πŸ‘₯

Accounts, Contacts, and Territories

Account management, hierarchies, contacts, and sales territories

⏱️ Estimated reading time: 20 minutes

Chapter 11: Account Models and Hierarchies

Account Types



TypeUseFeatures
Business AccountB2B (companies)Company Name, related to Contacts
Person AccountB2C (individuals)First/Last Name, no separate Contact objects

Account Hierarchies



Allow modeling corporate structures:
Global Corp (Parent Account)
β”œβ”€β”€ Global Corp - North America (Child Account)
β”‚ β”œβ”€β”€ Global Corp - USA
β”‚ └── Global Corp - Canada
└── Global Corp - Europe (Child Account)
β”œβ”€β”€ Global Corp - UK
└── Global Corp - Germany


Each account has a Parent Account field to build the hierarchy.

Contacts to Multiple Accounts



Allows ONE contact to be related to MULTIPLE accounts:
- Direct Relationship: Standard Account (AccountId field)
- Indirect Relationships: Via AccountContactRelation

Each relationship can have:
- Roles (Decision Maker, Influencer, etc.)
- Active/inactive status
- Dates

Enterprise Territory Management (ETM)



Components:
1. Territory Type: Category (Geography, Industry, etc.)
2. Territory Model: Grouping of territories (can have multiple models)
3. Territory: Individual unit (e.g., 'West Coast - Technology')
4. Assignment Rules: Auto-assign accounts to territories

Territory Hierarchy:
North America
β”œβ”€β”€ West Coast
β”‚ β”œβ”€β”€ California
β”‚ └── Washington
└── East Coast
β”œβ”€β”€ New York
└── Florida

🎯 Key Points

  • βœ“ Business Accounts (B2B) vs Person Accounts (B2C)
  • βœ“ Account Hierarchy models corporate structures
  • βœ“ Contacts to Multiple Accounts avoids duplicating contacts
  • βœ“ ETM: Territory Type β†’ Model β†’ Territory β†’ Assignment Rules
  • βœ“ Person Accounts merge Account + Contact into one record