CRM uses three record types that connect automatically: opportunities, companies and people. Understanding how they link together helps you track relationships and sales progress without entering the same data twice.
In this guide you’ll learn how to:
- Tell what each record type stores and when to create it
- Structure your CRM for solo professionals or for businesses
- Link opportunities to a company and a point of contact
- Recognize the standard B2B agency scenario
- Predict how conversion to a client works for each structure
What are the three record types?
An opportunity is a deal, a company is an organization, and a person is an individual contact.
Opportunities
An opportunity represents a specific sales deal you’re pursuing. It’s not just a contact or a company: it’s an actual potential project with revenue attached.
What opportunities store:
- Deal name (for example, “Website Redesign: BlueSky Marketing”)
- Amount (the dollar value of the deal)
- Stage (where it is in your sales process)
- Close date (when you expect to win or lose)
- Owner (the team member responsible)
- Custom fields specific to your sales process
When to create an opportunity: You’re having a specific conversation about paid work. Not “they might need something someday”, but “we’re discussing this actual project”.
Example: Jessica Moore from Brightwave Fitness reaches out about redesigning their mobile app. That’s an opportunity: a specific project worth $48,000.
Companies
A company is an organization you’re working with or pursuing. It stores business-level information that doesn’t change with individual deals.
What companies store:
- Company name and domain
- Industry and source
- Multiple email addresses and phone numbers
- Annual recurring revenue (ARR)
- Employee count
- Whether they match your ideal customer profile (ICP)
- Custom fields for company-level data
When to create a company: You’re working with or pursuing an organization, not a solo individual. Even if you only know one person there, create the company record if they work for a business.
Example: Brightwave Fitness is a company in the Fitness Technology industry. They have multiple people working there and multiple projects in progress.
People
People are individual contacts: the actual humans you email, call and meet with.
What people store:
- Name and job title
- Email addresses and phone numbers
- Social media profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter and others)
- Physical address
- Which company they work for, if any
- Custom fields for contact-level data
When to create a person: You have an individual contact. They might work at a company or be a solo freelancer. Either way, you need their personal contact information.
Example: Jessica Moore is the Head of Marketing at Brightwave Fitness. She’s a person record linked to the Brightwave Fitness company.
How should I structure my CRM?
It depends on who you work with: solo professionals need a person and an opportunity, while businesses need a company, its people and their opportunities. You don’t always need all three record types.
Working with solo professionals
Use this when you’re working with freelancers, consultants or individual service providers.
- Create a Person: Rachel Kim, Freelance UX Designer.
- Create an Opportunity: “Website UX Redesign” for $8,500.
- Link the opportunity to Rachel as point of contact.
No company is needed, because Rachel is the business. When you convert this opportunity to a client, it becomes an Individual client.
Working with businesses (standard B2B)
Use this when you’re working with companies that have multiple employees.
- Create a Company: Brightwave Fitness.
- Create People: Priya Shah (Product Manager), Daniel Brooks (CEO) and Jessica Moore (Head of Marketing).
- Create Opportunities: “Q2 Paid Ads Campaign” with Priya as point of contact, and “Mobile App Redesign” with Jessica as point of contact.
This is the standard agency scenario. Businesses have multiple employees, and you might work with different people on different projects, but they all work for the same company. When you convert an opportunity to a client, it becomes a Company client.
What does the standard B2B agency scenario look like?
Most agencies work business to business: one company, several employees and several deals, each with its own point of contact.
| Record | Brightwave Fitness example |
|---|---|
| Company | Brightwave Fitness, a fitness technology company: one organization with multiple employees |
| People | Priya Shah (Product Manager), Daniel Brooks (CEO), Jessica Moore (Head of Marketing) |
| Opportunity 1 | Q2 Paid Ads Campaign ($18,500), point of contact Priya Shah |
| Opportunity 2 | Mobile App Redesign ($48,000), point of contact Jessica Moore |
Why this structure matters:
- Track the relationship, not just the deal. You’re building a relationship with Brightwave Fitness, the company, not only with individual people. Today you work with Priya. Next month you might work with Daniel on something different.
- See the complete picture. When you open Brightwave Fitness, you see all contacts, all opportunities and all history, so you understand the full relationship.
- Avoid duplicate outreach. When Priya and Jessica both work at Brightwave, you know it, so you don’t accidentally pitch the same service twice.
- Forecast accurately. The Q2 Ads Campaign and the App Redesign are separate deals with separate stages and values, but both contribute to your relationship value with Brightwave.
How does linking work?
In B2B, each opportunity links to the company and names one person as the point of contact. For a solo professional, the opportunity links directly to the person.
Standard B2B linking:
Company: Brightwave Fitness
↓
People: Priya Shah, Daniel Brooks, Jessica Moore
↓
Opportunity 1: Q2 Paid Ads Campaign → Point of contact: Priya
Opportunity 2: Mobile App Redesign → Point of contact: JessicaSolo professional linking:
Person: Rachel Kim (Freelance UX Designer)
↓
Opportunity: Website UX Redesign → Point of contact: RachelWhat is a point of contact?
A point of contact is the specific person you’re communicating with about a deal, and every opportunity needs one.
- In the B2B scenario: Brightwave Fitness has three employees in your CRM, and you’re working on two projects. Q2 Ads Campaign uses Priya as point of contact, because she’s managing the marketing initiative. Mobile App Redesign uses Jessica, because she’s leading the app project. Same company, different contacts. That’s normal: companies have different people handling different initiatives.
- In the solo professional scenario: Rachel Kim is working with you on a website redesign, so Rachel is the point of contact. There’s nobody else to contact, because she’s the business.
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FAQs
Can I add a company later?
Yes. Start with a person, and add the company when you learn they work for one.
Can I have a company with no people?
Yes. Add people as you identify contacts.
Do I need to fill in all company fields?
No. Company name is required. Add other details as you learn them.
Can someone work at two companies?
No. Each person links to one company, which covers most real-world scenarios.
Can I convert multiple opportunities separately?
Yes. If you win the Ads Campaign but lose the App Redesign, convert only what you won.
Can I just use people records instead of creating companies?
Yes, when you work with solo professionals: the person is the business, and the opportunity links directly to them. When you work with a business that has several employees, create the company so you can see every contact and deal in one place.
What to do next
Add your contacts: Create person records with Adding People.
Add organizations: Create company records with Adding Companies.
Track a deal: Create and link your first deal with Creating Opportunity.