Companies, hierarchies and value rollups

Selling to an organisation means several people and often several deals. The company record is where that stops being a list of individuals and becomes an account you can read.

Hierarchies matter once you deal with groups — a parent company should total what its subsidiaries are worth.

Who this is for

Anyone selling to organisations rather than individuals, and account managers.

Before you start

• Permission to create and update companies.
• Contacts linked to their companies — the roll-up depends on that link.

The link is what makes the roll-up work
Value totals and activity roll up because contacts and deals are linked to the company. A contact that was never linked is invisible to the account view, which is the usual reason a company looks quieter than it is.

Build the account view

1. Create the company
   One record per organisation. Check it does not already exist first.
2. Link its people
   Attach contacts to the company. Their deals, tickets and activity then surface on the account view automatically.
3. Set a parent where there is one
   Where a company belongs to a group, set the parent. That is what lets the parent total value across the whole structure.
4. Read the value totals
   The account view totals won, open and lost value, so you can see what the relationship is actually worth rather than reading deals one at a time.
5. Use it before every conversation
   Opening the company before a call tells you what everyone else has been doing with this account, which is the whole point.

What you get

• One account view per organisation, not a scattering of people.
• Won, open and lost value totalled across the account.
• Group structure reflected, with value rolling up to a parent.
• Context before a conversation rather than after it.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my company show less value than I expect?

Almost always because a contact or deal was never linked to it. The roll-up only sees what is linked.

How deep can a hierarchy go?

Model the structure you actually sell into. Deep hierarchies that nobody reads add maintenance without adding insight.

Should a person belong to a company?

If you are selling to organisations, yes — that link is what makes the account view work at all.

What counts as won, open and lost value?

The deals attached to the account, split by outcome, so you can see historic revenue alongside what is still in play.