Among new users we notice a tendency to activate too many modules and features at once, which instead of helping, actually complicates the implementation — or the exact opposite: many useful features are never discovered at all.

At the beginning, when everything in the system is new, start with the basic configuration and activate only those modules that you actually need to start working with Sugester.

Do not push yourself or your team with features you do not need right now. There will be time for those. First, activate the core features and enter the basic data.

See also: How to successfully implement Sugester in your company. #1 Get to know your CRM system

Find out which features and modules to start with when setting up the system

Step 1. Add users

This is the foundation. Add all employees who will be working in Sugester. Make sure everyone starts using the system right away. Give each user the account name in Sugester, which will look something like this: COMPANYNAME.sugester.pl

This URL is what employees type into the browser address bar to log in to the system. Each employee should also have a password, which they can always change in profile settings after logging in to Sugester.

Also decide how you want the login process to work. Should it be a simple username and password, or will you enable two-step verification, which requires the user to also enter a code sent by email or SMS?

Step 2. Assign permissions and access to employees

If multiple people will be using Sugester, assign each of them permissions that match their role in the company.

You can choose from one of the default permission sets or create a custom one. Just as in a real company, in Sugester too — a support employee should have access to different data than their manager.

• Configure the appropriate permissions based on the available options in Roles. This prevents situations where employees can see data they should not have access to.


• Assign a role to each employee.


• If your company has departments, each of them should be reflected in the CRM. It does not matter whether it is HR, IT, or customer support — every department benefits from using CRM resources. If collaboration between departments is seamless, departments can simply serve to maintain order and mirror the company structure, with all employees having access to every department. However, if you want each department to operate independently, assign employees to their specific department — then data outside their department, such as emails, customers, or tasks, will not be visible to them.

Step 3. Import your customer database

The customer database is the heart of any CRM system and the primary source of knowledge about your clients. It is about building individual relationships and placing customer needs at the center of your company’s attention.

If you want to manage your customer database in Sugester effectively from the very start, begin with these steps:

• Transfer your customer database from your previous application using the import function available in account settings. The import process is very intuitive — all you need is a properly formatted XLS or CSV file. If your database is already organized, e.g. by categories, departments, or account managers, you can transfer those settings to Sugester at the time of import. Make sure those department names, categories, and users are already entered in Sugester before the import.


• Along with the imported customers, import your sales opportunities or past transactions using the deals import. Deals in Sugester are used for managing the sales process, monitoring its stages and results, and forecasting sales.


• After importing customers, check for duplicate records and merge any you find using the merge customers option. This keeps your database up to date and frees up space for new customers. Additionally, if some customer records are incomplete, you can use the automatic data fetch option from the GUS registry to fill in missing information.


• If your company has multiple departments, such as sales, IT, and accounting, create departments with the same names in the system and then assign customers to those departments.


• Group customers in any way you like — by type (individual, company) or importance (VIP, paid, trial). Use categories and tags for this. Customer segmentation enables a more personalized approach. For example, you can send a mailing to all your customers in the Mazovian region or the real estate industry.


• Set up statuses, which allow you to quickly filter customers of a specific type or check what stage of collaboration you are at with a given client.


• If you work with parent-subsidiary company structures, you can use the "buyer" feature to distinguish between parent and subsidiary entities in your database.


• Add custom fields, which allow you to store more detailed information about a customer. You can add text, date, or dropdown fields. They not only give you extra space to store important data, but also let you sort and search by those fields.


• If you have documents related to customers, such as scans or contracts, add them as attachments to the customer card. This gives you comprehensive customer information at your fingertips without having to search through stacks of paperwork.

With such a prepared database, you can start serving customers right away. In spare moments, you can also add customer logos or adjust the customer list display settings, but these are things you can easily do without at the beginning.

Step 4. Activate the email module

Even if you initially planned to use Sugester only for managing your customer database, take advantage of the additional capabilities offered by the CRM-integrated email module. In Sugester, you can handle all your company inboxes in one place. So why not use it? Configuration takes a few minutes, and here is what you get in return:

1. A CRM-integrated email module that provides full visibility into communication history with each customer at every stage of service

2. Handling of multiple company addresses/departments in a single inbox

3. Smooth flow of information between the company and customers, as well as between departments and teams internally

4. Email-handling tools that reduce processing time, such as templates, autoresponder, email assistant, and filters

So where do you start when setting up email in Sugester?

• Add your company inboxes to Sugester and then set up email forwarding to the system. This is a necessary step. If you use email services from, for example, home.pl and want to receive company email in Sugester, simply enter the forwarding address generated in the inbox settings in Sugester into your home.pl account settings. Every incoming email will then be visible both in home.pl and in Sugester. Forwarding is a one-time setup, and having a customer communication history linked to your customer database is a huge convenience, especially for sales and customer support teams.


• If you have your customer database set up, the system will assign each incoming email to the appropriate customer based on the email address or domain in your contacts. If you receive a message from an address not yet in the database, you can use the "Create/link to customer" function to create a new customer from it or link it to an existing one.


• For sending emails, if you want to send them through our servers rather than your own SMTP server, no additional settings are required. Simply compose and send.

It is best to start by adding 1–2 addresses and see how email management works, then adjust the inbox settings to suit your company’s requirements. For example, you can assign an inbox to a specific user, group, or entire department.

In a later stage, you can enable additional features such as the autoresponder, email assistant, communication rating, folders, or additional filters to sort incoming mail.

By following the steps above, you can be confident that you have taken care of the most important system elements in the initial phase of your implementation. The right users, properly assigned permissions, an organized customer database, and correctly configured email all set you up for early success with Sugester.

This is the basic package, which can be expanded over time with additional modules and options. Before moving to the next phase, make sure that working within these two modules does not cause any difficulties for anyone. There is a reason we recommend starting with the CRM and email modules — they are the core of the system, and it is important to understand and make the most of their capabilities.

Once you have gathered feedback from your team, you can move on to the next steps.

In the next article, we will suggest which additional modules to activate on your account.