Inquiry Workflows in Dubsado - Which One is Right for You?
Inquiries are the first phase in a client process and one that Dubsado can help you automate and save a lot of time on.
Regardless of what niche you are in - chances are that your inquiry workflow will be like one I’m sharing below.
I’ve worked with people in all types of industries: coaches, web designers, brand designers, doulas, photographers, copywriters, DJs, etc.… - and they all use similar inquiry workflows.
Types of inquiry workflows
Depending on the phase of business you are in (and your personal preference), you’ll have a different type of inquiry workflow.
There are several types of inquiry workflows which I’ll cover in this post. I’m keeping it general to help you choose which one is best suited to you and your business.
Book a call
Fill out a form + invite to a call
Sign up + pay immediately
1 - Book a call:
In this type of inquiry workflow, you place your scheduler on your website for leads to book a call with you.
Attach a lead capture form to your scheduler to create a new project in Dubsado. To do this, go to the Advanced settings of your scheduler → under Additional form → select the lead capture you’d like to use.
Use the lead capture form to gather any information or ask questions that you need answered before your call.
Who is this type of inquiry workflow best for?
People who need to have sales calls before signing clients.
People who aren’t fully booked.
People who are getting started in their business.
Pros:
Get more sales calls since there are less steps for people to book a time to talk with you.
No need to follow up with people to make sure they book time with you.
Cons:
Since the scheduler isn’t sent via a workflow, you can’t tie this appointment to other actions in your workflow.
Tip: in your lead capture form only ask what actually matters and keep the form short and sweet. If you add too many questions, you risk overwhelming your leads and having them leave before booking the call.
Bonus Tip: be mindful of asking for people's phone numbers at an early stage. Studies have shown that people drop out of forms at a higher rate when the phone number field is mandatory.
To help people feel more at ease, explain why you need their phone number. Or mark the phone number field as optional. Or don’t ask for it if you’re not using it.
2 - Fill out a form + invite to a call:
In this type of inquiry workflow you embed or add a link to a lead capture form on your website.
Next, review the answers and determine if they are a good fit for a call. If they are a good fit, then send them an email with a link to an appointment scheduler.
Who is this type of inquiry workflow best for?
People who need to screen leads before talking to them.
People who need to check their availability as a first step in their client process.
People who are fully booked and don’t have time for so many sales calls.
Pros:
You are able to book calls with more ideal clients since you are screening people before talking to them.
You are able to book calls for projects that you are actually available for.
Cons:
Since the scheduler is not the first step in the process, you can’t guarantee that everyone that you send a scheduler to will book a call with you.
You can’t completely automate the follow up for people who don’t book a call since it’s currently not an action in Dubsado workflows (come on Dubsado!). But there are some workarounds - like sending an identical duplicate scheduler in a different step, sending the scheduler again with an approve button / to-do, starting a separate workflow to send a different scheduler.
Tip: Connect your lead capture form to a workflow to automate the next steps in your client process. You can do this by selecting a workflow in the form settings.
Bonus Tip: You can connect the lead capture form to different workflows depending on the answer to a specific question. To do this, use a Workflow question in your lead capture form and connect each answer to a different workflow.
3 - Sign up + pay immediately:
In this type of workflow you use a public proposal that creates a new project in Dubsado every time it’s filled out.
This isn't truly an inquiry workflow. It skips over the inquiry process and goes into the booking / sales workflow. But it can be a first step to add a new client into Dubsado.
It allows anyone with access to the form to sign up for your offer or service. You can connect a contract and invoice, so people can complete all the steps in one place to begin working with you.
Who is this type of workflow best for?
People who do not need to have a sales call before signing clients.
People who have waitlists for their offers or services.
Pros:
You are able to convert and sign clients directly on the form / site.
Cons:
You have no control over who signs up.
Tip: you can connect public proposals to a workflow to automate the next steps in your client process. Once the public proposal option is toggled on in your form settings, you’ll see the option to select a ‘Default workflow’.
My two cents
These are the overall types of inquiry workflows in Dubsado.
Remember that there isn’t one way to do things in Dubsado or in your business.
There are so many ways to personalize these workflows and adapt them to your business: through the canned emails you use, your form design, the questions you ask, and all the different actions you can take in a workflow.
Don’t let anyone tell you that there is “only one way” to an inquiry process or a “right way” to do it. To me that’s a red flag 🚩
You get to decide how to do it. Which also means that you can try different approaches until you find the one that works for you.
My goal isn’t to tell you what to do. My goal isn’t to convince you to do something the way that I do it.
My goal is to give you information and options to help you decide what works best for you based on your stage or type of business.
Tutorial: Inquiry Workflows in Dubsado
This tutorial will take you through the different inquiry workflows mentioned in this blog post and take you through the steps to setting them up in Dubsado
Need help setting up Dubsado for your business?
If you need help building workflows in Dubsado and want an expert to set it all up for you, book a call.
Book a free, no-strings attached discovery call and see if a Dubsado setup is right for your business 👉 Schedule your call