Changing photography CRM while keeping your records and documents

To change CRM without losing your history, separate contacts, ongoing assignments and documents you need to keep. Start with the information needed for active work. Archives can stay organized separately: the priority is finding the commitments, payments and next action for each client.

Keep the client’s context, not just their email address

A contact list does not tell you that a couple still needs to choose album images or that a business has already paid part of an order. Yet those are the details you will need from day one in your new tool.

For every active assignment, gather the relevant contact details, accepted document, amounts received and next deadline. Add information that genuinely affects your work, such as the decision-maker or an agreed delivery date.

Divide your data into three groups 📁

• Active assignments: pending proposals, upcoming sessions, deliveries or payments to complete.
• Useful contacts: regular clients and people you will be following up with soon.
• Archives: documents and correspondence from completed assignments, organized so they remain accessible.

This separation avoids spending several days rebuilding closed records before you can answer a new inquiry. It also helps you choose a realistic transition date.

A couple getting married in two weeks takes priority over an old inquiry that went no further. That does not mean deleting your archives: you are distinguishing preservation from bringing them into your current tool.

Keep previously issued documents in their original form

Keep existing quotes, contracts and invoices with their reference numbers and files. Do not recreate them as new documents simply to populate a new interface.

Also retain the information explaining their status: a signature, payment received or accepted amendment. An invoice without its payment context leaves a question unanswered when you resume the follow-up.

Creating future documents is a separate matter. Before starting this in the new software, clarify the initial settings appropriate to your organization, including numbering and templates.

Decide where each assignment will continue

An almost-completed assignment can stay in the old tool until it closes. New inquiries can enter the new CRM from a clearly defined date.

Just avoid changing the same record in two places without a rule. For each assignment, a simple note should say where the current information is and where correspondence will continue.

For example, you have eighteen sessions in progress, three already delivered and fifteen to prepare. You finish the first three in the old service, then transfer contact details, documents and next actions for the other fifteen.

Import your contacts into Pelli without retyping them

In Pelli, open My clients and click Import. You can bring in your contacts from a CSV or Excel .xlsx file, with up to 5,000 rows per file.

Choose your file, check the recognized columns and adjust the field mapping where needed. The summary separates new contacts, existing contacts and rows that cannot be imported. Then confirm the contacts to add: you bring your client list into Pelli without retyping every record.

A CSV template is available in the import window to help you prepare your file. Importing sends no emails to contacts, so you can organize your client list before writing to them.

You then continue your work from Pelli client records, with their galleries, orders, quotes and invoices. The import brings in contacts; keep historical documents from your previous tool separately, as explained above.

Finish the transition with a straightforward check ✅

Choose a client with several assignments and another with a partial payment. Check that you can unambiguously find the correct document, amount received and next action.

Before cancelling the old service, actually open the exported files and check any access your clients still use. Plan what will happen to reminders, forms and links pointing to the old environment.

If you want to clarify what you expect from the new tool, our article on the role of a photography CRM complements this preparation.

Frequently asked questions about changing CRM

Which files can you import into Pelli?

Under My clients, the Import button accepts CSV and Excel .xlsx files with up to 5,000 rows per file. A CSV template is available to help prepare your contact list.

How can you check contacts before confirming the import?

After selecting the file, check the recognized columns and adjust their mapping to Pelli fields. The summary separates contacts to create, those already in your client list and rows that cannot be imported. You then confirm the addition; no emails are sent to contacts during the import.