Before we dive in, know that if you don’t customize anything right now, no worries – everything you set up in the past will continue to work! But, booking season is coming in hot, so take the time to set yourself up for your best one yet with these powerful new features!
Updates to Lead Settings
What are they for: We’ve added new setting options to Leads that will help you keep track of your lead statuses as well as collect information about them. When you set up these new settings, they will appear in both the Lead Manager and Lead Record. To update your Lead Settings, click Settings in the main menu you see when on your Planner Dashboard and then on Leads in the sub menu. You will land on the Lead Settings tab where you will see the settings you can adjust:
- Default Lead Assignment Team - This is a new option! Click on the gold Manage Default Lead Team button to designate which members of your organization should be automatically assigned to new leads. (It is likely that the people you select here will be the same as the next option.)
- Incoming Lead Notifications – This option has been moved from it’s old location in order to better organize our tools. Click on the gold Manage Notifications button to designate which members of your organization should receive notifications about new lead inquiries.
- Lead Sources - This option has been moved from its old location in order to better organize our tools. Click on the gold Manage Lead Sources button to add or edit referral sources that you would like to track in your business metrics. (Note: You can delete a Lead Source from showing in your Lead Contact Form but it will not be deleted from this list in order to make sure that you can accurately track your metrics in the future. Instead, it will appear with a strike though.)
- Service Types - This option has been moved from its old location in order to better organize our tools. Click the gold Manage Service Types button to add or edit the services potential clients can choose from when filling out your Lead Contact Form.
- Reasons a Lead Didn’t Book Your Services - This option has been moved from its old location in order to better organize our tools. Click on the gold Manage Lead Reasons button to add or edit options for you and your team to select when a lead does not book with you.
Customize the Status Options for Your Booking Process
Now when you click into your Lead Manager, you can get an at-a-glance look at where you are in the booking process with leads according to status. And, though the system defaults to having the following categories, you can edit, add, delete, and rearrange them to suit your needs:
- New
- Followed Up
- Consultation Scheduled
- Proposal Sent
- Proposal Accepted
- Contract Sent
- Contract Accepted
- Revision Requested
- Booked
- Cold
- Lost
To add a status, click on the gold Add New Status button. A new box will appear below and you can click on the “Add Status Name” to label it what you want. To edit a status, simply hover over the square and a yellow highlighted area will appear over anything you can click into and rename. To delete a status, hover over the box and a gold trash can icon will appear in the lower left corner. Simply click it to delete. Please note that “New,” “Booked,” and “Lost” cannot be deleted. To rearrange statuses, simply drag and drop the boxes. Please note that “New” will always appear in the first position and “Lost” will always appear in the last position.
Creating Custom Lead Fields
What they are for: Think of these fields as your sales call sheet. When you add Custom Fields under this tab, they will appear within a Lead Record, where you or whomever is assigned to the lead can fill out the form. In addition, any fields you add to this tab can be pulled into your customized Lead Contact Form (more on that in a bit). To add a Custom Lead Field, click Settings in the main menu of your Planner Dashboard, then click on Leads in the sub menu, and lastly, click on the Custom Fields tab that you see in the short menu on the left side of your screen. Add your first Custom Field by clicking the gold Add Custom Field at Top button. A modal will open where you can choose what type of field you would like to add. The options are:
- Short text field
- Text box
- Dropdown
- Choose one
- Multiple choice
- Date select
- Yes/No
Select the type of field you would like to add and customize it with your questions and answer options.
Creating Custom Lead Contact Forms
What they are for: Now you can fully customize your Lead Contact Form as well as create multiple versions! This is perfect for those of you who offer multiple services and need to ask different questions to help qualify leads who are contacting you for different reasons.
To set up a custom Lead Contact Form, click on Settings from your Planner Dashboard, then Leads, and then Contact Forms in the left side menu. Click on the gold Add Lead Contact Form button and a modal will appear asking for you to give the new form a name. Enter it in the box and click Create Lead Contact Form to create it. You will be taken to a new screen where you’ll configure your form. Start by unchecking the box next to “Use Default Form.” Then, decide whether you want your logo to show (if you are putting this form on a page of your website where your logo already is and think it would clutter the look of the page, you can uncheck the box next to “Show Default Branding Header”). Enter a custom welcome message if you want one (this can also be more instructional for people filling out the form). Write a thank you message and decide if you want an auto-responder to go out. To build the form, you can start by editing/deleting any of the default fields. To add new fields or format options, click on the “Add Field or Row at Top” button and select from the options. (Just like on the Fields Form, the button will add the field to the top of the list; if you want to add a field in between others, click on the gold + that appears when you hover.) Your options are:
- Image/Photo
- Row with 2 columns
- Row with 3 columns
- Row with 4 columns
- Text block
- Code block/HTML Embed
- Company name
- Website
- Role
- Lead source
- Service type
- Event date
- Venue name
- Venue location
- Guest count
- Budget
- Plus, any custom fields you set up in the Custom Fields tab
Build out each of your Lead Contact Forms with the questions and format you would like! And, get creative because now you can add things like images and columns.
A few things to note:
- You can add placeholder text to help give potential clients instruction on what to put in the field
- You can mark fields as required if you’d like
- You can edit the copy on the gold button your leads will click to submit
When you are finished building out your Lead Contact Form, scroll back up to the top of the page and click on the box next to “Publish Page.” When you do, you’ll get both a URL that you can link or an embed code to add to your website.
Updates to the Lead Manager
Now when you are in your Lead Manager, you’ll have an at-a-glance view of how many leads you have at each stage of your booking or sales process. You’ll see each of your lead statuses across the top of your screen as well as a number that indicates how many leads fall under that status. When you hover your cursor over the status boxes, you can scroll left and right to access them all. Plus, when you click on one, it will filter the list you see on your dashboard to include just those in that category. When you click into a Lead Record, you’ll also see the Lead Fields you built out under Lead Settings. Have this window open when you are on sales calls so you can quickly enter in your notes as you move through the call with your potential client.
And, we’ve added a new Lead Checklist! Use this new section to create and assign tasks related to your booking process to yourself or team members. This functions just like the Checklist within a project, so you can add assignments, due dates, reminders as well as add comments!
Lastly, now you’re able to see client activity in the Activity Log. When you send documents, quotes or invoices, now you can see if and when the recipient viewed the docs without having to click into the actual document you sent!
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