Customers and sales

What it does

Rufio keeps the record of who your customers are and what has happened with each of them, and it works the pipeline in front of that — the enquiries that haven't become work yet, the quotes sitting out, and the follow-up that decides which of them close.

The customer side covers the contact details themselves, the history behind a customer, and the preferences and next steps attached to them. History is the part that does the heavy lifting: when you ask about a customer, you get what has actually happened with them — the previous jobs, the conversations, what they asked for last time — rather than a name and a phone number you then have to reconstruct the rest from.

The sales side covers leads and opportunities, quotes and the follow-up attached to them, and the record of sales activity and what should happen next. Asking Rufio to chase the quotes that have gone quiet is a single request, not a report you then work through by hand.

These two halves are not at the same stage, and it's worth knowing which is which before you lean on one. The sales side — quotes, orders, and the follow-up attached to them — is the more built-out of the two and is the part to rely on first. The lead and opportunity side is newer and still being filled in; it works, but expect it to be thinner than the sales side, and expect it to change more as it settles.

Contact records sit under this too — the people at a customer, with their addresses, email addresses and phone numbers held against them rather than typed into a note.

When to use it

Reach for this when the question you have is about a person or a deal rather than about a job that's already booked.

• You're about to call someone back and want to know where things stand. Ask what has happened with them, and the previous work, the conversations, and whatever they asked for last time come back together.
• A quote went out and you've heard nothing. Ask which quotes have gone quiet and Rufio prepares the follow-up for each one rather than handing you a list to work through.
• Someone new gets in touch. The enquiry becomes a lead with the context attached, so the next person who picks it up isn't starting cold.
• You want to know what to chase this week. Ask what needs attention on the sales side and you get the specific deals with the reason each one is on the list.

Use Work and scheduling instead once the work is booked — a confirmed job lives there, not here. Use Money when the question is about an invoice or what you're owed rather than about a quote that hasn't been accepted.

How to use it

Ask in a sentence, in your own words. There is no form to fill in and no particular phrasing to learn — asking what is happening with a particular customer, asking it to chase every quote older than a week, or adding someone who has just got in touch are all requests Rufio acts on directly.

Rufio does the parts that follow from your request without being asked separately. Adding a new enquiry attaches it to an existing customer if that person is already known to you, rather than creating a second record with the same name. Chasing quiet quotes drafts a different message for a quote sent yesterday than for one sent last month.

Example — chasing quotes that have gone quiet:

Request: "Chase anyone whose quote has been sitting more than a week."

What Rufio does: finds the quotes still open past a week and drafts a follow-up for each, accounting for what that customer actually asked for and how long it's been. A quote sent eight days ago and one sent five weeks ago don't get the same message.

Where it stops: the drafts wait for you. Nothing reaches a customer until you say so. Rufio also doesn't decide a quote is dead and quietly stop chasing it, and it doesn't discount anything to close it — what you charge stays yours.

What happens next depends on the permissions you choose. At Suggest, Rufio prepares the message or change and waits for your approval before it reaches a customer. Review authorizes the task to act within your rules and show you the result afterward. Automate runs the follow-up routine you have enabled, with activity available to inspect. You can keep approval on any task for as long as you like. Autonomy levels explains how to choose or change a setting.

Parameters

What Rufio needs from you. Very little, to begin with, and less over time.

For a request about a customer you already have, the name is enough — Rufio resolves who you mean from the history it already holds, and asks if two people could match rather than guessing between them.

For a new customer or a new enquiry, tell it what you know. A name and a phone number are enough to start; what they want, where they are, and how they found you make the follow-up better but none of them block the record from being created.

For follow-up work, the useful thing to give it is the boundary rather than the instruction: how long is too long for a quote to sit, which customers you'd rather contact yourself, what you don't want chased. Corrections work the same way — if you rewrite a draft, that correction is kept as a rule for similar work later rather than something you re-explain each time.

What you get back

For a question, an answer with the history behind it — what has happened with this customer, not a record you then interpret.

For a change, an updated record: a new customer, a lead attached to the right person, a quote's status moved, the next step recorded against a deal.

For anything that would reach a customer, a draft waiting for you rather than a sent message, for as long as this kind of work sits at Suggest. That is where it stops by default, and it's the part worth being clear about: Rufio preparing a follow-up and Rufio sending a follow-up are different things, and which one happens is set by you.

Limits

Rufio prepares quotes; it does not set your prices. Changing what you charge requires you — that's one of the hard limits, not a setting.

It does not commit you to work. A lead can become a quote and a quote can be followed up without anything being promised on your behalf; confirming actual work follows the rules you set and defaults to asking you.

It does not decide which customers are worth having. Rufio surfaces what's gone quiet and what needs attention, with the reason attached — which of those you act on is a judgment it hands to you rather than making silently.

This page doesn't cover what happens once work is booked, invoiced, or scheduled. It also doesn't own the question of whether your kind of business is supported at all — see Business types for how that's decided.

Related

• Phone and messages — the calls and emails that most customer follow-up actually travels through
• Work and scheduling — what happens after a quote is accepted and the work gets booked
• Money — invoices, payments, and what you're owed
• Autonomy levels — how the Suggest, Review, and Automate levels work
• Limits and boundaries — what Rufio will never do on its own
• Every capability — the full list, and whether each one is available to you today