If you’re running a big sales team, you know that keeping everyone on the same page is hard enough without software getting in the way. Too many tools add friction, or worse, lock things down so tightly everyone’s tripping over permissions. If you’re using BetterContact to manage sales pipelines and customer data, this guide will help you set up your team for actual collaboration—without creating chaos or bottlenecks.
This is for sales leaders, admins, and ops folks who want clear, real-world advice on using BetterContact’s team and permission features. We’ll cover what works, what’s confusing, and what to skip. Let’s get you out of permission purgatory and back to selling.
Why Permissions Matter (and Where They Go Sideways)
Before you jump into settings, let’s be real: permissions aren’t about control for the sake of it. They’re about keeping your data safe, your team focused, and your workflow smooth. But if you get too granular or lock things down too tightly, you’ll slow everyone down—or worse, drive people to work outside the system.
Common pain points: - New reps can’t see the leads they need. - Managers have to bug admins for basic views. - Sensitive deals are visible to people who shouldn’t see them. - The permission matrix is so complex nobody wants to touch it.
BetterContact does a decent job of balancing simplicity and control, but it’s easy to overthink things. Here’s how to get the balance right.
Step 1: Map Out Your Team Structure Before Touching Settings
Don’t jump straight into the admin panel. Grab a notebook or a whiteboard and sketch out:
- Roles: Who are your admins, managers, SDRs, account execs, and support staff?
- Groups: Do you have regional teams, product specialists, or overlays?
- Exceptions: Any execs who need “view everything” access? Any silos for sensitive accounts?
Pro tip: Don’t make up roles just because the software lets you. Stick to what you actually need operationally. The more roles, the more headaches later.
Step 2: Set Up Teams and Groups in BetterContact
BetterContact lets you create teams (groups of users) and assign roles (what those users can do).
How to do it: 1. Go to the Admin section → Teams & Users. 2. Click “Create Team.” Name it clearly—avoid inside jokes or cryptic acronyms. 3. Add users to teams based on your sketch from Step 1. 4. Assign a default role for the team (e.g., “Sales Rep,” “Manager”).
What works:
- Teams can mirror your org chart or your sales regions. Just keep it simple.
- You can add people to multiple teams if they cover more than one area.
What doesn’t:
- Making a separate team for every single project. It just gets messy.
- Ignoring the default roles—if you don’t set these, people get confused about what they can see/do.
Step 3: Use Roles Wisely—Don’t Overcomplicate
Roles in BetterContact control what users can see and do: view, edit, delete, export, assign, etc.
Standard roles you’ll see: - Admin: Can do pretty much everything. Limit this to 1–2 people per large team. - Manager: Can see/edit team data, run reports, and assign leads. - Rep/User: Can handle their own leads, see team pipeline, but can’t mess with other people’s accounts.
Custom roles:
You can tweak or create roles, but don’t go nuts. If you find yourself creating a “Rep Who Can See but Not Edit North America SMB Deals Unless It’s Q4” role, take a breath. You’re making life harder for yourself.
Pro tip:
Set up a “Read-Only” role for training or auditing. It helps new hires ramp up without risking accidental edits.
Step 4: Set Record-Level Access (But Don’t Micro-Manage)
BetterContact lets you control who sees what at the record (deal/contact) level.
Best practices: - Default to team-based access: If someone’s on the team, they see that team’s records. - Use private records only for truly sensitive accounts (e.g., exec deals, M&A). - Resist the urge to set up tons of custom sharing rules unless you have a compliance reason.
What to ignore:
- Don’t bother restricting everything “just in case.” You’ll spend more time unlocking records for people than protecting anything valuable.
Step 5: Use Permission Templates for Faster Onboarding
For large teams, onboarding is a pain if you’re clicking checkboxes for each new rep.
How to speed this up: - Set up permission templates for each role (e.g., “New SDR,” “Seasoned AE,” “Regional Manager”). - When you add a new user, just apply the template. Done.
Bonus:
If you promote or transfer someone, you can just swap their template instead of redoing everything by hand.
Step 6: Audit Permissions Regularly (But Don’t Obsess)
Once a quarter—or after a big hiring wave—run a quick review:
- Who has admin rights? (Too many cooks spoil the broth.)
- Are there ex-employees or contractors still lurking?
- Are any reps “locked out” of deals they actually need?
BetterContact’s audit logs are decent. Use them if you suspect someone’s poking around where they shouldn’t.
Step 7: Use Collaboration Tools—But Set Expectations
BetterContact has built-in @mentions, notes, and shared dashboards.
What works: - Encourage your team to use @mentions instead of email for deal updates. - Use shared dashboards for pipeline reviews, not for everything under the sun.
What doesn’t: - Expecting chat and notes to replace all communication. People will still Slack each other. - Letting dashboards get cluttered with vanity metrics nobody looks at.
Honest Pros and Cons of BetterContact’s Team Features
The good: - Easy to set up basic teams and roles. - Decent bulk actions for onboarding/offboarding. - Record-level control is there if you need it.
The bad: - Not as flexible as some enterprise CRMs if you want super-fine-grained control. - Can get confusing if you have too many custom roles or sharing rules. - Collaboration tools are solid, but not a Slack replacement (and that’s fine).
Common Permission Pitfalls to Avoid
- Giving everyone admin: Don’t do it. Only trust folks who know what they’re doing.
- Ignoring cleanup: Former employees and test accounts pile up fast. Clean house regularly.
- Overengineering: If you need a spreadsheet to explain your permission setup, it’s too complicated.
Tips for Keeping Things Smooth
- Document your basic roles and team setup in a shared doc. Avoid tribal knowledge.
- Train managers to handle basic permission tweaks so you’re not the bottleneck.
- Review your setup after major org changes (mergers, new lines of business, etc.)
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate When Needed
Permission setups should help your team sell more, not slow them down. Start with the basics, avoid the urge to micromanage, and only add complexity when you’ve actually hit a wall. If you’re not sure, ask your team—odds are they’ll tell you what’s getting in their way.
BetterContact has the tools you need, but you don’t need to use all of them at once. Start simple, tweak as your team grows, and save your energy for deals, not endless admin work.