Lead handover checklist: make sure every enquiry reaches someone who acts on it

Where enquiries go missing

A lead handover is the moment an enquiry moves from wherever it was captured to the person who'll act on it. It's easy to take for granted. The form shows a thank-you message, the ad platform counts a result and everyone assumes the enquiry has been dealt with. Often nobody has checked.

Most lost enquiries aren't lost at the form. They're lost in the gaps around it: a notification still going to a former staff member's inbox, ad-platform leads waiting in Meta or Google for someone to download them, a missed call nobody returns, or a shared inbox where everyone assumes someone else has replied. Each gap is small, and none of them shows up in the advertising report.

This checklist works through those gaps in order. List every way an enquiry can arrive, get ad-platform leads out of the platform, decide what the handover record must contain, give every enquiry an owner, test the whole path before you spend and reconcile the numbers every week.

List every way an enquiry can arrive

Start with a plain register of your enquiry channels. Most service businesses have more than they think: the website form, perhaps a second form on a campaign page, Meta instant forms, Google Ads lead forms, phone calls and missed calls, the main email address, social media messages, calls from your Google Business Profile and referrals passed on by staff.

Each channel needs the same four answers. If one of them is "I'm not sure", that's the channel to fix first. Record these for every channel:

• Where the enquiry lands: which inbox, phone, platform or system receives it first.
• Who's told: the person or people notified, and how, such as an email, a text or an app alert.
• How it reaches your main record: automatically, by someone copying it across, or not at all.
• Who checks it's working: the person responsible for noticing when that channel goes quiet.

Keep readingRecord the source of every enquiry

Get ad-platform leads out of the platform

Lead forms that sit inside an ad, such as Meta instant forms and Google Ads lead form assets, deserve extra care, because the enquiry stays in the platform until something moves it. If nobody connects the form to your system or downloads the leads, the platform will still report results while the people behind them wait.

The platforms don't keep these leads forever. Meta says leads data "will be available for download for up to 90 days from the time that the instant forms are submitted", and that you may be able to download fewer leads than your ad results show because older ones have expired. Google Ads says "You can only download leads from the last 30 days. Google Ads stores leads for 60 days, so download your data often."

Manual downloads also slow the first reply. Meta recommends an integrated CRM or its Leads Centre, noting that downloading leads manually "can take more time to follow up." Google offers an email notification for each lead, plus a webhook, Zapier or its API to send leads straight to your CRM. If your business customises leads access in Meta Business Suite, Meta says new people, CRM systems or partners then "need to be added manually", so check that a new integration has been given access.

Watch for duplicates too. Google notes that "A single lead may be delivered more than one time" and recommends using the lead ID to remove them. Keep that ID in your record so a repeated delivery doesn't create a second enquiry and a second phone call to the same person.

Decide what the handover record must contain

The person making the first call needs enough context to have a useful conversation without asking the customer to repeat themselves. A name and phone number isn't a handover. Agree the fields once, then make every channel deliver them to the same place, even if some are filled in by hand after a phone call.

Keep the customer's own words. A summary such as "bathroom quote" loses the detail that tells you whether the job suits you. Keep the source and the ad or page they came from, so the person calling knows what offer or promise the customer saw. And keep marketing consent as a separate field from the enquiry itself, so a reply about their job doesn't quietly turn into a newsletter subscription. A useful handover record includes:

• Contact details, plus the contact method and time the customer prefers.
• What they asked for, in their own words, and the answers to any qualifying questions.
• The source: channel, campaign, form or page, and the platform's lead ID where there is one.
• What they were told to expect, such as a call back today or a quote within a week.
• The time the enquiry was received, so response times can be measured honestly.
• Marketing consent status, recorded separately from the enquiry.
• The owner, the next action and when it's due.
• A status and, once it's closed, an outcome with a specific reason.

Keep readingAgree what counts as a suitable enquiry

Give every enquiry one owner and a backup

An enquiry without a named owner usually waits. A shared inbox is fine for receiving enquiries, but each one still needs a single person whose job it is to make the next contact. Assign by a simple rule your team can follow, such as by service, by region or by who's on duty, rather than leaving it to whoever happens to notice.

Plan for the times the owner can't respond: site visits, leave, sick days, evenings and weekends. Name a backup for each, and agree an escalation rule in your own terms. For example, if an enquiry hasn't been contacted within your target time, it goes to the backup and the owner's manager can see it. Choose a target you can actually keep, then make the promise on your website and in your ads match it.

Make status visible. When the whole team can see which enquiries are new, contacted, waiting on the customer or closed, a missed one stands out instead of sitting quietly at the bottom of someone's inbox.

Keep readingPlan the first reply and follow-up

Test the whole path before you spend

A success message proves the form was submitted. It doesn't prove the enquiry reached anyone. Test each channel end to end, from the customer's side to the moment the right person is alerted, using a clearly labelled test enquiry. Do this before a campaign starts, and again after any change to the form, website, CRM, integration or staff.

Use the testing the platforms provide. When you add a webhook to a Google Ads lead form, Google says to "Select Send test data and verify if your CRM receives the data correctly." Google also suggests starting a campaign "with a small budget" and checking that leads are handled correctly by your CRM before you increase spending. For each channel, check:

• The enquiry arrives in your main record with every agreed field filled in, including the source.
• The owner is alerted on the device they'll actually see during the working day.
• The customer receives any confirmation you promise, with the right business name and next step.
• A missed call is noticed and returned, including one made after hours.
• A repeat submission doesn't create a duplicate enquiry.
• The test record is labelled or removed so it doesn't distort your reporting.

Keep readingCheck your enquiry emails aren't landing in spam

Reconcile the numbers every week

Testing proves the path worked on the day you tested it. A short weekly check catches the slow failures: an expired integration, a changed password, a new staff member who isn't receiving alerts. Compare the leads each platform reports for the week with the enquiries recorded in your own system for the same week. If they don't match, find out why before the platform's download window closes.

In the same review, look for enquiries with no owner, enquiries past their next-action date and closed enquiries without an outcome reason. Those three lists tell you more about the handover than any advertising report. Over time, the outcome reasons also show whether a problem sits with the leads themselves or with what happens after they arrive.

Protect the details you're handing over

Every copy of an enquiry is personal information sitting somewhere: in a platform, a CRM, a spreadsheet, an email inbox, a phone. Keep the number of copies down, and limit who can see them to the people who need to act. Remove access promptly when staff or contractors leave.

The Privacy Act doesn't apply to every business. The OAIC says "Most small businesses are not covered by the Privacy Act 1988, but some are", and defines a small business as one with annual turnover of $3 million or less. If the Act does apply to you, Australian Privacy Principle 11 requires reasonable steps to protect the personal information you hold "from misuse, interference and loss, as well as unauthorised access, modification or disclosure", and to destroy or de-identify it once it's no longer needed. Even if it doesn't apply, it's a sensible standard for information customers trusted you with.

Demandify's lead generation work connects campaigns, landing pages and qualification, and sends enquiries to your inbox or an agreed CRM integration. Who follows up each enquiry should be agreed explicitly. Tell us about your business and how enquiries reach you now.

Keep readingCollect enquiry details the right way