How to Manage Follow-Ups and Reminders in CrmLeaf
All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.
Availability: All editions. Core feature - no add-on required.
Overview
A follow-up is the next planned contact on a lead or deal, recorded as a date on the record. Follow-ups are what stop opportunities going quiet: the CRM dashboard uses them to surface work that needs attention, including follow-ups that are now overdue. Tasks complement follow-ups by recording the work you owe the prospect rather than the next conversation itself.
How It Works
You set the next follow-up date when you finish a contact. The dashboard collects those dates across your visible deals and shows what is open, what has been won, what needs attention and what is overdue.
Contact the prospect → Record the outcome → Set the next follow-up date → Review the dashboard → Complete or reschedule
- The follow-up engine is built around next-follow-up dates on leads and deals.
- The CRM dashboard surfaces Open, Won, Needs attention and Overdue follow-ups, so your day's work can be read from one screen.
- Overdue means the follow-up date has passed without the follow-up being dealt with.
- Follow-up activity is recorded on the deal's activity timeline alongside notes, files and stage moves.
- Tasks can be created against a deal for work items, and CRM tasks can be viewed in the task module linked to their deal.
- What you see reflects your ownership-based visibility, so your dashboard shows your workload rather than the whole team's.
Who Can Use This Feature?
User
- Set and change the next follow-up date on leads and deals you can access.
- Read the CRM dashboard's Open, Won, Needs attention and Overdue surfaces.
- Create tasks against a deal for actions you owe the prospect.
- Record outcomes as notes so the history stays usable.
Access depends on the modules and role assigned by your Administrator.
Prerequisites
- Access to the CRM module with a Lead or Deal permission scope other than
none. - At least one lead or deal to work.
- Access to the CRM dashboard, if you intend to review follow-ups there.
For Users
Step 1: Start the day on the CRM dashboard
Review the Open, Won, Needs attention and Overdue follow-up surfaces. Work the overdue items first, because those are commitments to a prospect that have already passed.
Step 2: Open the record and read its history
Open the deal and read its activity timeline and notes before making contact. The timeline records stage moves, notes, files, follow-ups and proposal sends in sequence.
Step 3: Make contact and record the outcome
After the call, meeting or email, add a note describing what was agreed and what the prospect is waiting for. A follow-up date without a note tells the next person when to call but not why.
Step 4: Set the next follow-up date
Set the next follow-up date before you close the record. Choose a date you can honour, and set one on every active deal, because a deal with no follow-up date never appears in the dashboard's due or overdue surfaces.
Step 5: Create tasks for work you owe
Where the next step is work rather than a conversation, such as preparing a specification or collecting a document, create a task against the deal and assign it. Keep the follow-up for the conversation and the task for the deliverable.
Step 6: Reschedule honestly
If a prospect asks you to come back later, move the follow-up date and add a note saying why. Do not clear the date, because that removes the deal from the dashboard surfaces that would otherwise remind you.
Step 7: Move the stage if the position changed
If the conversation advanced the opportunity, change the deal's stage as well as the follow-up date, so the board and the per-stage totals reflect reality.
Expected Result
Every active lead and deal you own carries a next follow-up date and a note recording the last outcome. Due and overdue follow-ups appear on the CRM dashboard, and the activity is recorded on the deal's activity timeline.
Why This Matters for Service Organisations
Service selling is slow, consultative and usually done by the same people who deliver. When an engagement gets busy, the pursuit that was two weeks from signature goes quiet, and nobody notices until the client stops replying. A recorded next contact date is the only thing that makes that visible while it can still be recovered.
How It Supports Professional Services
- Follow-ups surface on the CRM dashboard as open, won, needs attention and overdue, which gives a fee-earner a single screen to read before the day starts rather than a list to remember.
- Because what appears is ownership-scoped, a consultant sees their own commitments and a practice head can be given the whole book, so the dashboard is a personal worklist rather than a team report.
- Follow-up activity is written to the deal's activity timeline next to notes, files and stage moves, so the pursuit history reads as one sequence when the engagement is handed to delivery.
- Pre-sales work can be recorded as tasks against the deal — drafting an approach, gathering a document — which keeps unbilled business development distinct from the billable project tasks created once the engagement starts.
- An overdue follow-up on a late-stage pursuit is the earliest honest signal that a forecast date will move, well before a close date needs revising.
Typical Service Workflow
Lead → Deal → Follow-up → Client → Project → Billing
Follow-ups run alongside the Deal step for as long as the pursuit lasts. The dashboard surfacing is automatic once a date exists; setting, honouring and rescheduling the date is the discipline the organisation supplies. A deal with no follow-up date never appears in those surfaces at all.
Other Product-Type Use Cases
The same mechanism keeps a manufacturer's quotation follow-ups moving, or a solar business's site enquiries from stalling between survey and assessment — any pipeline where the next contact matters more than the last one.
Related PSA Capabilities
- How to Create and Work Deals — the record the follow-up date sits on.
- How to Use the Lead Board — shows the stage where follow-ups have stopped happening.
- How to Create and Assign Tasks — for pre-sales work you owe rather than a conversation.
- How to Use Lead and Deal Reports — reads pursuit activity across the team.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- A deal with no follow-up date will not appear in the overdue surface. Silence on the dashboard is not the same as a healthy pipeline.
- The dashboard reflects your own visibility. A manager reviewing the team should compare the dashboard with the lead board and deal reports.
- Follow-ups and tasks serve different purposes. Use follow-ups for the next contact and tasks for deliverables.
- Notification and reminder delivery behaviour for follow-ups is not documented. Do not assume an email or push message will arrive; check the dashboard.
Common Scenarios
Example: a clean daily routine. A representative opens the CRM dashboard each morning, clears the overdue surface first, then works the follow-ups due today, setting a new date and a note on every record before closing it.
Example: a long procurement cycle. A public sector prospect will not decide for four months. The representative sets a follow-up date one month out with a note explaining the timeline, so the deal stays visible without being chased weekly.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| The overdue surface is empty although deals are clearly stale. | Those deals have no next follow-up date set. | Set a follow-up date on every active deal. |
| You see fewer follow-ups than your manager. | Your permission scope limits you to your own records. | This is expected. Ask your Administrator if you need a wider scope. |
| A follow-up you completed still appears. | The follow-up date was not moved forward after the contact. | Set the next follow-up date, or clear it if the deal is closed. |
| The dashboard shows nothing at all. | You are in an organisation with no CRM records, or your Deal scope is none. | Switch organisation and confirm your permissions with your Administrator. |
| A colleague did not act on a task you created. | The task was not assigned, or they cannot see the deal. | Confirm the assignee on the task and their access to the deal. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does "Needs attention" mean on the CRM dashboard?
It is one of the four follow-up surfaces the CRM dashboard shows, alongside Open, Won and Overdue. The exact rule that places a deal there is not documented; treat it as work the dashboard is flagging for review.
Will CrmLeaf remind me when a follow-up is due?
The dashboard surfaces due and overdue follow-ups. Reminder delivery by email or push for follow-ups is not documented, so use the dashboard as your source.
Should I use a follow-up or a task?
Use a follow-up for the next contact with the prospect and a task for a deliverable you or a colleague must produce.
Can I set a follow-up on a lead as well as a deal?
Yes. Next-follow-up dates are part of the lead and deal follow-up engine.
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