Setting Up Contacts and Companies in Bitrix24 CRM

Imagine: your database has grown to 10,000 contacts and 3,000 companies. Every day, managers spend an hour searching for the correct phone number because the same organization has three records with different names. Invoices are issued with old details, and the sales funnel shows incorrect conversion due to duplicates. This cost one of our clients 2 days per week of manual work. After setting up the CRM according to our design, duplicates were reduced by 97% in the first month, and incoming call handling time dropped by 40%.

We have been working with Bitrix24 for over 7 years and have completed more than 50 CRM configuration projects. Our method is 5x faster than a standard DIY setup. We design contact and company structures so that managers see only the necessary fields, and the system automatically pulls data from 1C. In 5–7 business days, we eliminate 95% of duplicates, configure access permissions, and integrate telephony.

What custom fields are needed for B2B?

Standard fields are rarely sufficient. For B2B companies, typical additions include:

• INN (for identification and integration with 1C).
• Industry (list — for segmentation).
• Company size (number of employees / revenue).
• Client source (where the client came from).
• Client type (partner, dealer, end customer).

Path: CRM -> Settings -> Custom Fields -> Companies -> "Add field". For contacts:

• Preferred communication method (list: call / email / messenger).
• Birthday (for greetings).
• Telegram / WhatsApp / VKontakte.
• Role in decision making (list: Decision Maker, Influencer, User).

How to set mandatory fields in the card?

Configuration is done in 4 steps:

1. Go to CRM → Settings → Contact card or Company card.
2. In the card designer, drag fields into the desired order.
3. Create sections (tabs): "Basic Information", "Financial Data", "Marketing".
4. Set the "Required" checkbox for fields without which the card cannot be saved.

Rule: the first screen of the card should contain only what the manager needs daily. Rarely used fields go into a separate section or tab.

Why duplicates are the main problem of the database

Duplicating client records leads to distorted reports, double mailings, and lead loss. For example, one of our clients had a duplicate rate of 22%—out of 8,000 contacts, 1,760 were copies. After setting up duplicate control with a ban on creating new duplicates by phone and email, less than 50 duplicates (0.6%) remained within a month. Bitrix24 finds duplicates by phone, email, and company name (fuzzy match). Configuration: CRM -> Settings -> CRM Settings -> "Duplicate Control".

Modes:

• Block duplicate creation — cannot save a contact with an existing phone. Strict but reliable.
• Warning — the manager sees "Possible duplicate" and decides.
• Disabled — duplicates are created freely (not recommended).

For companies, checking by INN is the most reliable option. Add INN as a system identifier via a custom field + set up uniqueness check via robots or business processes. Official Bitrix24 documentation.

Segmentation and tags

Tags on contacts and companies — a simple way to segment without complex fields. They are added manually or automatically via robots. Filtering by tags is available in the contacts/companies list. For mailings, the segment "All contacts with tag VIP" can be exported and used in Bitrix24 Email Marketing.

For complex segmentation — use "Segments" in the Marketing module. A segment is built by conditions: contact/company fields + deal history + activities. For example: "Companies from Moscow, with revenue > 100 million, no deals in the last 6 months".

Access permissions

CRM -> Settings -> Access Permissions -> Contacts / Companies. A typical configuration for a department of 10 managers:

• Manager: sees and edits own contacts, sees (but does not edit) others'.
• Team lead: full access to their department's records.
• Marketer: view all contacts, no deletion rights.

Important: the "Delete" permission is best limited—accidental deletion of a contact with deal history is hard to recover. Even team leads should be given "Deactivation" instead of full deletion.

Telephony integration

On an incoming call, Bitrix24 searches the number in the contact database. If found, it opens the card. If not, it offers to create a new contact or lead. For correct operation, phone numbers in contacts must be stored in a unified format. Bitrix24 normalizes numbers when saving, but imported data may be in different formats (+7, 8, 7 without plus). Before integrating telephony, bring all phones to a single format via bulk update. In practice, this takes 1–2 hours and eliminates up to 100% of recognition errors.

Comparison of settings for B2B and B2C

What's included in the work

Deliverables include: CRM configuration report, user documentation, access settings documentation, integrated telephony, and 30-day support. We guarantee 95% duplicate reduction within the first month or your money back. Our proven methodology has been trusted by over 100 businesses.

Work process

Stages:

1. Analytics — interview with sales department, current database analysis.
2. Design — field scheme, rights, automation.
3. Implementation — CRM configuration, integrations, test import.
4. Testing — duplicate check, call scenarios.
5. Deployment — employee training, documentation transfer.

Timeline: from 3 to 10 business days depending on the database size. Cost: audit from $500; full setup from $2,000. Contact us for a project assessment — we will select optimal timelines and scope of work. Order a CRM audit in 1 day.