Begin with the information you need before the phone call ends

This guide is for owners, estimators, office staff and anyone in your fencing business who creates or tidies leads before quoting starts. In Fencify, the lead is the working record for the enquiry, carrying the client details, property address, source, visit timing, survey detail and status that the rest of the job depends on.

Before you create the lead, have these basics ready:

• The client's full name and at least one reliable contact method.
• The full site address for the property that needs fencing.
• The broad fence type or service the client is asking about.
• Any immediate notes about timing, access, removals or special requests.

Fencify keeps the first entry deliberately lean. A manual lead starts with the core contact and site information, saves the source as Manual, and enters the pipeline with a New status.

Create the lead cleanly so the rest of the workflow stays simple

When you add the lead, focus on accuracy rather than quantity. Enter the client name exactly as your office will recognise it later. Add the email and phone number you expect to use for follow-up and proposal delivery. Enter the full property address so the estimator, scheduler and installer are all working from the same location record.

Choose the fence type that best matches the enquiry and use the message field for immediate context such as "replace old timber boundary", "pool compliance issue", "rear lane access" or "needs measure before owner returns from holiday". Once saved, the lead opens in the detailed record where the job can be developed properly.

Use the pipeline views to keep the enquiry moving

After the lead is created, keep an eye on it from the Leads area. Fencify gives you both a list view for search and detail review and a kanban board for stage-based pipeline management.

The lead statuses are practical operating markers rather than decoration. A new enquiry might move from New to Contacted, then to Site Visit Scheduled, then to Quoted or Follow Up. Once the commercial outcome is known, it can finish as Won, Lost or Won Partially.

Use the status that reflects the real stage of the job. That keeps your filters useful, helps the office identify ageing enquiries, and makes the dashboard and calendar more trustworthy. A lead left sitting in New after the team has already measured the site usually creates confusion later.

Book the site visit as soon as the timing is agreed

The next milestone is the site visit. Add the visit date and time to the lead when the appointment is real, then move the status to Site Visit Scheduled. Fencify stores that timing on the lead and surfaces it in the Calendar, which helps the sales and operations team see site inspections alongside project installation dates.

Once the visit timing is entered, the enquiry is easier to coordinate and reschedule. If the date changes, update the lead promptly so the calendar reflects the latest plan.

1. Confirm the visit with the client before setting the date.
2. Save the lead with the agreed date and time.
3. Review the status so the pipeline shows that the measure is booked.
4. Use the Calendar to spot clashes or gaps in the week.

By the time the estimator is heading to site, the lead should already tell the office who is being visited, where the property is and what broad type of fence is under discussion.

Turn the site inspection into quote-ready survey detail

After the visit, fill in the survey details on the lead rather than relying on memory or a separate notebook. Fencify stores this survey information with the enquiry so quoting decisions stay tied to what was actually seen on site.

The survey can capture the factors that usually change the price of a fencing job:

• Existing fence type and approximate fence height.
• Whether removal and disposal are required.
• Ground conditions such as standard soil, clay or rock.
• Slope and whether the site is level, mildly sloped or steep.
• Site access conditions, including tight access, stairs or more difficult entry points.
• Additional labour conditions that your business prices through labour rates.
• Estimator notes about boundaries, neighbours, clearances, obstacles and anything else that affects the build.

This is where the lead becomes genuinely useful for pricing. Ground and access details often feed labour surcharges, removal affects the scope, and the notes give the quote builder context that a plain address never can.

Run duplicate detection before the quote history starts branching

Before you create the quote, check whether the enquiry is already in Fencify. Duplicate leads usually appear when a client calls twice, fills in a website form after a phone conversation, or reopens an older job under a slightly different spelling. Fencify can scan for likely duplicates by comparing details such as email, phone, address, name and suburb.

If a potential match appears, decide which lead should survive as the main record. Merge early, while the enquiry is still in lead stage, so the quote history stays clean and any linked records stay attached to the surviving lead.

Know when the lead is ready for quote creation

A lead is quote-ready when the estimator can build a price without chasing basic facts. That does not mean every document is finished. It means the core sales record is clean enough for the quote builder to start with confidence.

Use this checklist before creating the quote:

• Contact name, phone, email and site address are correct.
• The visit has been scheduled or completed, and the lead status reflects reality.
• The likely fence type is selected.
• The survey includes the details that change materials, labour or scope.
• Any duplicate enquiry has been resolved.
• The notes explain anything unusual the office or estimator needs to remember.

Once those pieces are in place, create the quote from the lead so the client and site details stay linked. From there, the lead moves naturally into the quoting stage and becomes the reference point for later proposal follow-up, acceptance and project conversion.

Common early mistakes that slow the first quote

Most first-time issues come from process gaps. Watch for these patterns:

• Starting the quote before the address, fence type or survey notes are settled.
• Leaving the lead in New after the team has already contacted the client or booked the measure.
• Keeping duplicate enquiries active and then wondering which record owns the quote.
• Writing important site facts into a loose note instead of capturing the survey fields that affect labour and scope.
• Booking the visit verbally and forgetting to save the date in the lead and calendar flow.

Each of these creates rework later. If you fix them at lead stage, the quote builder, follow-up workflow and project conversion all become cleaner.

What happens next in Fencify

Once the lead is ready, the next operational step is to build and send the quote. That is where the measured job turns into fence runs, labour, pricing, GST, proposal documents and customer-facing acceptance.

Your next guide should be Start Here: Build and send your first fencing quote. If you need narrower help along the way, look for the quick guides on creating a lead manually, scheduling a site visit, completing lead survey details, detecting duplicate leads and merging duplicate leads.