1
When to Add Contacts Manually
Manual contact entry is best for warm leads, referrals, and people you meet through networking — situations where you have just a name and number from a conversation.
- Use manual entry for warm leads and referrals — When a past client refers a friend, or you meet someone at a networking event, adding them one at a time with full context is faster than setting up a CSV import for a single record.
- Use manual entry when you have personal context to add — You can immediately add a note about how you met or what they're looking for right in the contact form, before that context is lost.
- Use bulk import for large lists instead — If you have more than 10–15 contacts to add at once, the CSV import feature under Contacts → Import is much faster and handles all records in one batch.
- Manual entry is also useful for testing — When you're setting up automations or pipelines, adding a test contact manually lets you run through the process without touching real lead data.
Tip: Adding a note immediately when you create the contact ("Met at Austin Chamber mixer, interested in 3BR in Westlake") keeps context fresh and visible to your whole team.
2
Opening the New Contact Form
The new contact form in Jtek opens as a slide panel — you don't leave the Contacts page to fill it out.
- Go to Contacts in the left sidebar — Click the Contacts icon. You'll see your full contact list with a search bar and filter options at the top.
- Click the "+ New Contact" button — It's in the top-right area of the Contacts page, next to the Import and Filter buttons.
- The slide panel opens from the right — A form panel will slide in from the right side of the screen without navigating away from the contact list.
- The rest of your screen stays active — You can still see your contact list in the background. If you need to check an existing contact for duplicate verification, scroll the list while the panel is open.
Jtek
Dashboard
Contacts
Opportunities
Settings
MJ
Maria JohnsonActiveLP
Luis PatelNew LeadDK
Dana KimReferral
Tip: Jtek checks for duplicates when you save. If a contact with the same phone or email already exists, you'll see a warning before the record is created.
3
Filling In Contact Details
The contact form has required and optional fields. You only need a name and one way to reach them — everything else helps but isn't blocking.
- Required: First Name — Every contact must have a first name. This is what appears in conversation threads and pipeline cards.
- Required: Phone or Email (at least one) — You need at least one way to contact this person. Without a phone number, you cannot send SMS. Without an email, you cannot send email campaigns. Ideally add both.
- Optional: Last Name — Recommended for professional contacts and pipeline deals where full names matter in reports and exports.
- Optional: Address — Useful for service businesses or when geography matters for routing leads to team members.
- Optional: Company — Helps when managing B2B leads or when one company has multiple contacts in your system.
- Optional: Tags — Add tags now (e.g., "Referral", "Hot Lead") to immediately categorize the contact. Tags power smart lists and automation triggers.
- Optional: Source — Mark where this lead came from (e.g., "Networking", "Website", "Referral") for tracking lead source performance in reports.
Jtek
Contacts
Opportunities
New Contact
First Name *
Sarah
Last Name
Torres
Phone *
(512) 555-0847
Email
sarah@example.com
Tags
Referral
Hot Lead
Save Contact
4
Adding Notes and Custom Fields
Scroll down in the new contact form to find the Notes section and any custom fields your account has set up. These are optional but valuable for capturing context upfront.
- Scroll down in the slide panel — Below the standard fields, you'll find a Notes text area. Type any context about this contact here before saving.
- Notes appear on the contact's Activity tab — Whatever you write here shows up immediately in the contact's timeline with a timestamp and your name as the author.
- Custom fields are below Notes — If your Jtek account has custom fields configured (e.g., "Property Budget", "Preferred Move Date", "Lead Temperature"), they appear in a grouped section at the bottom of the form.
- Fill in custom fields that you know now — You can always edit these later on the contact record, but capturing them at creation saves a follow-up step.
- Custom fields are set up by your account admin — If you need new custom fields added, go to Settings → Custom Fields or ask your team admin.
Tip: A note like "Referred by John Smith — looking for 3BR in Westlake under $800k, timeline 3 months" gives your whole team instant context when they open this contact.
5
Saving and Next Steps
Once you click Save, the contact record opens immediately so you can take the next action without losing momentum.
- Click Save Contact at the bottom of the panel — The slide panel closes and the new contact record opens in the main view.
- Add them to a pipeline — On the contact record, click the Opportunities tab and then "+ Add Opportunity" to place this contact in a pipeline stage right away.
- Send a first message — Click the SMS or Email button at the top of the contact record to send a first outreach message while the lead is fresh.
- Assign to a team member — If you work with a team, use the Assigned To field on the contact record to route this lead to the right person.
- Set a follow-up task — Click "+ Task" on the contact record to schedule a reminder (e.g., "Call back in 2 days") so nothing falls through the cracks.
Jtek
Contacts
Opportunities
ST
Sarah Torres
Referral
Hot Lead
SMS
Email
+ Task
Phone: (512) 555-0847
Email: sarah@example.com
Source: Referral (John Smith)
Tip: Speed-to-lead matters. Send a first SMS within 5 minutes of adding a warm lead — Jtek's SMS composer is right on the contact record, so you can do it in seconds.