Contact Search

Searches that you use regularly can be saved as search templates.

1. Once you’ve defined your search, click the Save Search Template link at the bottom of the Search for Contacts page.
2. Give the search template a name and click the Save Template button.
3. To access the saved search, select the search you want to use from the Use Search Template drop-down list on the Search for Contacts page.

Changing a Saved Search Template

1. From the Search for Contacts page, select the desired search template from the Use Search Template drop-down list.
2. Make your changes to the search criteria.
3. Click the Save Search Template link and name the new search.

4. Click the Save Template button to save the new search template.

   

   Note: Make sure you give each search template a unique name.

Deleting a Search Template

1. From the Search for Contacts page, select the Modify List link beside the Use Search Template drop-down list.

2. A list of all saved search templates displays.

   

3. Click the Delete icon next to the template you want to remove.

Log in to search for contacts.