How to create jobs and leads from booking requests

In this article, you'll learn what the CRM does when a customer books online, from your website or from an approved estimate, and how to turn a booking request into a job. It's worth knowing so nothing a customer books sits waiting on you.

What happens depends on one setting, New bookings are…. There's no separate inbox for booking requests. A booking either goes straight on the calendar as a job, or it comes in as a lead (or a time saved on an estimate) that you confirm.

To check which way your bookings work:

  1. In the menu, click Settings.
  2. Under Phone & booking, click Online booking.
  3. Under New bookings are…, see which option is picked: Scheduled instantly or Requests you approve.
  4. If you change it, click Save settings.
Checking how new bookings come in
Note: The same choice is in your Review Monster dashboard under Website › Scheduling, in the New bookings are… card. It's one setting, so changing it in either place changes both. The Online booking page is on the phone app too, under Settings.

When bookings are scheduled instantly

With Scheduled instantly, a booking from your website goes on the calendar the moment the customer picks a time, and they see You're booked on the page. There's nothing for you to approve.

The new job:

  • Is set for the time they picked, with the status Submitted.
  • Is named after the service they chose, or Online booking if they didn't pick one.
  • Carries the address and notes they typed in.
  • Has its source set to where the visitor came from, or Website when the CRM can't tell.
  • Gets your tech assigned automatically if your company has just one.

If you've filled in Text the customer after booking on the Online booking page, the customer gets that text too. Open the job from the schedule if you want to add anything.

When bookings are requests you approve

With Requests you approve, the customer sees Request received and a note that you'll confirm with them. Nothing goes on the calendar yet. Instead the request comes in as a new lead:

  • The lead's notes start with a Requested time: line, then the service and anything the customer wrote.
  • Its source is where the visitor came from, or Website, the same as an instant booking.
  • A message from the customer shows up in Conversations reading "Asked to book" with the time and service, so you can reply to them right there.

The customer doesn't get your confirmation text for a request. That text only goes out when bookings are scheduled instantly, so let them know yourself once you've set the time.

To confirm a booking request:

  1. In the menu, click Leads.
  2. Click the booking request to open its panel. The requested time is at the top, on the Requested time: line.
  3. Click Convert to job. The new job opens.
  4. In the job's Schedule section, set the date and time the customer asked for (or what you agreed with them).
  5. Click Save.
Opening a booking request and converting it to a job
Tip: The new job isn't on the calendar until you set its time. The lead's notes, including the requested time, come across into the job's description, so you can copy the time from there.

Once it's converted, the lead stays in your list and its panel reads "This lead already became a job." The phone app has the same Convert to job button on the lead. For more on this step, see Converting a lead into a job.

Bookings made from an approved estimate

Customers can also pick a time right after they approve an estimate in their portal.

  • With Scheduled instantly, the estimate becomes a scheduled job on the spot.
  • With Requests you approve, the time they picked is saved on the estimate and they're told you'll confirm it.

To find estimates waiting on a time:

  1. In the menu, click Estimates.
  2. Look for an approved estimate with wants and a date under its status. That's a customer who picked a time and doesn't have a job yet.
  3. Convert the estimate to a job and schedule it for that time.
An approved estimate showing the time the customer wants
An approved estimate showing the time the customer wants

See Creating a job from an estimate for the steps.

Who hears about new bookings

Every booking and booking request sends a push to the phone app, and a text and email with the customer's details to your office list. For a website request, the text says it's in your CRM as a lead to confirm. For an estimate request, it tells you to open the estimate.

The quickest place to set who gets them is the Online booking page itself:

  1. In the menu, click Settings, then Online booking.
  2. Under Messaging, type the numbers in Notify the office by text and the addresses in Notify the office by email. Separate them with commas.
  3. Click Save settings.

Those two boxes are your company's one office alert list, the same list you see in Settings › Notifications. Change it on either page and the other follows. To stop booking texts or emails without touching the list, go to Notifications and untick Text or Email on the New online booking row.

The New online booking row with its Text and Email switches
The New online booking row with its Text and Email switches

While the list is empty, the alerts go to the account owner.

Note: On the free CRM, which doesn't text, the Online booking page has no Text the customer after booking or Notify the office by text box, and the Notifications page has no Text column. Customers and the office are emailed instead.
Note: If the customer's number can't take texts or their email bounces, they don't get a confirmation, and the office alert says so. Give them a call instead.

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