How quickly should I claim a new lead?

The faster the better, ideally within minutes. Speed to first contact is the biggest single factor in winning the job. WorkZen shows how long each lead has been waiting and escalates the severity as the clock runs, using thresholds you set in Lead Settings.

What's the difference between a lead and a client in WorkZen?

A lead is a potential client who has expressed interest but hasn't committed yet. When they commit, you convert the lead; WorkZen creates the client and moves the lead's estimates, visits, comments, and files onto it.

Can I track where my leads are coming from?

Yes. Every lead carries a source (widget, WordPress form, booking, manual entry) plus UTM campaign data when it arrives from the web, so you can see which marketing channels actually produce work.

What happens to the lead data when I convert to a client?

Contact details carry over, the lead's address becomes the client's "Main Location" property, and every estimate, visit, comment, and file moves to the new client record. The lead stays behind as a Converted record linked to the client.

Can I assign leads to specific team members?

Yes. Team members claim leads to take ownership, and anyone with the Manage Leads permission can reassign a lead from its Actions menu. Ownership is visible on the lead, so it is never in question.

How do I handle leads that don't convert?

Archive them. Archiving preserves the lead and its history without deleting anything, keeps it out of your active pipeline, and you can unarchive it if the person comes back next season.

Does WorkZen notify the team when new leads arrive?

Yes. External leads trigger a high-priority "New Lead Received" notification, booking requests trigger "New Booking Request", and manual entries notify teammates with lead access. Claims and conversions are announced too.

Leads: From Contact to Payment

In the service business world, there's an old saying: "A lead ignored is a competitor's gift." Every phone call, form submission, and referral represents potential revenue, but only if you handle it right. WorkZen turns the chaos of juggling inquiries into one workflow that runs from first contact to final payment. This guide is the map; each stage links to the hands-on article.

Stage 1: Capture. Every door into the pipeline

Leads reach WorkZen through five doors, and they all land in the same list:

Source	How it arrives
Website widget	Your site's floating lead form submits straight into WorkZen
WordPress forms	The WorkZen connector forwards submissions from a dozen form plugins, including Contact Form 7, WPForms, and Elementor
Booking requests	Visitors request a visit date and time; the lead arrives with the requested slot attached
Phone and AI receptionist	Calls answered by your AI receptionist become leads complete with the caller's request
Manual entry	Walk-ins, referrals, and napkin numbers, typed in by your team

Web leads carry their source and UTM campaign data automatically, so "which marketing actually pays for itself" stops being a guess. WorkZen also checks new arrivals against existing leads and clients and flags potential duplicates for merging.

Stage 2: Claim. Ownership in one click

The moment a lead arrives, the team is notified and the lead appears in the dashboard's New Leads module. Someone clicks Claim Lead, the status flips from New to Assigned, and the race clock stops: WorkZen records exactly how long the lead waited.

Unclaimed leads escalate visually through low, medium, high, and critical severity based on thresholds you control in Lead Settings. You can even require claiming before a lead's contact details are visible, which turns "someone should call them" into "I am calling them". The full mechanics, including reassignment, are in Claim and manage leads.

Stage 3: Work the deal

A claimed lead is a workspace. From the lead's detail page you can:

Message or call the contact, with the outreach logged automatically.
Schedule visits for on-site assessments.
Create and send estimates directly from the lead's Finance tab.
Attach files and photos, and keep the running story in comments, so anyone who picks up the phone has full context.

For a visual pipeline, drag your open leads across a Lead Board: custom kanban columns like "To contact", "Estimate sent", and "Negotiating" that show at a glance where every deal stands and where they pile up.

Stage 4: Convert. The golden moment

When the lead commits, convert them to a client. WorkZen creates the client, turns the lead's address into the client's first property, and moves every estimate, visit, comment, and file onto the new record. The lead itself remains, marked Converted and linked to the client, so revenue stays traceable all the way back to the original source.

Stage 5: From client to cash

Now you're in familiar territory: create the job, dispatch, complete the work, then invoice and record the payment, all inside the same system that caught the original form submission. When you can trace a paid invoice back to the ad campaign that produced the lead, marketing budget conversations get very short.

The habits that make it work

Speed wins. Make claiming within minutes a team norm; the severity colors make slipping visible.
Write everything down. The note from the first call ("mentioned they're selling next year") is gold two jobs later.
Never let a lead float unclaimed. The most dangerous lead is the one everyone assumes someone else took.
Don't convert early. Wait for a real commitment; premature conversions flatter your metrics and clutter your client list.
Archive, don't delete. A "no" today is a returning searcher next season, with their whole history intact.