Leads are the lifeblood of any home service business. Every phone call, form submission, and referral represents a potential job, and the faster you respond and the better you organize them, the more deals you close. This tutorial shows you how to add leads into Best ROI CRM, keep them organized, and move them through your pipeline from first contact to closed deal.
Before You Begin
Make sure you have completed Tutorial 1: Getting Started and configured your lead statuses and sources. Having those in place before you start adding leads ensures every record is properly categorized from the beginning.
Working with Leads
Add a Lead Manually
Click Leads in the sidebar, then click the Add Lead button in the top-right corner. A form will appear where you can enter the homeowner's details:
- Name — The homeowner's first and last name.
- Email — Their email address for follow-up communications.
- Phone — A primary phone number so your team can call or text.
- Address — The property address where the work would be performed.
- Source — Where this lead came from (Referral, Google Ads, etc.).
- Assigned To — The sales rep who will own this lead.
Fill in as much information as you have and click Save. The lead will be created with a default status of New and will appear in your leads list immediately.
Pro Tip: Even if you only have a name and phone number, add the lead right away. A partial record in the CRM is always better than a sticky note on your dashboard. You can fill in the rest of the details after your first conversation.
Understanding Lead Statuses
Every lead in Best ROI CRM has a status that tells you exactly where it stands in your sales process. The default statuses are:
- New — The lead just came in and has not been contacted yet.
- Contacted — You have reached out but have not scheduled an appointment or given a quote.
- Quoted — You have provided a price or proposal and are waiting for the homeowner's decision.
- Sold — The homeowner said yes and the job is booked.
- Lost — The lead did not convert, whether they went with a competitor, decided not to proceed, or stopped responding.
These statuses give your entire team a shared understanding of where every opportunity stands. You can customize them in Settings > Lead Statuses if your sales process has different stages.
Update Lead Information
Click on any lead in your list to open its detail page. From here you can edit any field: update the homeowner's contact information, change the assigned rep, add notes, or correct the source.
Click the Edit button next to any section to make changes, then click Save when you are done. All changes are saved instantly and visible to everyone on your team with access to that lead.
The lead detail page also shows a complete history of every change, so you always have a record of who updated what and when.
Add Interactions and Notes
Every time you communicate with a lead, log it. On the lead's detail page, scroll down to the Interactions section and click Add Interaction. Select the type of interaction:
- Phone Call — Record that you called or received a call, along with the outcome.
- Email — Log an email you sent or received.
- Text Message — Track SMS conversations.
- In-Person Visit — Note a site visit, estimate appointment, or door knock.
- Note — Add internal notes that only your team can see, such as property details or special instructions.
Add a description of what happened, and the interaction will appear on the lead's timeline in chronological order. This gives any team member who picks up the lead full context on everything that has happened so far.
Pro Tip: Log interactions immediately after they happen, even if it is just a one-line note like "Called, no answer, left voicemail." Consistent logging is what separates teams that close deals from teams that let leads slip through the cracks.
Move Leads Through the Pipeline
As your conversations progress, update the lead's status to reflect where it stands. On the lead detail page, click the Status dropdown and select the appropriate stage. For example, after you give a homeowner a quote, change the status from Contacted to Quoted.
Moving leads through the pipeline is important because it keeps your dashboard metrics accurate, helps managers see how the team is performing, and ensures no lead gets stuck in a stage for too long without follow-up.
If a lead goes cold, do not delete it. Instead, mark it as Lost and include a reason. This data is valuable for understanding why deals fall through and improving your close rate over time.
Use Filters and Search
As your lead list grows, you will need to find specific leads quickly. The leads page includes powerful filtering and search tools:
- Search — Type a name, phone number, email, or address to find matching leads instantly.
- Filter by Status — Show only leads in a specific pipeline stage, such as all Quoted leads that need follow-up.
- Filter by Source — See which leads came from a particular marketing channel.
- Filter by Assigned Rep — View leads assigned to a specific team member to check their workload.
- Date Range — Narrow results to leads created within a certain time period.
Combine multiple filters to drill down further. For example, you could find all Quoted leads from Google Ads in the last 30 days that are assigned to a specific rep. This kind of targeted view makes your daily follow-up routine much more efficient.
Pro Tip: Make it a habit to filter by "New" status at the start of each day. Speed to lead is everything in home services. The contractor who calls back within five minutes is far more likely to book the job than one who waits until tomorrow.
Next Steps
You now know how to add leads, keep them organized, and move them through your sales pipeline. The key to success is consistency: log every interaction, update statuses promptly, and use filters to stay on top of follow-ups.
Ready to bring leads in automatically? Head to Tutorial 3: How to Set Up Lead Capture Forms to learn how to create embeddable forms that feed leads straight into your CRM from your website.
