QUESTIONS THAT APPLY TO THIS TOPIC

• How do I create a new Contact Group?
• How do I edit a Contact Group’s information?

ANSWER

• Before you create a new Contact Group you need to first verify that they are not already in Gorilla.
  • Open Gorilla and go to the Finder screen.
  • Select “All” under Contact Group and perform a search for the person you want to add.  If you do not find the person move on to the next step.  If you do, do not add them again.  Edit the existing record.
    
• Select “All” under Individual and perform a search for the last name of the individual you need to add.  If you do not find the person you can move to the next step to begin adding them.  If you do find them, right click on them and choose Contact Group and it will give you the Name of the Contact Group they are a part of.
  
• Click on the Tools menu and choose Data Entry Wizard.  You can also press F10.
  
• The first screen is the Contact Group screen.  This is where you enter general information about the Contact Group.  There are many fields on this screen that are useful, but not all of them are required when creating a new Contact Group.  The fields that are required or recommended are:
  • Group Name: (Required) The Group Name is the name used to identify this Contact Group in Gorilla.
  • List: The list field is used to describe the relationship the Advisor has with this Contact Group.  (i.e. client, prospect, connection)
  • Communication Status: Shows what restrictions, if any, there are on contacting this Contact Group.
  • Communication Channel: Sets the method of sending a message such as email, fax, or printed letter.
  • Default to Business Address: (Checkbox) Check this if you would like this Contacts Group’s default address bundle to be the Business Address Bundle.  If this is not checked it will default to the Home Address Bundle.
  • Primary System Owner (Required): This is the primary system owner that will “own” this Contact Group.
  • Secondary System Owner (If applicable).
    
• On the Individual screen, you can add information for all the individuals that are associated with this Contact Group.  Enter the information you have for the first person in the corresponding fields.  Like the Contact Group screen, you do not have to enter all the information for each person.  The required and recommended fields for an individual are: Once you have entered the information for that individual, click the “Save” button, located to the right of the list of individuals.  To add another individual, click “New,” then enter that individual’s information following the same steps as outlined above.
  
  • First Name.
  • Last Name (Required).
  • Gender: Required for setting up birthday office procedures.
  • Birthday: Required for setting up birthday office procedures.
  • Outlook Type: If you are planning on syncing your contacts with Outlook.
• On the Mailing Address screen, you can enter all the addresses that are associated with this Contact Group.  For each address that you add, fill in all the fields that are applicable.  Each address should have these fields: The other fields are there for your convenience, but are not required.  For example, Address Line 2 can be used if the Contact Group has an apartment number, and Country can be used for any Contact Groups whose mailing address is outside of the country.
  
  The Outlook Type - Address field is used when syncing with Outlook.  The Important Information field is for information specific to the address that you are entering.An example could be “John is at this address each year from June to August.”
  
  Similar to the Individual page, you can add as many addresses as necessary.  Click “Save” once you have entered the information needed for this address, and then click “New” to add another mailing address.
  
  • Address Line 1
  • City
  • State
  • Zip
• The Phone/Fax screen holds a list of all the phone and fax numbers for this Contact Group.  These are the requirements for each of the fields on this screen: Like the previous sections of the Data Entry Wizard, you can add as many entries as you would like to the Phone/Fax Number screen.
  
  • Area/Country Code: This field only accepts up to 5 digits.
  • Phone Number: Enter the seven-digit phone number into this field. 
  • Dashes (-) are acceptable here.
  • Extension: Only use this field for entering the extension.  Do not enter other information in this field, such as who this phone number belongs to.
  • Phone Type: This identifies what this number is, such as a cell phone, business phone, fax, home phone, etc.
  • Outlook Type - Phone: This field is used for identifying what type of phone number this is when syncing Gorilla with Outlook.
  • Important Information: If you have anything you want to remember about this phone number, enter it into this field.
• On the Email Address screen, you can add the email address associated with this Contact Group.  Here are the criteria for each of the fields in the Email screen: Similar to the previous screens, you can add as many email addresses as you would like by clicking “New,” then “Save” when you have entered the email address.  If you are planning on syncing your emails with Outlook, make sure that the client’s email address you would like to sync is listed on this screen.
  
  • Email Address: Do not put anything other than an email address in this field.  
  • Outlook Type - Email: This field is used when syncing Contact Groups with Outlook.
  • Important Information: Use this field to identify anything special about the email address that you are entering.  This is the best place to remind you who the email address belongs to.  
• The Important Date screen is useful for keeping track of any dates you wish to remember about a Contact Group.
  • Important Date: Click the 3-dot box to the right of the field, a calendar will pop up and you will be able to select the important date.  When you have selected the date, click “Apply.”
  • Type: Identify what Type of important date this is, such as an anniversary or a retirement date.  You can add new entries to this field by clicking on it and pressing the F4 button on your keyboard.    
    • NOTE: Do not enter birthdays on this screen.  Birthdays should be entered on the Individual page
  • Description: Describe the important date here.  
    
• On the Accounts page you can keep track of this Contact Group’s accounts.
  • Account Number: Enter the account number is in this field.
  • Type: Use this field to identify what type of account this is.  This is another customizable field where you can enter new items to the list.   Add new items by highlighting the field and pressing the F4 key on your keyboard.
  • Primary: Check this box if this is the primary account.
  • Description: Describe the account here.  
    
• The following information applies to the Primary Home Address Bundle and Primary Business Address Bundle screens.
  • Name: Enter the name of the Address Bundle here.
  • Automatically Generate Name of Address Bundle: (Checkbox) This function will automatically generate the name, address line, and salutation for the address bundle based on the individuals selected in the first and second addressee fields.
  • First and Second Addressee: Select the names of the individuals who you want to be included in this address bundle.  If you only want one addressee, leave the second addressee line blank.  If you wish to remove an addressee, highlight that line, and press the space bar.
  • Address as Married: (Checkbox) This checkbox will automatically change the way that the salutation line is formatted.
  • Addressing Mode: This is where you select which addressee is used to generate the address bundle data.  The Override option will allow you to manually input an address line and salutation line.
  • Address: (Drop-Down Box) To ensure that letters will be sent to this Contact Group, select the address that applies to this address bundle (Home or Business).
  • Phone Number: (Drop-Down Box) Phone numbers that you have selected in the address bundle will show in the finder screen, and are used on certain letters as well.  For these reasons, make sure that you have a phone number selected.
  • Email: (Drop-Down Box) Select the email that you wish to use when sending a message via email.
  • Fax: (Drop-Down Box) Select the fax number that this Contact Group prefers. 
    
• Alternate Address Bundles are used for things such as Birthday Addressing and Campaigns.  The top portion of the screen is the same as the previous two Address Bundle screens.  The only difference is a Start Date and End Date field for your reference.  You can add as many address bundles as necessary.  To create an Alternate Address Bundle, click New, located on the lower right-hand side of the screen, enter the information, and click “Save.”

Check out or videos below on Contact Groups: