Creating a lead

Most leads arrive on their own through a web form or a Meta ad. This is for the ones that don't: the phone call, the referral from a neighbour, the person who flagged down your van.

1. New Lead

From the Leads page, click New Lead at the top right.

A panel opens with the lead form.

2 to 5. Who they are

2. First Name is the only required field, so you can capture someone mid-phone-call and fill the rest in later.

3. Last Name is optional but worth it once you have a few dozen leads.

4. Email is where an estimate would go if you quote them.

5. Phone is where the follow-up text goes. For most lead sources this is the field that actually gets used, because leads answer texts and ignore email.

6 and 7. What they want and what it's worth

6. Service Type is free text with a hint reading "e.g. Window Cleaning, Lawn Care". Write what they asked for in their words.

7. Estimated value takes a number. This is your rough guess at job size, and it's what makes the pipeline totals mean anything. A board full of leads with no value tells you nothing about whether you're going to have a good month.

Guess if you have to. A rough number beats a blank.

8. Address

Autocompletes as you type, and fills city, state and ZIP when you pick a suggestion.

Worth entering even at the lead stage, because it puts the lead on the Map. If you're already going to be in that neighbourhood on Thursday, that's useful to know before you book the estimate.

9. Notes and voice memo

Add a note takes anything you learned on the call: what they complained about, when they're home, what the last company charged.

Record voice memo does the same thing by voice, which is the realistic option when you're taking the call in a truck.

10. Create Lead

The lead lands in the first column of your pipeline, showing name, phone, stage and how long it's been sitting there.

Tips and gotchas

• Estimated value is what makes the board useful. Skip it and your pipeline total reads zero.
• The age timer starts now. Cards show how long they've been in a stage, which is how you spot leads going cold.
• Address early. It costs nothing and it puts them on the map.
• Only first name is required, so it's easy to create a lead you can't contact. Get the phone number.

Next up: Pipelines and stages