Manage people (contacts)

Centralize your contacts, link them to their events and companies, and keep the full history in one place.

Behind every event there's a person: the bride, the HR lead, the project manager at an agency. Joinways contact records centralize these people and their full history for blind-spot-free follow-up, no matter which team member picks up the file.

A contact is the basic unit of your client relationship: it's the person you exchange with, send quotes to and call to confirm an event. Kept up to date, their record spares you from digging through emails and saves precious time at every interaction.

Prerequisites

Before managing your contacts, check the following:

Have an active Joinways account with access to the People section.
Have at least one event or incoming inquiry to link the contact to a file.
Ideally, know the contact's company to activate the B2B link.

What you'll learn

Create and complete a contact record, manually or automatically.
Link a contact to their events and a company.
Find the full exchange history (emails, quotes, notes).
Avoid and merge duplicates to keep a clean database.

Create a contact

Manual creation fits when you enter a prospect met at a trade show or referred by a partner. Here's what happens at each step:

Open the People section then click Add a person: an empty form appears.
Enter the name, email and phone: these details become the entry points for all communication.
Link to a company if relevant: the record then inherits the organization's B2B context.
Save: the contact immediately appears in the list and becomes selectable on an event.

Tip: most contacts are created automatically from the Inquiries when an inquiry arrives; Joinways reads the sender and creates the record if it doesn't exist yet.

Link a contact to an event and a company

An isolated contact has little value; it's the linking that builds the 360° view. By linking, you weave the person ↔ organization ↔ file connection.

From the contact record, add the relevant event to the list of linked events.
Select the company to attach the contact to its B2B organization.
Check that all three entities point to one another: the contact now appears in the company record and the event.

Find the exchange history

All the memory of the relationship is consulted from the record. Before a call, a glance is enough to know where you stand.

Open the contact record and expand the History section.
Browse the associated emails, quotes and notes, sorted chronologically.
Click an item to open the original quote or email in its file.

Avoid and merge duplicates

A healthy database relies on a single record per person. Duplicates scatter the history and distort the 360° view.

Spot two records bearing the same name or the same email address.
Compare their events and history to confirm it really is the same person.
Merge the records: the events, emails and notes of both reunite on a single one.

What a contact record contains

A record gathers the following information; each serves a precise purpose in follow-up:

Details: the person's email, phone and role, used for communication and personalization.
Role: the person's function (event manager, HR, groom…) to adapt the tone of your messages.
Linked events: all the files this contact is attached to, to measure the history of collaboration.
Company: the optional B2B link, connecting the person to their organization.
History: the associated emails, quotes and notes, sorted by date to reconstruct the whole relationship.
Notes: the team's internal remarks, visible on the record to share context.

Automatic creation from the Inquiries

Most records are born from an incoming inquiry. Understanding this mechanism avoids manually entering what Joinways already does for you.

An inquiry arrives in the Inquiries: Joinways reads the sender's address.
If no contact matches, a record is created with the available details.
The email is attached to the record, ready to be linked to an event.

How it works

Joinways treats the contact as a central node: the person exists once, then links to several events and a company. When an email arrives in the Inquiries, the system matches the sender to an existing contact or creates a new one, then attaches the conversation to their record.

Thanks to this model, every quote sent, every note taken and every event created automatically enriches the contact's history, with no re-entry.

Edge cases

A few situations deserve particular attention:

The same email for two people: Joinways may create a single record; check and split if needed.
A contact without a company: this is valid for individuals (weddings); the B2B link stays optional.
A contact who changes company: update the link to keep the history consistent.

💡 Good to know: a well-linked contact prevents duplicates and gives a 360° view before every call.

Best practices

Merge duplicates as soon as you spot them so the history isn't scattered.
Fill in the role to personalize your messages and prioritize the right people.
Always link contact ↔ company ↔ event for full traceability.
Enter internal notes on the record rather than in separate files.

Troubleshooting

Problem: a contact appears twice in the list.

Cause: an email received with a slightly different address generated a second record.

Solution: locate the two records and merge them to reunite the history.

Problem: a contact's history seems incomplete.

Cause: the exchanges happened under another address or another unlinked contact.

Solution: check the company link and attach the missing events.

Problem: unable to link a contact to an event.

Cause: the event isn't created yet or doesn't appear in the search.

Solution: create the event first, then return to add the contact from their record.

Real-world example

An event manager from a company comes back every year. Her record gathers the 3 past seminars: the team prepares a loyalty offer at a glance, without reopening old emails.

Another example

A couple requests a quote for their wedding via the Inquiries. Joinways automatically creates the contact's record, attaches the received email, then links it to the new event. On the day of the confirmation call, the whole conversation is already gathered on the record.

FAQ

Difference between contact and company?

The contact is a person; the company groups several contacts and events of the same organization.

Do I have to create my contacts manually?

No, most are created automatically from the Inquiries; manual creation is mainly for prospects met outside email.

Can a contact be linked to several events?

Yes, that's the whole point: the record gathers all the person's files to track the history of collaboration.

Must a contact always have a company?

No, the B2B link is optional: it stays empty for individuals such as wedding couples.

How do I find a contact's emails?

Open their record and expand the history: the associated emails, quotes and notes are sorted by date.

What if two records concern the same person?

Merge them as soon as you spot them to reunite all the history on a single record.

Is the contact's role useful for anything?

Yes, it helps you personalize your messages and identify the right person within the organization.

Can I link a contact to a company afterwards?

Yes, the link can be changed at any time from the record: select the company to attach it or change it if the contact has moved.