> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.comforthub.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up a customer by hand

> Type the customer, account and property straight into Zoho when there is no lead to convert

export const Touches = ({systems}) => <p>
    <strong>Systems involved:</strong>{" "}
    {systems.split(",").map((s, i) => <span key={s}>
        {i > 0 ? " · " : ""}
        <a href={"/systems/" + s.trim()}>{s.trim().replace(/-/g, " ")}</a>
      </span>)}
  </p>;

<Touches systems="zoho-crm, supabase-backend, quickbooks" />

Most customers come from a converted lead. When one does not, you type the three records into Zoho yourself: the customer (a contact in Zoho), the account and the property. Each one reaches our side within seconds, the customer gets a QuickBooks customer, and the property gets its picture and territory. What matters is the links between them, because our side copies those too.

## Before you start

* The person's name, email and phone.
* The service address, and the billing address if it differs.
* One account per customer. Our side allows exactly one, so a customer who already has an account cannot be given a second.

## Steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the customer">
    In **Contacts**, click **Create**, fill in the name, **Email** and **Phone**, and save. Leave **Is Active** ticked; it starts ticked.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the account">
    In **Accounts**, click **Create**. Name it after the person, set **Contact Name** to the customer, and save.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the property">
    In **Properties**, click **Create**. Fill in the address, set **Account** to the account, and save. Make a second property if billing differs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Link them together">
    Open the customer. Set **Account Name** to the account, then **Service Address** and **Billing Address** to the properties. Do the same two address fields on the account. Save each.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The address fields only offer properties that belong to the customer's account, so the account has to be set first.

## How you know it worked

* The property shows a **Latitude**, a picture and a **Major Service Area** within a minute.
* The customer shows a **QuickBooks id**.
* In QuickBooks, the customer has the billing and shipping addresses. They appear after you link the addresses on the customer, not before: the service address becomes the shipping address, the billing address the billing address.

## When the house sells

The buyer is another customer. Create them as in step 1, then open the account and change **Contact Name** to the buyer. Our side follows.

Do not point the account at a customer who already has one. Our side refuses the change and it lands as a dead letter; see [Fix a record that did not sync](/handbook/running/fix-a-record-that-did-not-sync).

## If it did not work

* **The customer or account shows as inactive on our side.** Someone unticked **Is Active**. Tick it and save.
* **QuickBooks has the customer but no address.** The customer's **Service Address** and **Billing Address** are not set. Set them and save.

## Related

* [How a lead becomes a customer](/handbook/new-customers/how-a-lead-becomes-a-customer)
* [Convert a lead into a customer](/handbook/new-customers/convert-a-lead)
* [Who is the source of truth](/systems/who-is-the-source-of-truth)