ElectricalBossPro Blog — Electrical Contractor Software

CSV Import: Bringing Your Electrical Customer List Into New Software

The customer list is the most valuable thing an electrical shop owns that is not in the van. Years of homeowners, landlords and commercial accounts, each one a phone number away from the next job. Moving that list into new software is the first real step of switching, and it is easier than most owners expect.

Where Your List Lives Now

Your customer list mixes service and install customers, as covered in Residential Service Calls vs. Install Work: Setting Up Electrical Contractor Software for Both. It all comes in the same way.

Most shops have their customers in one of a few places: a spreadsheet, an export from an old invoicing or field-service tool, an email contact list, or a phone. Almost all of these can be saved as a CSV file, which is just a spreadsheet saved in a plain format. ElectricalBossPro reads that file with CSV import.

Prepare the File

A little cleanup before the import saves a lot of fixing after. Open the file in your spreadsheet program and check:

• One header row. Clear column names such as name, phone, email, street, city, state or province, and postal code.
• Full addresses. Street, city and postal code on every row. Addresses are what put customers on the map.
• Consistent names. If the same landlord appears on many rows, spell their name the same way each time.
• No duplicates. Sort by name and phone, and delete the obvious repeats.
• No junk rows. Totals, notes and blank lines at the bottom of the sheet should go.

Do not worry about getting it perfect. You can fix individual records after the import. The goal is a file that is mostly clean.

Import and Map

Run CSV import with your cleaned-up file. When the import finishes, your clients and their addresses are in the system, and the imported addresses are placed on the map automatically.

That map placement matters more than it sounds. The Waiting List is a map. Crew GPS shows on the office map. Auto-routing on the dispatch board uses locations to sort stops from the shop. Customers placed on the map from day one mean all of those tools work in your first week.

Clients With Many Addresses

Landlords, property managers, gyms and retail chains have one client and many addresses. When you import, those addresses should end up under one client rather than as a pile of separate customers. Consistent client names in your file are what make that easier.

After import, check your biggest multi-address clients by hand. Make sure every building or location is under the right client, and set the ones who want one bill to Monthly. They will get one statement each month covering every address, with each line labeled.

What to Add After the Import

A customer spreadsheet usually has contact details and addresses. It rarely has the electrical details. Add those over time:

• Recurring plans. Set up customers already on yearly inspection or generator maintenance plans first, so their next visits come due on the Waiting List.
• Equipment. Add the main panel, generator, EV charger and other equipment as techs visit each house. Changes on a job flow back to the house.
• Measurements. Square feet, fixtures and circuits for properties where you price by them.
• Tags. Generator owner, property manager, commercial and so on.
• Cards on file. Customers can add their card in the customer app.

You do not need any of this to start booking calls. The import gets you running; the rest fills in with normal work.

Common Snags

A few things trip up imports. Addresses missing a city or postal code can be harder to place on the map, so fill those in. Phone numbers stored in odd formats are worth tidying, especially if you plan to text customers in the US and Canada. Multiple people at one address may need a decision: one client or two.

If something looks wrong after the import, fix the record directly. For a small shop, the handful of odd rows is usually a few minutes of cleanup.

Your List, Working for You

Once the list is in, it stops being a static spreadsheet. Every customer is a click from their house, their equipment, their jobs and their invoices. The Waiting List shows who is due. The dispatch board routes them. The customer app lets them pay and book.

The next step after import is setup in the right order, covered in Setting Up Electrical Contractor Software in the Order That Saves Rework. For the whole system your list is moving into, visit the ElectricalBossPro electrical contractor software page.