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Build lead phases and steps

Phases are the plan every lead and customer follows. Phase 1 gets a lead to convert. Your own later phases look after the customer. At the end, each step has a channel, a day, a time rule and, for messages, a template.

Before you start

  • You are an admin. The page says Only an admin can change phases. to everyone else.
  • Optional: your WhatsApp templates are approved, for steps that send by themselves. See Create a message template.
  • Optional: your email templates exist, for email steps. See Create an email template.

How phases work

  • Phase 1 is called Convert. It shows the badge Same for everyone. Its name, and its existence, are locked.
  • Phase 1 starts with one step: First call. After it the person chooses In or Out. See Work with leads.
  • Step 1 of Phase 1 is always a Call. You cannot change it.
  • You can add follow-up steps to Phase 1, up to 6 in all. They can be calls, WhatsApp messages, emails and tasks. Phase 1 cannot have a milestone, and it cannot repeat.
  • Every later phase is yours. You choose how many, in which order, and what they are called.
  • A phase is complete when its last step is done. The next phase then starts by itself, and its days are counted from that day.

Steps

Open the Phases tab

  1. Open CRM in the left rail, then select Leads.

  2. Click the Phases tab at the top. The page is titled Phases, with the line What happens to every lead, in order.

    [SCREENSHOT: the Phases tab with Phase 1 and a later phase, and the step grid]

  3. Read the row of phases. Each phase shows as Phase 1, Convert, Phase 2, … and so on. Click one to open it.

The first time you open the tab for an account with no phases, Ohanvi fills in a starting set. See The starting phases. An account that already had phases keeps them.

Edit Phase 1

  1. Click Phase 1 in the row of phases. Its name and its first call are locked.
  2. To add a follow-up step, click Add step. Phase 1 stops at 6 steps.
  3. Change a step from step 2 onward: its name, How, days, Time and template.
  4. Click Save phase. The message Phase saved. appears.

Add a phase

  1. Click Add phase at the top right.
  2. Type the Phase name, for example Onboarding.
  3. Add the steps. See Add a step.
  4. Click Save phase. The message Phase saved. appears.

To change the order, open a phase and click Move earlier or Move later. Phase 1 stays first.

To delete a phase, open it and click Delete phase. The window Delete "…"? says customers in the phase move on to the next one, steps that have not run yet are cancelled, and you cannot undo it. Click Delete phase to confirm. The message says how many customers moved.

If you leave a phase with changes that are not saved, Discard your changes? asks first. Click Discard changes on the phase to drop them yourself.

Add a step

The steps of a phase sit in a grid across the full width. Its columns are Step, How, Days after previous step, Time and Day.

  1. Open the phase and click Add step.
  2. Type the step name in Step, for example Check the setup.

  3. Pick the channel in How:

    Channel What the step does
    Call Sends a reminder to the owner's phone. The owner makes the call.
    WhatsApp Sends a WhatsApp template, or reminds the owner.
    Email Sends an email template, or reminds the owner.
    Task Rings a to-do on the owner's phone. Nothing is sent to the customer.
    Milestone Marks the phase as complete. Nothing is sent. The next phase starts right after it. A milestone can only be the last step of a later phase.

  4. Set Days after previous step. For step 1 the label reads Days after start. A step counts its days from the step before it. 0 means the same day. The most you can set is 365. Day shows the day the step falls on, counted from the start of the phase.

  5. Pick the time rule in Time. See Choose the time of a step.
  6. For a WhatsApp or email step, pick a template. See Send a step by itself.
  7. Click Save phase.

To remove a step, click the bin icon, labelled Remove step N.

Choose the time of a step

You rarely type a time. Time has two choices:

  • Smart time — Ohanvi picks the time. This is the default. See How the call time is chosen.
  • Set time — you pick a fixed time with Pick a time. It then reads At and the time, for example At 14:30. It replaces the system's choice.

How the call time is chosen

With Smart time, Ohanvi picks each call's time itself. You have no controls for it. The reason for the time is shown on the step.

  • Ohanvi learns from the last 30 days of calls and calendar meetings recorded in Ohanvi. Calls made outside Ohanvi are not counted.
  • It looks at each owner's day in slots of 15 minutes, from 09:00 to 19:00, in your account's time zone. The default is India Standard Time.
  • It skips hours when the owner was mostly busy, or when many calls were cancelled.
  • It prefers hours when the owner's calls are usually answered, and the hours when the lead usually picks up. The detail pane shows Best time to call.
  • One owner never gets two calls in the same slot. Hot leads choose first.
  • With no calls or meetings recorded yet, Ohanvi uses a neutral default.
  • WhatsApp and email steps are not calls. They go out at the lead's best hour, or at 11:00 when there is none yet.

