From lead to customer

This page describes the commercial journey from a new request to a customer with a first scheduled intervention. For work at an existing customer, see From quotation to invoice.

What you use this for

• Following a request step by step until it becomes a customer.
• Knowing which follow-up reminders run automatically, and when.
• Turning an accepted quotation into contract, subscription, project and invoice.
• Turning a request into a customer with sites and assets.

Who can use it

Commercial managers and planners.

Prerequisites: Service CRM in use, and the follow-up rules switched on in the Automation Hub.

The flow

Lead ─▶ First contact ─▶ Demo / visit ─▶ Proposal ─▶ Subscription ─▶ Customer
  │                                          │                          │
intake                       follow-up after 2/5/10 days    first intervention
(website, advertising)

The steps

1. The lead arrives. Via a form on your website, an advert, a phone call or an email. Forms and adverts arrive automatically in Service CRM — without anyone retyping anything.

2. Assignment and first contact. The lead gets an owner. If it sits for more than a day, a reminder follows.

3. Qualify. Is there a real need, a budget and a decision maker? Note the sector, the asset and whether there is interest in a maintenance contract.

4. Demo or visit. You book an appointment; it appears in the calendar. Beforehand you get a preparation checklist.

5. Send the proposal. You draw up the quotation in Sales and send it.

6. Follow up. After 2, 5 and 10 days a reminder fires automatically as long as nothing has been signed.

7. Confirmation. On acceptance, the contract, the subscription, the project and the setup invoice are prepared.

8. Customer. The prospect becomes a real customer with sites and assets, and the first intervention is scheduled.

The pipeline behind it

The eight stages of Service CRM follow this flow:

New ─▶ To Call ─▶ Called ─▶ Appointment Booked ─▶ Qualified
                                                      │
              Done ◀── Intervention Planned ◀── Proposal Sent

What runs automatically

These rules come from the Automation Hub:

Rule	When
Lead intake with assignment and first contact	On arrival
Reminder for a lead idle more than 24 h	Daily
Qualified → suggest a demo	On stage change
Demo planned → preparation checklist	On booking
Demo done → send the proposal	After the demo
Proposal follow-up after 2, 5 and 10 days	As long as nothing is signed
Quotation confirmed → contract, subscription, project and invoice	On confirmation
Quotation cancelled → mark lead lost	On cancellation
Setup invoice paid → activate the subscription	On payment

Reminders, not decisions

The commercial rules create tasks and reminders. They don’t send quotations or close contracts themselves. You decide; the system makes sure you don’t forget.

Best practices

• Respond to a website form within the hour. Whoever answers first wins disproportionately often.
• Note the sector. After six months you will know where you are strong.
• Always ask about a maintenance contract. Recurring revenue is worth more than a one-off job.
• Convert leads through the buttons in Service CRM, so the customer’s origin stays on record.
• Note the reason on a lost lead. That is your only source of learning.

Troubleshooting

Can a lead arrive twice? No. Duplicate submissions of the same form are recognised and merged.

What if a prospect is already a customer? Attach the lead to the existing customer rather than creating a second one.

Do I have to switch on all the automations? No. Start with intake and the follow-up reminders — that is the biggest effect.

Does a subscription become active automatically? Only after the setup invoice has been paid.

Next step

• Service CRM — the pipeline and the lead fields
• Automation Hub — the follow-up rules
• Sales — quotations and orders
• From quotation to invoice — for existing customers
• The customer → asset → invoice chain — what follows
• Customer File 360°