I realize there is a place to put phone number, email, etc. What I am looking for from QuickBooks is for there to be a Customer Number field, Account Number field or Reference Number field, whatever you want to call it. I want a dedicated field to add an assigned reference number to customers instead of adding a number to the front of the customer name as you suggest. I came across many workarounds, but ideally it wouldn't be that complicated.

When working with a CRM, or other services having a customer number helps streamline integration.