To choose the time yourself, use Set time on the step, or Call again on a lead. See Work with leads.

Send a step by itself

WhatsApp and email steps can send without you. Nothing sends by itself until an admin picks a template on the step.

  1. Open the step and pick a template. The WhatsApp picker reads Pick an approved WhatsApp template. The email picker reads Email template.
  2. Turn on Send automatically. The note says the step goes out by itself and you can pause or cancel it on the person.
  3. Click Save phase.

With Send automatically off, you get a reminder with the template ready to send. A step can send by itself only when it has a template.

Calls and tasks never send. They only remind the owner.

Automatic WhatsApp messages always use an approved template, never free text. A template can use two values: {{1}} is the lead's first name and {{2}} is the owner's name, or "our team" when there is none. A template that needs more cannot send.

Nothing is sent on WhatsApp without consent. A step for a lead with no consent goes as an email instead. A lead with no contact is never messaged on WhatsApp. See WhatsApp consent.

A message is never sent the moment a lead arrives. Each step goes at its own day and time.

Count a step as the deal won

You can mark one Phase 1 step as the deal-won step. It must be a Call or a Task, so a person confirms it. A task named Payment received is a good example.

  1. Open the Phase 1 step.
  2. Tick Counts as deal won when done. Its hint says that when the step is marked done, the lead converts and the next phase starts.
  3. Click Save phase.

When the owner marks that step done, the lead converts by itself. Phase 1 completes, the contact is created if it was missing, the deal moves to Won and Phase 2 starts today. On the Leads screen the step shows a trophy. If no step is marked, you convert a lead by hand with Mark converted. See Work with leads.

The option shows only on a Phase 1 call or task. Ohanvi refuses to save it on any other step.

Repeat the last phase forever

The last phase can repeat. This keeps long-term customers in touch.

  1. Open the last phase.
  2. Turn on Keep going with no end. The hint says it is for ongoing care, like a message every 90 days for as long as they stay a customer.
  3. In Then every, type the number of days, for example 90. Then pick WhatsApp or Email to send.
  4. Pick the template to send each time.
  5. Click Save phase.

Only the last phase can repeat, and not if it ends in a milestone. The time is picked for you each round. It runs until you stop it on the customer. On a customer's track, the repeat shows as Repeats, with every 90 days under it.

The starting phases

Ohanvi fills in these phases the first time you open the tab on an account with no phases. You can change or delete them.

Phase 1: Convert

Step Channel Day
First call Call 0

Phase 2: Onboarding

Step Channel Day
Setup start Task 0
Onboarding call Call 2
Check the setup WhatsApp 3
Ask for a review WhatsApp 4
Done Milestone 1

Phase 3: Customer follow-up

Step Channel Day
30-day check-in Email 30
60-day tip WhatsApp 30
90-day offer Email 30
Repeat every 90 days WhatsApp repeat

Each day is counted from the step before it.

Video walkthrough

[VIDEO]

Troubleshooting

Issue Cause Fix
Couldn't save the phase A field needs fixing. The message names the step and field. Read the message, fix the field and click Save phase again.
The first step of the Convert phase is always a call. Step 1 of Phase 1 is not a Call. Set How to Call on step 1.
The Convert phase can have at most 6 steps. Phase 1 has more than 6 steps. Remove extra steps.
A milestone can only be the last step of a phase. A milestone sits before the last step. Move the milestone to the end of the phase.
The Convert phase ends by converting, so it cannot have a milestone. A milestone is in Phase 1. Use a task, or move the milestone to a later phase.
Only the last phase can repeat. Keep going with no end is on for an earlier phase. Move the phase to the end, or turn the repeat off.
Pick a template for step N so it can send by itself. Send automatically is on with no template. Pick a template, or turn Send automatically off.
Only a call or task step of the Convert phase can mark the deal as won. Counts as deal won when done is on for another step. Turn it off, or pick a call or task in Phase 1.
A WhatsApp step sent an email The lead has not agreed to WhatsApp messages. Nothing to fix. See WhatsApp consent.
A step is due at a time you did not choose The step uses Smart time. Switch Time to Set time.
A call lands in a busy hour Ohanvi sees only calls and meetings recorded in Ohanvi. Record the meeting in Ohanvi, or use Set time.