Work the Bookings & Leads inbox

Overview#

Bookings & Leads is one inbox for leads from every source: Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp, The Home Depot, your website, forwarded lead emails, webhooks, referrals, the customer portal and leads you enter by hand. Each lead shows how long it waited for a first reply (speed to lead) and what the AI text agent is doing. From the lead page you text the customer, take over from the agent, book the job into a real open arrival window, or mark the lead lost.

Before you start#

• Role. Anyone who can read customers sees the inbox (owners, admins, dispatchers, CSRs, viewers). Only roles that can create jobs (owners, admins, dispatchers, CSRs) can add, reply to, book or close leads. Viewers see no edit controls.

• Lead sources. An owner or admin connects them in Settings › Integrations › Booking Providers & Lead Sources. Until then the inbox only holds leads you add by hand.

• Texting. Replying to a lead by text needs texting connected and a company number. If texting isn't available, the reply box says "Texting unavailable" with the reason.

• Text agent (optional). The AI agent that replies to new leads is off by default. See AI receptionist and text agent.

Steps#

Read the inbox#

1. Go to Calls › Bookings & Leads. The page header reads Leads.

2. Check the four tiles at the top. A dash means there's no data yet:

   • Waiting for a first reply: new leads nobody has answered.

   • Need a person: leads the agent handed off or flagged.

   • Median speed to lead (30 days).

   • Booked (30 days): the share of leads that were booked.

3. Use the filters: Open (the default), Needs a person, New, Booked, Lost, All.

4. Each row shows Received, the lead's name and request, Source, Status (New, Contacted, Booked, Lost), Speed to lead and Agent.

   • An unanswered lead shows a live Waiting timer. It turns red after 5 minutes.

   • "+1" next to the source means the same person came in again from another source and was merged (same phone or email within 14 days).

   • A red line under the name gives the reason a person is needed.

5. The right column lists Customers waiting for a person: existing customers whose text conversation the agent handed to the office.

Add a lead by hand#

1. In Add a lead on the right, enter Name (required), Mobile, Email, Street, City, ZIP and What they need.

2. Choose the Source.

3. Tick They agreed to receive texts only if they did. Without it, nobody (person or agent) texts them from TradesWork for this lead.

4. Click Add lead.

Answer a lead#

1. Click the lead's name to open it.

2. Read the Lead card: Mobile, Email, Address, Service, Request, Texting ("Consent on file" or "No consent from this source") and Speed to lead.

3. Read the Conversation. Customer texts are on the left; agent and office texts on the right, labelled Agent or with the sender's name. Texts that didn't go out say queued or not sent with the reason.

4. To reply, type in the box at the bottom and click Send. Sending a text pauses the agent on this lead.

5. If you called the lead instead, click Mark contacted. This records the first response and stops the waiting timer.

Take over from the text agent#

1. In the Conversation card header, Text agent: shows its state: Agent replying, Taken over by a person, Needs a person or Done.

2. Click Take over to stop the agent on this lead right away.

3. Click Hand back to agent to let it answer the customer's next text.

4. Agent steps lists everything the agent did (replies, offered windows, bookings, handoffs, escalations) and who took over.

Turn a lead into a job#

1. In Book it, choose a Job type and click Show times.

2. Check the prefilled Customer name, Street, City, State, ZIP and Job summary.

3. Pick an Arrival window, or leave Unscheduled (dispatch places it).

   • If you see "No open windows in the next five days", book it unscheduled and let dispatch place it.

4. Click Create job. The lead becomes Booked, the agent stops, and Open job appears at the top of the page.

   • If the phone or email matches an existing customer, the job goes on that customer instead of creating a duplicate.

   • The job's campaign is the lead's campaign, or the source name.

Mark a lead lost or reopen it#

1. In Mark lost, choose a Reason: Never responded, Price, Booked someone else, Outside our area, Not work we do, Spam, Duplicate or Other.

2. Add a Note (optional) and click Mark lost.

3. To bring it back, open the lead and click Reopen.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › Integrations › Booking Providers & Lead Sources: connect Angi and Thumbtack webhooks, the generic webhook for website forms and Zapier, and the address you forward lead emails to.

• Settings › Phones › AI Text Agent: turn the text agent on, choose which sources it answers, its hours, guardrails and FAQs.

• Settings › Phones › Escalations & Tasks: escalation triggers, which outcomes become tasks, and what the agent may book per job type.

• Settings › Communications › Web Appointments: the windows offered in Book it.

• Settings › Communications › Customer Notifications: quiet hours for automatic texts.

Tips#

• Sort your day by the Needs a person filter first, then New.

• Speed to lead counts the first reply from anyone: you, a teammate or the agent. Mark contacted after a phone call so your numbers stay honest.

• Marketplace leads (Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp, The Home Depot, lead emails) come with texting consent. Website and webhook leads only do if the form sends it.

Troubleshooting#

• The reply box says "Texting unavailable". Cause: shown under the box, for example texting isn't connected, your texting registration isn't approved yet, there's no mobile number, or the customer replied STOP. Fix: call the customer instead and click Mark contacted.

• I don't see Book it. Cause: the lead is already booked or lost, or your role can't create jobs or customers. Fix: reopen a lost lead, or ask an owner about your role.

• The Arrival window list is disabled. Cause: no job type chosen. Fix: pick a Job type and click Show times.

• A lead never got the agent's text. Cause: the agent is off, the source isn't ticked, it's outside the agent's hours, the lead has no texting consent, or AI or texting isn't connected. Fix: check Settings › Phones › AI Text Agent; the page lists anything blocking it.

FAQ#

Does a booked lead also show up as a job? Yes. Create job makes a real job (and an appointment if you picked a window). It appears on the dispatch board.

Where do AI receptionist booking requests from phone calls go? Those are in Calls › Calls as Booking request, not in this inbox.

What happens when the same person submits on Angi and my website? If the phone or email matches an open lead from the last 14 days, the second one merges into the first. The lead page lists it under Also received from.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

• Same idea: ServiceTitan's Calls › Bookings inbox of web and partner bookings, and the Leads list, are combined here in Calls › Bookings & Leads.

• Different: every lead carries a speed-to-lead time, and an optional AI text agent can answer within seconds and book real open windows. Leads are converted from the lead page instead of a separate booking screen.

• Lead sources that ServiceTitan set up as Booking Provider tags are connected in Settings › Integrations › Booking Providers & Lead Sources.