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If you have been working with QuickBooks 2009 or QuickBooks 2010, then you are no doubt familiar with the Company Snapshot that was introduced in 2009 and improved with the Payments Snapshot in 2010.  In 2011 QuickBooks adds the Customer Snapshot.

With the Customer Snapshot you can choose any customer from a drop-down box.  Information concerning that customer’s performance is then displayed in both table-based and graphical summaries.  This includes Sales History, Recent Invoices, Recent Payments, Best-Selling Items, and Sales Summary by Period.  In addition there is some customer management information including Open Balance, Credit Limit, Average Days to Pay, etc.

In short you get a complete overview of the customer – with much of the supporting data immediately available via the usual QuickBooks double-click drill-down feature.

The Customer Shapshot is just one more example of how QuickBooks is moving towards becomming a more complete business management tool.

Another great feature in QuickBooks 2011 is the new COLLECTIONS CENTER.  For the first time QuickBooks provides you with the ability to track your collection efforts in an easy to use admin panel.

You can access the Collections Center from within the Customer Center.  In the Customer Center you will find a new link on the right side of the Customer Center menu bar.  Click the Collections Center link and a new workspace will open with “Overdue” and “Almost Due” tabs.

In the Collections center you will see a summary of the overdue and almost due accounts, the Amounts Due, Days Overdue, Contact Information and an ability to post time-stamped notes about your collection efforts.

There will also be automatic warnings if you are missing some key information about the account, such as a missing email address.  Adding the missing information is a simple hot-click away.  Hover over the Warning Icon for a description of the imissing information.  Click on the Warning Icon and the Edit Custsomer box will open for you to add the missing information.

What’s even more impressive is that you can select customers and send customized emails all with out leaving the Collections Center admin panel.

If you have ever had to chase after customers to get paid, the new Collections Center will help make that precess more effective and efficient.