Getting started with the CRM

In this article, you'll learn which things are worth setting up in your first week. Once they're done, the jobs, estimates and invoices you make after that come out right without extra work.

You can do them in any order, and none of them takes long. Each section links to a full article if you want more detail. Want the tour first? Read Find your way around the CRM.

To open Settings:

  1. At the bottom of the menu on the left, click the gear icon.
  2. The Settings list slides open above it, sorted into boxes: General, Jobs & leads, Money, Phone & booking, Data, Users & roles and Account.
Opening Settings from the menu
Note: You only see the gear if your role has access to account settings, and you only see the pages your role allows. If it's missing, ask the account owner. On a phone-sized screen the gear sits in the menu's footer, between Account and Sign out.

Check your account

Your company name and logo sit at the top of the menu. To see who you're signed in as, open Settings and, under Account, click Account. It lists your Name, Email, Company and Role.

More in How to customize your account settings.

Set your job types and statuses

Job types are the kinds of work you do. Statuses are the stages a job moves through.

Job types

  1. Open Settings and, under Jobs & leads, click Job types.
  2. Type a name in the New job type box and click Add.
  3. Use the Review when Done switch on each type to decide whether marking that kind of job Done asks the customer for a review.
The Job types page, with the Review when Done switch on each type
The Job types page, with the Review when Done switch on each type

Statuses

  1. Under Jobs & leads, click Statuses.
  2. To add a status, type its name in the New status box and click Add.
  3. To split a status further, click + Sub-status on its row, type a name and click Add.

More in How to add job types and How to create sub-statuses.

Set your sales tax rate

  1. Open Settings and, under Money, click Sales tax.
  2. Type your rate in Sales tax rate (%) and click Save. If you don't collect tax, tick We don't charge sales tax instead.

More in How to set your sales tax rate.

Build your price book

The price book holds the items and services you add to estimates and invoices, so you're not typing prices from memory.

  1. In the menu, click Price book.
  2. On the Items & products tab, click Add New to create an item or service.
  3. To sort items into groups, open the Item categories tab and click Add new.

More in How to create items and services.

Add your team

  1. Open Settings and, under Users & roles, click Team management. (Team in the main menu opens the same page.)
  2. Click Add New.
  3. Fill in the Add team member form, then click Invite user. The invitation goes out by text and email.

More in How to add team members.

Bring in your clients

You don't have to add clients before you start. A new client can be made from the job or lead form, or on its own from the + button at the top of the menu with New client. If your list lives in a spreadsheet or another program, import it as a CSV file instead.

  1. Open Settings and, under Data, click Import clients.
  2. Click Choose CSV file and pick your file. It reads columns like First Name, Last Name (or one Name column), Company, Email and Phone.
  3. Check the preview. It tells you how many rows are ready and shows the first few.
  4. Click the import button. It shows the count, like Import 120 clients.
Tip: Anyone whose email or phone number is already in the CRM is skipped, never overwritten. So running the same file twice won't make duplicates.

More in Importing your clients and How to add new clients.

Connect Stripe to take card payments

Card payments go through your own Stripe account, and the money lands in your bank.

  1. Open Settings and, under Money, click Payments.
  2. Click Connect Stripe. The button reads Opening Stripe… for a few seconds while your account is set up.
  3. Fill out Stripe's form. Have your business details and bank account handy.
  4. When you come back, the Stripe card says Connected, Under review by Stripe or Setup not finished. If it isn't finished, click Continue setup to pick up where you stopped.

More in Connecting Stripe to take online payments.

Set up your documents

Your estimates, invoices and payment receipts are all built from templates you can design.

  1. Open Settings and, under General, click Documents.
  2. On the Document templates page, click a template's name to open it in the designer.

More in Customizing estimate, invoice and receipt templates.

Turn on the features you want

Photos, Tap to Pay and Receipts come switched on. Extras like Bookkeeping and the Scheduler stay off until you switch them on in Features.

  1. In the menu, click Features.
  2. Click a card to read what that feature does.
  3. Flip the switch on the card to turn it on. You're taken straight to the feature, the card gets an Active label, and it shows up in the menu.
  4. Under On your phone, use the arrows to set the order features sit in on the phone's home screen. The switch on each row hides it from the phone, but it stays in the menu.
The Features page, where you switch extras on and off
The Features page, where you switch extras on and off
Note: On the free CRM, a few pages aren't in the menu, such as Automations and Call tracking, and the Features list leaves out the paid extras. Plans in the menu shows what each plan adds.

More in Choosing your shortcuts and features.

Get the phone app

With the phone app you can run your day from the truck: your schedule, jobs, calls and texts.

  1. On Android, install Review Monster CRM from Google Play. The iPhone app isn't in the App Store yet.
  2. Open it, enter the same email and password you use on the web, and tap Sign in.

More in Phone app overview.

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