A software company
Saltmere
Saltmere sells one piece of software to about fifteen firms, and the people who use it ask it questions all day.
The customer is a firm, not a person. Plans and seats instead of an order book, and product activity instead of a visit.
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The pages and tabs it has
Saltmere opens on Accounts. It has 7 of the 13 rooms Bisbe can put in a Customers book; the other 6 are not there at all — not greyed out, not teased.
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What needs you
Time-bound. These are decisions and commitments, not reference.
- ◇ not in this template
Today
There is no separate what-needs-you screen. Opening Contacts lands straight on the customer firms, because that table IS the work.
- ◉ in this template
Queue · Customers
The same Queue as the rail, showing Customers only. Nothing here has been sent.
- ◉ in this template
Tasks
What you said you would do, and by when.
Who you deal with
One noun, two lenses — the record, and the people on it.
- ◉ in this template
Accounts
Every firm using your product, and what moved since you last looked.
- ◉ in this template
People
The people at those firms, and what they are asking.
- ◇ not in this template
Health
How a firm is doing reads as its evidence — seats in use, asks open, days since anyone signed in — never a number somebody typed in by hand.
What you sell
The money, at three altitudes.
- ◇ not in this template
Catalog & stock
Saltmere sells software, not stock, so there is no catalogue. What each firm can reach is its plan.
- ◇ not in this template
Quotes and orders
There is no order book. A firm is on a plan with a renewal date, and that lives on its record.
- ◇ not in this template
Deals
Nothing is quoted line by line here. What is worth watching is which firms are on a trial and which have gone quiet.
The record
The paper trail and the plumbing. Rarely opened; the reason to trust the rest.
- ◇ not in this template
Visits
Nobody drives to a customer. The equivalent motion is reaching out when the product says something changed — a trial ending, sign-ins stopping.
- ◉ in this template
Activity
What was done, by whom — including what the app did on your behalf.
- ◉ in this template
Wiring · Contacts
Which of your own systems are connected, and which numbers are still the sample's.
- ◉ in this template
Settings
Who you are signed in as, and what this account can reach.
The words it uses
Every line below is read straight out of the register the app resolves against — change what a firm is called in the product and this page changes with it. 95 of these are set per template; these are the ones worth reading side by side.
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| The section in the rail | Accounts |
|---|---|
| One record, on its own page | Firm |
| The counted plural | firms |
| The person who speaks for it | Main contact |
| The control that makes a new one | New firm |
| The sentence under the heading | Every firm on your product, how each one is actually using it, and what they are asking. |
|---|---|
| What the search box says | Search a firm or a person |
| The last-thing-that-happened column | Last activity |
| …and what that column says when nothing has | Nothing yet |
| The how-are-they-doing column | How they are doing |
| The place column | Where |
| The who-looks-after-it column | Owner |
| Day one, before anything is added | No firms yet |
| …and what it tells you to do about it | Add the first firm using your product. What each one is doing, and what they are asking, shows up against the record. |
| The headline of the screen you land on | Accounts |
|---|---|
| What the find box says | Find a firm or a person |
| When nothing needs a decision | Nothing is waiting on you right now. |
| The heading over the ones that have drifted | Gone quiet |
| The control on each of those rows | Open the account |
| The who-next strip | Worth a look |
| The last-time-you-met block | Last time you spoke |
|---|---|
| …when there has not been one | No conversation written up here yet |
| The things-outstanding block | Open asks |
| The rhythm row on a person | Activity |
| The get-ready label | Before you get in touch |
| The way into the record from a person | Open the account |
| The other people alongside them | Others at this firm |
| Where a person sits | Where they work |
| Putting it away | Archiving this account |
| The people section | People |
|---|---|
| The sentence under it | The people at the firms that use this — who they are, and where they work. |
| What their job column is called | Their role |
| When nobody has written down how to reach them | directly. For anyone using the product, their sign-up email fills this in. |
What stands down
A template is not a rename. These are the eight pieces of machinery a Customers book can carry, and whether Saltmere carries them at all. Every mark is a shape and a word — no colour means anything on this page.
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| Selling — a catalogue, quotes and orders, deals, and visits out to a customer | ◇ stands down |
|---|---|
| The trade line on a person — which kind of place they are, which territory, which rep | ◇ stands down |
| A calendar rhythm — “due every N days”, and the rota that comes with it | ◇ stands down |
| A how-they-are-doing score somebody types in by hand | ◇ stands down |
| The footer banners — “Before you call”, “Starting a new list” | ◇ stands down |
| A hand-kept issue list running alongside the real ask thread | ◇ stands down |
| A standing panel for archiving, for a once-ever action | ◇ stands down |
| The “nothing is connected yet” strip, on a work surface | ◇ stands down |
Saltmere is a made-up company and nobody on these pages is a real person. Nothing here writes and there is nothing to sign into. A walkable world for this template has not been built yet — what you can read here is the template itself: its pages, its words, and what it does without.