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Free setup kit · checklist

How to set up a CRM for a contractor

A CRM tracks leads, estimates, and follow-ups before a job is booked. If the field-service app already does that, do not add a second login this month.

Updated (America/New_York). A checklist, not a price check and not a call result.

Quick answer

Add a CRM when leads need a person and a date before a visit exists. Define what open means, who owns the next step, and the moment a lead becomes a job in the field system.

Checklist

  1. Step 1

    Decide whether you need a second system

    Read the CRM category intro against what your field-service app already stores. A second database helps only when the gap is the follow-up before the visit.

  2. Step 2

    Name where a lead comes from

    Phone, a form on your site, a neighbor, or a paid source. Paid sources have their own directory page at lead sources. You do not have to buy one to set the CRM up.

  3. Step 3

    Define open

    A lead is open until someone booked it, marked it lost, or set a dated next step. "I will call them back" with no day is not a status.

  4. Step 4

    Assign a person and a date

    Each open lead has an owner and a next date. The software cannot invent the follow-up you did not choose.

  5. Step 5

    Write the handoff into a job

    When the visit is booked, the customer and the address live on the field-service record, or the CRM is that record. Write which one, so the technician is not hunting through two apps. The field service checklist is the other half.

  6. Step 6

    On day 30, count your own pipeline

    Count open leads and how many have a next step. That figure comes from your account. This site does not publish a pipeline benchmark.

Pages to open with this

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FAQ

When does a contractor need a CRM besides field service software?

When leads need a follow-up before a job is booked and the field app is not where that follow-up lives. If one system already holds the lead and the job, keep one system.

What should a lead status mean?

Open means a person and a date are on it. Booked, lost, or a dated next step are the exits. A vague callback is not a status.

Will this kit pick a CRM for me?

No. The category page lists what we track, with published prices or a quote-only label. This checklist is the order of work after you choose.

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