Best Practice Associating a Contact with Company

[JSypek]

Hello,

I have run into issues when creating a Contact and having them be associated with the correct Company (when there are duplicative Company objects with similar names).

In one example, we have two companies named "XYZ" and "XYZ Talent". I created the contact and include the name "XYZ Talent" as the company param. I see in that properties history, the company name of the contact was changed to "XYZ Talent" at the time of the post. However, the record now says the contacts company is "XYZ".

This is causing issues becuase the Lifecycle Stage of "XYZ" is "Other", but "XYZ Talent" is "Customer". Looking at the contact's property history, their Lifecycle Stage was correctly set to "Customer" during the create/post api request, but shortly after its creation I see that their Lifecycle stage was updated to "Other" with the Source of "Companies - Property changed by an update made to a company associated with this record."

What are the best practices for ensuring we are creating a Contact associated with the correct company, since it appears this match on Name isn't behaving as we would expect.

Thank you!

Jack

[JSypek]

Can you help me understand the best way to utilize the company ID in the post/patch request to the contacts endpoint? In the sandbox, I posted with both a "company" param (set to the company name), and "company_id" param (set to the Hubspot ID of the company). I can see that both fields were set on the contact BUT there is not company association on the contact:

[RJ17]

It seems like you're encountering issues with company name matching when creating contacts in your system, especially when there are similar company names like "XYZ" and "XYZ Talent." To ensure contacts are associated with the correct company, you can follow these best practices:

1. **Use Unique Identifiers:** Instead of relying solely on company names, use unique identifiers like company IDs or custom fields to associate contacts with companies. This can help avoid ambiguity when there are similar company names.

2. **Data Validation:** Implement data validation checks when creating contacts. Verify if the entered company name exactly matches an existing company record. If not, prompt the user to select the correct company from a list or provide additional information to disambiguate similar names.

3. **Data Deduplication:** Regularly perform data deduplication on your company records. Merge or consolidate duplicate company entries with similar names to reduce confusion.

4. **Custom Fields:** Consider using custom fields or tags to provide more context about the company. For example, you could use a "Company Type" or "Industry" field to distinguish between "XYZ" and "XYZ Talent."

5. **Automated Processes:** Implement automation rules or workflows that update company associations based on predefined criteria. For example, you can set up a rule that checks if the company name contains "Talent" and, if so, updates the contact's Lifecycle Stage to "Customer."

6. **User Training:** Train your team to be aware of the naming conventions and data entry guidelines, emphasizing the importance of accurately associating contacts with the correct companies.

7. **Regular Audits:** Periodically review and audit your contact and company data to identify and correct any misassociations or inconsistencies.

By combining these best practices with a well-defined data management strategy, you can improve the accuracy of contact-to-company associations and minimize issues related to similar company names in your system.