OWNER ONBOARDING GUIDE

WHAT IS A CRM?

A CRM stands for "Customer Relationship Management." In plain English: it's a business management system where you track every customer interaction — from the moment they first contact you until the job is paid.

Think of it as a digital filing cabinet that: • Stores all customer information (name, phone, address, history) • Tracks every lead (potential customer) and their status • Schedules and manages appointments (jobs) • Creates and tracks invoices and payments • Keeps notes on what was discussed and what was done • Tells you how your business is performing

WHY YOU NEED ONE:

Instead of juggling phone calls, emails, sticky notes, and Excel spreadsheets, everything lives in one place. Your entire team can see the same information from anywhere (office, on a job site, at home). You never lose track of a customer or a payment again.

WHAT YOUR CRM DOES:

Lead Management: When a customer calls, emails, or fills out your website form, they automatically become a "lead" in your CRM. You can see their name, phone, email, what service they need, and when they contacted you. As you progress (call them, send quote, book job), you update their status. You never miss a follow-up.

Job Scheduling & Dispatch: You schedule appointments, assign technicians, and track progress. Technicians get notified on their phones, can navigate with GPS, upload before/after photos, and mark jobs complete. You can see in real-time where everyone is and what they're doing.

Invoicing & Payments: After a job is done, you create an invoice in the CRM. It automatically calculates totals, sends to the customer, and tracks whether they paid. You get reminders for overdue payments. No more chasing invoices.

Customer Management: Every customer has a profile showing all their contact info, every job you've done for them, every invoice, and notes about their preferences. When they call back, you see their complete history.

Team Management: All your technicians, office staff, and managers have accounts. They can only see what's relevant to their job (technicians see jobs, office staff see leads, you see everything).

Analytics & Reporting: Dashboards show you metrics: how many leads came in today, how many jobs are active, which invoices are unpaid, which team members are busiest, and how much revenue you're tracking.

EVERYTHING IS IN THE CLOUD:

"Cloud-based" means the data is stored on the internet, not on your computer. You can access it from your phone, tablet, laptop, or office computer. Your team can see updates in real-time—if you create a job, your technician gets notified instantly. If a payment arrives, everyone sees it immediately.

HOW TO ACCESS YOUR CRM:

1. Go to base44.com 2. Click "Sign In" 3. Use your email (metroheatcoolspecialists@gmail.com) 4. You'll see your "Metropolitan Heating & Cooling" app — click it 5. You're now in your CRM dashboard

The dashboard is your command center. From here you can: • View all leads and their status • See all scheduled jobs • Create and send invoices • Check analytics • Manage your team • Configure settings • Enable automations