JunkBossPro Blog — Junk Removal Software

CSV Import: Bringing a Junk Removal Customer List Over in One File

Your customer list is worth more than it looks. Every past customer is someone who might call again for the basement, the attic or the next move. Every realtor and property manager is a stream of future jobs. When you switch software, that list should come with you. In JunkBossPro, it comes over in one CSV file.

Part of the First Week

The first week on the software is laid out in The First Week on Junk Removal Software, Day by Day. Importing your customers is best done before that week starts, as part of setup, so new calls from repeat customers find their history already in place.

Where Your List Lives Now

Most junk companies have their customers in one of a few places:

• A spreadsheet someone has kept up
• Another piece of software that can export customers
• The contacts on the owner's phone
• Old invoices in an email folder

Spreadsheets and other software can usually save or export as CSV, a plain file format almost every program understands. That's what the import takes. Phone contacts and old invoices take more work to get into a spreadsheet first; for those, it's often easier to start with your recent and repeat customers and add the rest as they call.

Clean Up Before You Import

A little cleanup before importing saves a lot later:

1. One row per customer. Remove duplicates. Two rows for the same person turn into two clients.
2. Full addresses. Street, city, state or province, and ZIP or postal code. The more complete, the better the map placement.
3. Phone and email in their own columns. Mobile numbers matter most, because that's where alerts go.
4. Names spelled consistently. “ABC Property Mgmt” and “ABC Property Management” should be one client.
5. Drop columns you don't need. Old notes and internal codes can stay in the spreadsheet.

Addresses Go on the Map Automatically

When you import, the addresses are placed on the map automatically. You don't have to open each client and drop a pin. Those addresses then show on the Waiting List map and dispatch board like any other client's, and auto-routing can use them from day one.

After the import, take a quick look at the map. A pin in the wrong state usually means a missing city or postal code in the spreadsheet. Fix the address on the client record and it moves.

Rural customers are worth a second glance. A route number or a long county road can land the pin at the end of the road instead of the driveway. If you know a property well, add an access note like “Long gravel drive, house is past the red barn” so the crew finds it on the first try. That one line saves a lost truck on the first visit and every visit after.

Commercial Customers With Many Addresses

Property managers, realtors and apartment complexes are one client with many addresses. Before importing, decide how your spreadsheet shows that. If each property is its own row with the manager's name, check after import that those addresses sit under one client and not a dozen separate ones. Once they're grouped, set the client to Monthly if they should get one statement covering every address.

This is worth getting right, because it's what makes the monthly statement work. More on that in One Client, Many Addresses: Client Records, Measurements and Reports for Junk Haulers.

After the Import

Once the list is in, a few quick steps make it useful:

• Add tags like “Realtor,” “Property Manager,” or “Repeat” to group customers.
• Add access notes to addresses you visit often: gate codes, parking, which door.
• Set custom fields if you track things like how a customer heard about you.
• Check a few records to be sure names, phones and addresses landed in the right fields.

You don't have to do all of this in one sitting. Fill in notes as jobs come up.

What Doesn't Come Over

A customer CSV brings over customers and addresses. Old jobs, old invoices and payments from another system stay where they were, so keep your old records for reference. Card numbers never come over in a spreadsheet, for good reason. Customers can add a card through the sign-up form on your website or in the customer app.

Your List, Ready to Work

A clean CSV import turns years of customers into a list you can actually use, with every address on the map. To see what happens to those customers next, from estimates to monthly statements, go back to the JunkBossPro junk removal software page.