Nudge uses three core entities: contacts (people), businesses (companies), and deals (opportunities). Here is how they fit together.
Contacts = people
A contact is a person. They have a name, emails, phones, and can be linked to one or more businesses. Contacts are the main unit for communication: emails logged via the dropbox attach to contacts, and next actions can be attached to a contact (e.g. "Call Jane").
Businesses = companies
A business is a company or account. It has a name, optional domain, and location. You link contacts to businesses (e.g. Jane works at Acme Corp). A deal can optionally be linked to one business so you see which company the deal is with. Businesses do not have their own email or phone fields; those live on contacts.
Use a business when you care about "this deal/relationship is with Acme Corp" and when multiple contacts belong to the same company.
Deals = opportunities
A deal is a sales opportunity or a tracked item you are working on. It lives in a pipeline and a stage, has a value, and can be linked to:
- One or more contacts (the people involved)
- Optionally one business (the company)
So "Deal with Acme Corp" would have business = Acme Corp and contacts = Jane (and maybe John). All activity and next actions can live on the deal; the contact and business give context.
How to model your reality
- Solo freelancer, one contact per client: You might only use contacts and deals. Skip businesses until you have multiple people at the same company.
- B2B with multiple people at an account: Create a business (the account), add contacts (the people) and link them to that business, then create deals and link both the business and the relevant contacts.
- Deal with one person, no company: Create a contact, create a deal, link the contact to the deal. Leave business blank.
You can always add a business later and link it to existing contacts and deals.