Adding A New Customer to Quickbooks

To add a new Customer to your Quickbooks company file, chose "Customer" on the top menu bar in Quickbooks, then "Customer Center" in the drop down menu.

 (Pressing tab will move you from field to field and pressing enter will move you to the next line within a field)

The Customer Address Screen

In the Address Info tab enter your customer by individual or by company name in the Customer Name field.  If entering and individual use the Last Name, First Name format.  This will ensure that your Customer List will be properly sorted alphabeticallly.

Do not enter an Opening Balance if this is a new customer.  If it is and existing customer that has a balance due that is owed to you, and you do not plan to record the individual transactions that make up that balance you can enter an opening balance.  Do not use this field to enter the customers "history", only what is still outstanding.

Enter the first and last name of the owner or the person you will be addressing in your mailings.

In the Address field you will already see that the name of the company as well as the individual name were automatically copied in when you entered them in the field above.  You can leave this as is, or change it as desired.  Continue by entered the street address and city, state and zip code.

The contact name automatically copied into the Contact field when you entered into the First Name and Last Name fields.  You can change this name or leave as is.  Add the appropriate phone and fax information into the correct fields.  I've always found it quite useful to include this and have everything I need about my Customers/Clients in this one location in Quickbooks.

Include an email if you have one.  You will then be able to email invoices, statements and more directly to your Customer/Client from Quickbooks.  You can also include an additional email address to copy to.  This would enable you to email your contact and the Accounts Payable department of their company at the same time.

The Additional Info Tab

In Quickbooks you can create Customer "Types" and you can use to sort reports.  These can be created simply by entering the name of the Type you want into the Customer Type field.  If Quickbooks does not find that type the software will ask you if you wish to create it.

If you are going to invoice your customer enter the "Terms" upon which you will expect payment (i.e. 30 days, Upon Receipt).

If there is a specific sales rep within your company who works with this Customer, enter their initials.

For the Preferred Send method choose either Email, Mail or None.

If you are a wholesaler and this Customer buys product from you to re-sell you can enter their approved resale number in the appropriate field.

Indicate if this Customer receives specific pricing that may be different then your standard pricing in the Price Level field.

Below that you can create up to 15 custom fields to use for sorting and reporting.

The Payment Info tab

Here you can store your preferred payment information for each customer.   If you use account numbers for your Customers enter the number in the first field.  This can also be left blank.

Use the Credit Limit field if you invoice this customer and have a maximum allowable amount that can be outstanding at any given point in time.

If the customer pays by credit card you can enter their card information.  Anyone viewing this screen at a later date will only see the last 4 digits of the Customers card number for security purposes.  Quickbooks will also not provide a field to enter the CCD code on the back of a credit card, again for the protection of your Customer.

The Job Info Tab

If you are a contractor or other service provider and you perform specific "jobs" for your Customers, you can create multiple jobs under a Customer.  We will address this in another blog.

Remember, not every field needs to have information entered.  Include only what you need and/or what is applicable to your Customer/client.  When you are finished entering, hit "OK". 

This material is for informational purposes only and not intended and financial, legal or tax advice. Please consult your finance, legal or tax professional to confirm the accuracy of all information. Quickbooks is a registered product of Intuit.