Start with one intake routine and one owner for the lead

This workflow usually sits with the owner, estimator, office admin, or sales coordinator who handles incoming enquiries. The lead may arrive from a phone call, a manual follow-up, or a public website form. In each case, the first job is the same: create one clear lead record that the rest of the business can trust.

Before you begin, have these basics ready where possible:

• the client name and best contact number
• an email address if the customer is likely to receive the quote digitally
• the site address and suburb
• the broad fence type or material the client is asking about
• any timing notes, access concerns, removal needs, or site visit requests already mentioned

Fencify works best when the lead stays as the first source record for the enquiry. The quote, any visual plan, later follow-up activity, and eventual project conversion all trace back to that lead.

Capture the enquiry so the lead is usable straight away

Fencify supports two practical intake paths.

Manual lead creation

The manual lead form is for phone calls, showroom walk-ins, call-backs, and any enquiry your team enters directly. It captures the client details first, then the site and scope basics. Full name and address anchor the record. Email and phone support quote delivery and follow-up. Fence type is chosen from the enabled lead fence types for your account, so the enquiry lines up with the products your business actually offers.

The notes area is worth using. Add timing expectations, a short summary of the requested work, or any early warning such as tight access, a steep block, or a damaged existing fence. When the form is saved this intake is stored with the source set to Manual, the lead status starts at New, and the lead opens into the full detail view.

Public website intake

When the public lead intake is connected to your website or an embedded form, Fencify creates the lead directly from the customer submission. These records arrive with the source set to Website and the lead status set to New. The core contact and address details land immediately, and the enquiry message is kept with the record so the office can review the customer wording before making contact.

Address lookup can also improve intake quality where it is available. Use the suggested address rather than free typing when possible, because a cleaner address helps with suburb visibility, later calendar scheduling, and getting the right site into the quote and project records.

Use the lead list to qualify the job instead of collecting loose notes

Once the enquiry exists, move into the lead list or kanban board and treat the lead as part of the active pipeline. Fencify gives you both a searchable list view and a drag-and-drop kanban view. By default, the active sales view focuses on open pipeline stages so your team can work the live opportunities first.

Use search and filters to keep the queue practical. The list can be searched by name, address, keyword, suburb, material type, phone, or source. The kanban board is useful when a small sales team wants a fast view of what still needs contact, what is booked for site, and which leads are close to quoting.

Book the site visit and make Calendar part of the workflow

As soon as a site inspection is needed, schedule it on the lead record. The visit date and time are saved against the lead and appear on Calendar as a site visit event. This gives the office and estimator a shared operational view rather than relying on a separate diary.

Calendar combines two event types in one place: lead site visits and project installations. For enquiry work, focus on the site visit side. The filters let your team view all work together or narrow the calendar to site visits only. Search helps when the day is busy and you need to find a job by name, suburb, or address.

If the appointment moves, the event can be dragged to a new date or time from the calendar itself. Fencify writes that update back to the lead visit field, so the schedule stays consistent between the lead page and Calendar. That makes the lead detail page the operational record, while Calendar becomes the weekly planning view.

A good habit is to shift the lead status to Site Visit Scheduled once the appointment is booked. That way the list, board, and calendar all tell the same story about where the enquiry sits.

Turn site findings into survey details the quote can use

The site visit turns a broad enquiry into a quote-ready job. On the lead record, the survey area is where the estimator captures the practical details that affect scope, labour, access, and price.

Use the survey to record the existing fence and the work conditions clearly:

• existing fence type and approximate height
• whether removal and disposal are required
• ground conditions such as Standard, Clay, or Rock
• slope conditions such as Level, Mild Slope, or Steep Slope
• site access conditions such as Standard, Tight, Through House, or Stairs
• additional labour surcharges that apply to this job
• estimator notes that explain the real site situation in plain language

This matters because Fencify stores the survey as structured lead data, and Quote Builder can read that same survey when the draft quote opens. That keeps pricing anchored to what was actually seen on site.

Use the general lead fields as well, especially material type and site conditions, if the customer changed direction during the visit. The lead detail page is the right place to sharpen the enquiry before the quote starts.

Check for duplicates before you create the quote

Duplicate leads are expensive because they split call history, site notes, and future quote records across two jobs that belong together. Fencify helps by scanning the lead for likely matches using contact and address clues such as email, phone, address, name, and suburb.

Run a duplicate scan once the core details are filled in. If matches appear, review the confidence score and the matched fields, then keep the lead that should remain the main record. When you merge, Fencify preserves the target lead and archives the source lead into it, keeping later quote history, visual planning work, and follow-up activity attached to one enquiry trail.

Do this before the draft quote is created wherever possible. A clean lead base means the quote, proposal, and later conversion to project can all point back to one canonical customer record.

Create the draft quote from the lead and move straight into Quote Builder

Once the lead is qualified, the visit is done or booked, and the survey is useful enough to price from, create the first quote from the lead. You can do this from the lead detail page or from the lead list action menu.

1. Open the relevant lead.
2. Choose the quote creation action.
3. Let Fencify create the draft quote and open Quote Builder immediately.
4. Update the lead status to Quoted when the enquiry has genuinely moved into quoting work.

Fencify creates the quote with its own quote number, a public identifier for the later client-facing flow, and a starting quote status of draft. It also records that the quote was created from the lead, then redirects you straight into Quote Builder.

Inside Quote Builder, the lead name and survey context come through with the draft quote. From there the estimator can add fence runs, use the selected model, add manual items where needed, and watch totals recalculate. If the job suits visual planning first, the builder also offers the path into Visual Builder and can bring mapped runs back into the quote.

Practical fencing example and the final pre-quote check

Take a common job: a homeowner submits a website enquiry for a Colorbond side boundary fence. The office opens the new website lead, calls the customer, confirms the address and access, books a Friday site visit, and updates the status to Site Visit Scheduled. After the visit, the estimator records that the old fence needs removal, the block has a mild slope, side access is tight, and one gate opening is required. A duplicate scan shows an earlier phone enquiry from the same client, so the office merges the records and keeps the most complete lead.

At that point the enquiry is ready for a draft quote. The estimator creates the quote from the kept lead, lands in Quote Builder, adds the fence runs and gate, checks the recalculated total, and keeps the lead status aligned with quoting.

Before you leave this workflow, make sure:

• the lead record has one clear source of truth for contact and site details
• the visit date is correct in both the lead and Calendar
• the survey notes are strong enough for someone else to understand the site without another phone call
• duplicate leads have been cleared where needed
• the quote was created from the right lead record
• the estimator is now working from the draft quote rather than adding more scope notes into scattered places

The next step inside Fencify is to finish the commercial build in Quote Builder, review the total and GST, and prepare the quote for sending once the scope is ready for the client.