Centralize 101: Best Practices for AEs
Last updated: September 5, 2026
Your quick-start guide to Centralize's Relationship GPS: mapping stakeholders, finding warm paths in, and building org charts that close deals.
Integrations
To log in, go to https://app.usecentralize.com/ and head over here to connect your integrations. Setup should take no more than 5 min!
Full walkthroughs if you need them: Install the Centralize Chrome Extension and Sync Your LinkedIn Connections article. Slack, Gmail, and Google Calendar are each a single click — just hit Connect and accept the permissions:
Chrome Extension: syncs your contacts from LinkedIn to Centralize & Salesforce. Pin it to Chrome so you have it handy!
LinkedIn: open the extension and click "Sync your Connections." Feel free to close the extension after — your 1st-degree connections upload automatically and refresh every 4 weeks.
Slack: notifies you on job changes, call prep, intro requests, phone numbers, etc.
Gmail: syncs your customer emails as touchpoints in Centralize.
Google Calendar: lets Centralize view upcoming events and create AI-generated call prep.
Top Workflows for AE’s
1. Understanding where you are: Stakeholder Map
How it works: Tracks all account engagement, warm connections, and opportunity contacts. The map is organized by function and seniority.
When to use: The first place you go when opening any account — before a call, before outreach, or before an account review.
Best practices:
Identify the gaps: an empty seniority tier (e.g., no VP) is your signal to go find that person.
If the map looks sparse, check that the account is activated before assuming there's no relationship there.
On large or multi-brand accounts, filter by domain/company first so you're judging real coverage, not noise from other subsidiaries.
2. Finding pathways into your accounts
2.1 Warm Connections
How it works: Pulls in your team's first-degree LinkedIn connections at an account, scored by how strong the relationship actually is.
When to use: Before any cold outreach — check for a warm path and make it part of how you kick off every prospecting session.
Best practices:
Don't skip a connection just because they're not ICP. They can't buy, but they can tell you who can and how the org actually works.
Set up a partner invitation link so advisers, customers, and partners can plug their networks in too, not just your team's.
Filter to "No requests yet" and sort by strength so you're not asking the same person twice.
2.2 Going outbound — Tactical: Suggested Contacts
How it works: Centralize recommends contacts based on persona (function + seniority) so you know who else to go after at the account.
When to use: Once you've worked the Stakeholder Map and Warm Connections and there's still a gap. This is your outbound list for people you haven't found a warm way to yet.
Best practices:
Use the filter icon to jump straight to the persona you're missing instead of scrolling through everyone.
Go back to the Stakeholder Map first. Know your gap, then use Suggested Contacts to fill it.
3. Org Chart
3.1 1-Off Mapping
How it works: Set who a contact reports to right from their profile, one at a time.
When to use: As you pick up reporting relationships in real time — like right after a call tells you who reports to who.
Pro tip: Got several contacts to update at once? Shift+click to select them and assign a manager in one shot instead of doing it one by one.
Links: Loom
3.2 Tactical: Drag and Drop
How it works: Grab a mapped contact in the Org Chart view and drop them under someone else to set the reporting line.
When to use: You're already looking at a chart with a lot of contacts mapped and it's faster to rearrange visually than open each profile.
Links: Loom
3.3 Tactical: Upload CSV
How it works: Import contacts and their reporting lines from a CSV instead of typing them in one by one.
When to use: You already have this built somewhere else — a champion's org chart, a spreadsheet from a prior deal — and there's no reason to redo it by hand.
Links: Loom
3.4 Tactical: Suggested Org Chart
How it works: Centralize guesses at likely reporting lines using seniority, function, job title, and anything picked up from your emails or calls. Shows up as dashed lines you can accept or dismiss.
When to use: Big accounts, 50+ mapped contacts, where mapping every line by hand isn't realistic. Take the suggestions that look right and fix the rest yourself.
3.5 Pro tip — Share Mode Send your Org Chart to your champion and let them fix it themselves. They know the real structure better than you ever will from the outside, and it's a much faster way to close gaps than trying to guess your way through it.
4. Meet you in your current flow — LinkedIn Chrome Extension
How it works: On any LinkedIn profile, click the Centralize extension and hit "Add Contact to Map." They're added right away while email and location fill in behind the scenes.
When to use: You're prospecting one person at a time on LinkedIn. Set their manager, sentiment, and buying role right there in the extension — no need to wait around for enrichment to finish.
Links: Centralize Knowledge Base: LinkedIn Chrome Extension Workflow