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Contacts & Lead Management

Track potential customers from first inquiry to first site visit

Overview

Not every potential customer is ready to book straight away. Some call to ask about pricing, others fill out a contact form on your website, and a few are referred by existing clients. Check-in ARTISAN's contact management system helps you capture these leads, track where they are in your pipeline, and convert them into customers when they are ready to commit.

Adding a Contact

Navigate to Contacts in the sidebar to view your contact list. Click New contact to create a new lead.

Personal Information

Start by recording the basic details of the person reaching out to you:

  • First name -- The contact's first name.
  • Last name -- The contact's last name.
  • Email -- Their email address, useful for follow-up communication and sending quotes.
  • Phone -- A phone number where you can reach them.

Job Information

If the contact describes their project or required work during the inquiry, capture those details right away. This information will be used when converting the contact to a customer.

  • Job description -- A brief description of the work they need (e.g., "Bathroom replumb," "Consumer unit replacement," "Deck installation").
  • Job type -- Select from the available job types in the system (plumbing, electrical, carpentry, HVAC, etc.). This uses the same job type list as the rest of the application.
  • Job scope -- An indication of the scale or complexity of the work, if mentioned during the inquiry (e.g., "Single room," "Full property," "Commercial premises").

Site Visit Request

Track whether the contact is actively looking to schedule a visit:

  • Site visit request -- A toggle indicating whether the contact has specifically requested a site visit or assessment. When enabled, an additional field appears:
    • Preferred date and time -- The date and time the contact would prefer for their first visit. This is carried over when converting to a full customer and site visit record.
  • Preferred date -- If the contact mentioned a general preferred date (without a specific time), you can record it here.

Additional Context

  • "Came before" toggle -- Indicates whether this person has used your services in the past. This is useful for identifying returning leads who may not yet be in your digital customer records (for example, customers from before you started using Check-in ARTISAN).
  • Message -- A free-text field where you can record the content of their inquiry, any special requests, notes from a phone conversation, or context about how they found you.

Status

Every contact has a status that reflects where they are in your pipeline:

  • New -- The default status for freshly added contacts. No action has been taken yet.
  • Contacted -- You have reached out to the contact (returned their call, sent a quote, etc.) but they have not yet confirmed.
  • Converted -- The contact has been converted into a full customer record. This status is set automatically during the conversion process.

Website Contacts

Contacts submitted through your public business contact form are automatically added to this list with a Website source badge. Use the source filter to distinguish them from manually entered contacts. The separate "Contact Requests" page no longer exists -- all contacts, whether entered manually or submitted via your website, are managed from this single Contacts list.

Status Workflow

The contact status follows a clear progression, and each status is displayed with a color-coded badge for quick visual identification:

New (Blue Badge)

When a contact is first created, it receives the New status with a blue badge. This tells you and your team that this lead has not been touched yet and needs attention.

What to do: Review the contact's information, check their inquiry or message, and reach out to them.

Contacted (Yellow Badge)

After you have made initial contact, whether by phone, email, or in person, update the status to Contacted. The yellow badge indicates this lead is in progress.

What to do: Follow up if you have not heard back. Answer any remaining questions about the work or pricing. Try to schedule a site visit or assessment.

Converted (Green Badge)

When the contact becomes a customer, the status changes to Converted with a green badge. This happens automatically during the conversion process (described below). The green badge gives you a satisfying visual confirmation that the lead made it through your pipeline.

What to do: Nothing more on the contact side -- the person is now a full customer. Find them in your customer list to manage their site visits and records going forward.

Converting a Contact to a Customer

The conversion process is the most powerful feature of the contacts system. With a single action, Check-in ARTISAN transforms a contact into a fully set-up customer, complete with a job record and a site visit if applicable.

How to Convert

  1. Open the contact you want to convert.
  2. Click the Convert to customer action.
  3. Confirm the conversion.

What Happens Automatically

The conversion process performs several actions in sequence:

  1. Customer record creation -- A new customer is created in your system using the contact's first name, last name, email, and phone number.

  2. Job record creation -- If the contact has a job description filled in, Check-in ARTISAN automatically creates a job record linked to the new customer. The job type and scope information from the contact record are carried over.

  3. Site visit creation -- If the contact has a site visit datetime set (via the site visit request toggle), a site visit is automatically created for the new customer's job at the specified date and time.

