Part 16: Sales, Intake, and Closing

This part of the guide has 11 pages so far. Each page answers one question, shows what to do, and ends with an audit check you can use on your own business.

16.1 Build Lead Intake

• 16.1 Lead Intake: How to set up lead intake for a small business: list every way leads reach you and ask about urgency, location, scope, budget, and who approves the work.

16.2 Assign Response Ownership

• 16.2.1 Lead Response Ownership: Assign every new lead to one person, name a backup for days off, and log each contact attempt so no customer inquiry gets lost or answered twice.
• 16.2.2 Lead Response Time: Set a response time target that fits each lead’s urgency and your capacity, measure time to first response, and fix the gaps that slow you down.
• 16.2.4 Missed-Call Process: Build a simple missed-call process: a clear voicemail, fast alerts, a callback target, a set number of attempts, and a log of every call you return.
• 16.2.5 Lead Escalation: Decide which leads skip the normal line: urgent, unsafe, high-value, or unusual requests. Write the triggers, who gets alerted, and what happens next.

16.3 Define Lead Qualification

• 16.3 Lead Qualification: Qualify leads by service, location, timing, budget, safety, and customer fit, then mark each one qualified, unqualified, pending, referred, or declined.

16.6 Create Payment and Deposit Procedures

• 16.6.1 Payment Requests and Confirmation: Send accurate payment requests from one trusted channel, never change bank details by email alone, and confirm each payment with a receipt and a record.
• 16.6.4 Failed Payments: Set a failed-payment process: when to retry, how to tell the customer kindly, how they update their card safely, and when service pauses under your terms.
• 16.6.5 Late Payments and Collections: Follow written steps to collect late payments: friendly reminders, a firm notice, late fees only if your terms allow them, and fair rules if you use collectors.

16.7 Create Follow-Up Procedures

• 16.7 Follow-Up Procedures: Set follow-up steps for new leads, estimates, appointments, finished jobs, and past customers, plus clear rules for when to stop and how to honor opt-outs.

16.9 Create the Closing Process

• 16.9 Closing the Job: A job closeout checklist for small businesses: confirm the work, get approval, collect payment, store documents, hand off to the customer, and set the next visit.