After this, you can make sure every lead you get lands on the screen your team actually uses.
Why it matters
"Delivered" just means the lead landed somewhere. Maybe in software nobody's opened since the free trial. A lead that arrives perfectly in a place nobody checks is still lost, just with extra steps.
These are the four questions we ask before we send a customer one lead. You can ask the same ones of anybody who sends you leads: a lead source, an agency, a call center, even your own website form.
The steps
- Find out where your team works all day. Not where they're supposed to. Ask your office manager which screen is open from the first call to close: the CRM, a calendar, a shared inbox, the phone.
- Answer the other three questions. Who does the next thing when a lead comes in? Which calendar gets the appointment? How does the result get back to whoever sent the lead? Write the answers in one place (the box below).
- Point the lead at that screen. The lead and the appointment should show up where the team already looks. Not in a separate portal with a password nobody remembers.
- If your tool can't take it, talk it through. There may be another route, or there may not. Either way, "first, replace everything you use" is quite an onboarding email. Don't tear out a setup your team runs on just to fit one lead source.
- Run one sample appointment through. Fake name, fake address, labeled TEST. Watch where it lands, who gets it, which calendar it's on, and whether a test result makes it back. Then delete it so nobody calls Mr. Test.
Copy this
FOUR QUESTIONS BEFORE THE FIRST LEAD 1. Where does our team actually work all day? Screen / app: ______________________ 2. Who does the next thing when a lead comes in? Role: ______________ Next step: ______________ 3. Which calendar gets the appointment? Calendar: ______________________ 4. How does the result get back to whoever sent the lead? (showed, no-show, sold, not sold) How: ______________ Who updates it: __________ SAMPLE APPOINTMENT (labeled TEST) [ ] It showed up on the screen from question 1 [ ] The person from question 2 got it [ ] It's on the calendar from question 3, right day and time [ ] A test result made it back the way question 4 says [ ] Deleted the TEST record afterward
Example (made up)
Harbor Plumbing, a fictional shop, starts taking appointments from a new lead source. Their office manager runs the whole day from the CRM's calendar view. The lead source's default setup is its own web portal plus an email alert.
They fill in the box. Question 1: the CRM calendar. Question 2: the office manager calls to confirm. Question 3: the "Estimates" calendar. Question 4: the office manager updates a result field after each visit, and that goes back to the lead source.
Then they run the sample appointment. It shows up in the CRM, but on the owner's personal calendar instead of "Estimates." Nobody would have noticed until a customer was standing at the door wondering where the plumber was. They fix the setting, run it again, and this time it lands right where the office manager looks.
Mistakes to avoid
- Taking "it was delivered" as proof. Delivered where, and to whom?
- Picking the connection before you know where the team works.
- Treating a backup email as the system. It's a backstop, not where leads live.
- Skipping the sample appointment because the setup looks right on paper.
A lead delivered perfectly to a tab nobody opens is just losing it with extra steps.
