---
id: KB-ET-020
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/your-workspace/how-many-contacts-to-keep-per-company
idioma: en
categoria: espacio-de-trabajo
subcategoria: contactos
audiencia: usuario
nivel: basico
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-ET-003, KB-CC-014]
citadoPor: [KB-ET-018]
---

# How many contacts to keep per company

_One is too few, five nobody maintains. And writing «to the company» is the fastest way to get no reply at all._

**Responde a:** how many people to keep per supplier · writing to info@ or to a person · billing contact and technical contact · duplicates from the same company

Address books fill up in two ways and both cause trouble: one record per company with a generic address, or fifteen records for the same company because everyone saved whoever replied to them. The middle ground is not a tidiness question — it decides whether you get answers.

## How many records are really needed

| Type of relationship | How many people | Which is the right one |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Small supplier | One | The person who deals with you, with their address |
| Supplier with departments | Two or three | Who signs, who sends papers, who invoices |
| Large client | As many as they ask you to deal with | And note what each is for |
| A company you barely deal with | One | Even a generic one: it does not deserve maintenance |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The detail that changes results: **a generic address is not a contact, it is a door**. Writing to `info@` or `accounts@` lands the message somewhere nobody feels addressed — and what has no addressee has no urgency. It works to introduce yourself and to find the right person, not to ask for something with a deadline. The first serious request is worth far more sent to a name, even one you had to get by phone.

## How to avoid the fifteen duplicates

1. **Search before creating, by the email domain** — It is what groups people from one company.
2. **Store the role, not just the name** — «Ana» says nothing a year from now; «Ana, quality» does.
3. **And merge as soon as a duplicate appears** — Better then than in the clean-up six months from now.

> [!WARNING]
> Before adding someone because they replied once, check what role they play: **whoever replies is not always the one who decides, and sometimes they were only forwarding**. Saving that person as the main contact sends your next requests to someone with no reason to handle them — the shortest route to no more replies. What to store is who is responsible, even if someone else sends the answer.

## What is worth noting about each one

**En corto**

- What that person is for: signatures, documentation, invoicing.
- Where they actually reply from: email, phone, whichever channel they use.
- And if they are the only one: that flags a risk, not tidiness.

> [!NOTE]
> A company with a single contact and no alternative is a single point of failure — the day they are off, the file stops. You need not store five; it is enough to know who to ask if that one is missing.

**Should I save the salesperson who sold to me?**

If they will not send documentation, no: it goes stale immediately.

**What if the company insists I write to the generic address?**

Respect it and note it as theirs. It is how they work.

**Is a company record worth having as well as people?**

Yes: documents belong to the company, even when a person sends them.

## Ejemplos

**A company requests documents from a supplier's generic mailbox and hears nothing for three weeks.**

- Calls, gets the name of whoever handles it and sends the request to them

→ The document arrives in two days, and the record now holds the person who actually handles it.

**Only one contact is stored and they are on holiday.**

- Records a second contact at the company

→ The request does not wait on one person.

**Fifteen contacts are stored and nobody knows who to write to.**

- Marks who the main contact is

→ The notice goes to the right person.

**The contact on record no longer works there.**

- Updates on the first bounce

→ Notices stop getting lost.

**Emails go to a generic mailbox and nobody replies.**

- Asks for a specific person

→ The request reaches somebody who can act.

**Each team member uses a different contact.**

- Centralises the company record

→ The supplier receives a coherent message.