Customers
“How much does Ramesh owe me, and did he already pay something in advance?” Most contact books can’t answer that. In BizOS the customer is the spine of the business: every quotation, order, job, invoice, payment, follow-up, contract and WhatsApp conversation hangs off one record, so the record opens on money, not just a phone number.
How do I see how much a customer owes me?
The customer list shows Owes you on every row, with a mark when part of it is overdue. Search by name, phone or email, filter by any custom field you have defined, and add custom-field columns to the list.
Open the customer and the top of the card repeats the money:
| Figure | What it counts |
|---|---|
| Owes you | The balance of every issued, unpaid or part-paid bill, with the number of unpaid bills |
| Advance held | Money you received from this customer that is not yet applied to any bill |
| Lifetime value | Everything billed to date, with the number of payments |
Money figures follow the role. Owners, admins, managers and accountants see them; office staff and field technicians see the customer without the rupee figures. See Roles & permissions.
For every customer at once, the receivables report buckets dues by age. See Reports.
What is on the customer card?
The card has a header with quick actions and five tabs:
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Overview | What needs action (overdue bills, an accepted quote waiting to be billed) and a timeline of quotes, jobs, bills and payments |
| Bills & jobs | Unpaid bills and active jobs |
| Orders | The customer’s sales orders, when your business uses them |
| Contracts | AMC and contracts |
| Details | The editable record, plus message and ad settings |
Quick actions on the header: Invoice, Quote, WhatsApp, Call
and Edit details. On a computer, I, Q and E do the same from the
keyboard.
What can I store on a customer?
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name, phone, email | The basics. The phone number is the identity |
| Company | For B2B contacts: the firm behind the person |
| Address, city | Printed on documents |
| GSTIN | Printed on invoices and used for the GST split and the GSTR-1 export |
| GPS location | Copied onto new jobs, so a technician gets an “Open in Maps” link |
| Price tier | The price level this customer buys at. Only people who manage price levels can change it |
| Tags | Free labels such as wholesale or AMC, usable as workflow and campaign conditions |
| Notes | Anything that does not fit a field |
| Your fields | Your own custom fields: up to 30 per record type, in ten field types |
Fill in the GPS location once
Paste whatever the customer sent: a Google Maps link, a WhatsApp location or raw coordinates. BizOS turns it into a location, and every job you create for that customer carries it. That removes the most common “where is the site?” phone call.
Saved measurements
If your business records sizes rather than computing quantities from them (a tailor’s chest, sleeve and length, for example), each customer can keep a measurement book: the latest sizes per person, such as “Ravi, Shirt”. When you add a measured line to the next quote or bill, Use saved fills it in, and Save updates the book. Nothing in the book is priced or moves stock. See Line measurements.
How do messages and ad opt-outs work?
Every customer-facing message passes one check at the moment it is sent. The switches on the Details tab under Messages & ads:
- WhatsApp updates. Turned off automatically when the customer replies STOP, or by you here. Blocks every automated WhatsApp to that customer, including payment reminders. The card header says so when it is off.
- Exclude from Facebook audiences. Leaves the customer out of any Meta ad audience from the next sync, without touching their invoices or reminders.
Email has its own opt-out: the unsubscribe link in any BizOS email, a bounce or complaint from the mail provider, or set by you. Marketing consent is kept apart from the channel itself, so a customer who does not want offers still receives their bills. A message that was blocked is logged as skipped with the reason. See Notifications.
How do I add customers?
One at a time
From New customer on the Customers page, or inline while making a quote, invoice, job or follow-up, without leaving what you were doing.
From a won lead
Converting a lead creates the customer and keeps the link between the two.
From Excel
Import from Excel on the Customers page, or the import wizard, with duplicate handling and an error file for rows that need fixing.
With opening dues
Import what customers owed before BizOS, so payment chasing starts on day one rather than from your first BizOS bill.
If you are connected to Tally, customers made or edited in BizOS are kept in step with their party ledgers in Tally.
Customers and branches
In a business with several branches, customers belong to the business, not to one shop. A branch can bill a walk-in it has never seen, because search always finds every customer. A member limited to some branches sees, by default, the customers of those branches: anyone created there, or with a bill, quote, job or lead there. Their Owes you figures and the customer’s documents count only their branches.
Customers in automation
Workflows can fire when a customer is created, and every trigger that carries
a customer (invoice, quotation, job, payment, contract) exposes the
customer’s fields, tags and custom fields as conditions and as
WhatsApp message variables. “When an invoice
is paid and the customer is tagged wholesale, send the trade price
list” is a rule you can build without code. See
Workflows. For nurture after the first sale, see
Customer journeys.
Who can do what
| Role | Customers |
|---|---|
| Owner, Admin, Manager | Everything, including delete and the price tier |
| Accountant | View customers and their money; no add, edit or delete |
| Office staff | Add, edit, import and switch off WhatsApp updates; no delete, no price tier, no money figures |
| Field technician | No customer list. Through a job they work on: the customer’s name, phone, site address and map link |
Common questions
- How do I see how much a customer owes me in BizOS?
- BizOS shows an Owes you figure on every row of the customer list and at the top of the customer card, with the number of unpaid bills underneath. The receivables report does the same across all customers, bucketed by how old the dues are.
- Where do I see advance money a customer has paid?
- The BizOS customer card shows Advance held next to Owes you: money received from that customer that is not yet applied to any bill. It is never netted against the dues automatically; a person applies it to a bill with one tap.
- Can I set different prices for different customers in BizOS?
- Yes. Give the customer a price tier such as Retail, Trade or Project, and every quote and invoice line for them is priced at that tier, including quantity-break bands. Only members allowed to manage price levels can change a customer's tier.
- What happens when a customer replies STOP on WhatsApp?
- BizOS switches off WhatsApp updates for that customer immediately, and every automated WhatsApp to them is blocked from then on, including payment reminders. The card shows it, and it can be switched back on from the Details tab if the customer asks.
- Can two customers have the same phone number in BizOS?
- No. BizOS keeps one customer per phone number and refuses a duplicate. Numbers are stored in one international format, so 98400 12345 and +91 98400 12345 are recognised as the same customer.
- Can I add my own fields to a customer?
- Yes. BizOS custom fields come in ten types, including dropdown, date, checkbox and phone, with up to 30 per record type. They appear on the form and the card and work as list columns, filters, workflow conditions and WhatsApp variables.
- Can I delete a customer?
- Owners, admins and managers can delete a customer in BizOS only if the customer has no bills or payments. A customer with money history stays, so no invoice or receipt is ever left without its customer.
- Can I import customers from Excel?
- Yes. BizOS imports customers from an Excel or CSV file with a column-mapping step, duplicate handling and an error file for rows that need attention. Items, leads and opening dues import the same way.