  4. Status update -- The contact's status is automatically set to Converted and the green badge is applied.

Conversion Safeguards

To prevent duplicate records and data inconsistencies, Check-in ARTISAN enforces the following rules:

  • Already converted contacts cannot be converted again. If a contact's status is already "Converted," the convert action will be blocked. This prevents accidentally creating duplicate customer records.
  • The conversion is a one-way operation. Once converted, the contact record remains as a historical reference showing when and how the lead entered your pipeline.

After Conversion

Once a contact is converted:

  • The new customer appears in your customer list with all the information transferred from the contact.
  • If a job was created, it is already linked to the customer and ready for site visits.
  • If a site visit was created, it appears on your calendar at the specified date and time.
  • The contact record remains in your contacts list with the "Converted" status, providing a complete audit trail.

Searching and Filtering Contacts

As your contact list grows, you will need efficient ways to find specific leads.

Search

Use the search bar at the top of the contacts list to search by name, email, or phone number. The search works across all contact fields, so you can quickly find a lead even if you only remember part of their information.

Filtering by Status

The most useful filter is by status. Use it to:

  • Show only "New" contacts -- See all leads that need your initial attention. This is a great way to start your day: check for new inquiries and prioritize your outreach.
  • Show only "Contacted" contacts -- Review leads that are in progress. Follow up on anyone who has not responded.
  • Show only "Converted" contacts -- Review your conversion history. This can help you understand your lead-to-customer pipeline performance.

Best Practices

Capture Every Lead

Make it a habit to create a contact record for every inquiry, no matter how casual. A quick phone call asking about prices today could become a recurring maintenance contract tomorrow. If you do not record it, you will forget it.

Act Quickly on New Contacts

Leads go cold fast in a competitive trades market. Try to follow up on new contacts within 24 hours. The sooner you respond, the more likely the person is to book with you rather than calling the next contractor on their list.

Use the Message Field Generously

Write down everything the person told you during their inquiry. Did they mention the property is a listed building with access restrictions? That the job is urgent because of a leak? That they have already had two other quotes? These details show the customer you were listening and help you prepare a more accurate and competitive proposal.

Record Job Information Early

Even if you are not sure the contact will convert, record the job type and description if they mention it. This saves time during conversion and ensures the job record is complete from day one.

Review Your Pipeline Regularly

Set aside a few minutes each week to review your contacts list:

  • Are there "New" contacts that slipped through the cracks?
  • Are there "Contacted" leads that need a follow-up call?
  • What is your conversion rate? If many leads stall at "Contacted," consider whether your follow-up process or quoting approach needs improvement.

Do Not Delete Converted Contacts

Even though the customer record now exists, the contact record serves as a historical reference. It shows you when the lead first came in, what they asked about, and how long it took to convert them. This data is valuable for understanding your business growth and marketing effectiveness.

Example Workflow

Here is a typical lead management workflow in Check-in ARTISAN:

  1. Monday morning: A potential customer calls asking about the cost of replumbing their bathroom. You create a contact with their name, phone number, job description "Bathroom replumb," job type "Plumbing," and a message noting they asked about pricing and mentioned the bathroom has not been touched since the 1980s.

  2. Monday afternoon: You call them back with a ballpark estimate and offer to come and assess the job properly. You update the contact status to Contacted and add a note about the conversation and the figure you quoted.

  3. Tuesday: The customer calls back and asks you to come and have a look on Thursday at 9 AM. You update the contact with the site visit request toggle and set the preferred date and time to Thursday 09:00.

  4. Tuesday: You click Convert to customer. Check-in ARTISAN creates the customer record, creates the bathroom replumb job linked to the customer, and schedules Thursday's 9 AM assessment as a site visit. The contact status changes to Converted.

  5. Thursday: Your plumber arrives for the assessment. The customer is already fully set up in your system with all their details and the job is ready for notes and photos from the visit.

Summary

The contacts system in Check-in ARTISAN bridges the gap between a casual inquiry and a booked customer. By systematically capturing leads, tracking their progress through color-coded statuses, and using the one-click conversion process, you ensure that no potential customer falls through the cracks. Combined with the automatic creation of customer, job, and site visit records, the conversion process gets new customers into your workflow with minimal effort.

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