---
title: "Review and convert a lead"
description: "Work a lead from inquiry to enrollment on the Pipeline. Change its stage, assign it, log calls and tasks, email the family, then convert them to a family."
type: guide
updated: 2026-10-11
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/enrollment/review-and-convert-a-lead
roles: ["center_admin", "super_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
A **lead** is a prospective family: someone who filled in your inquiry form, called, or walked in asking about openings. You work each lead from its drawer on **Admissions & CRM → Pipeline**, and when they sign up, **Convert to Family** creates the family, the child and the classroom placement in one step.

<VideoEmbed
  src="admissions-explained"
  title="Admissions, explained: from the first inquiry to an enrolled family (narrated, 5 minutes)"
  captions={false}
/>

## Where leads come from

- **Your inquiry form.** Families who use your enroll link, the Enroll button on your website, or find you through NestliCare's search become leads automatically. See [Add an Enroll button to your website](/owners/enrollment/add-an-enroll-button-to-your-website).
- **Walk-ins, calls and emails.** Add them yourself with **Add Lead** on the Pipeline. Once the lead exists, emails you send from it are logged for you (see below).

## Add a lead manually

1. Go to **Admissions & CRM → Pipeline**.
2. Click **Add Lead**.
3. Fill in what you know. Only **First Name** is required. Then click **Create Lead**.

<ScreenshotWithPointers
  src="/screenshots/owners/enrollment/new-lead-form.png"
  alt="The Add Lead form"
  pointers={[
    { x: 34.6, y: 12.6, caption: "Parent first name is required. Everything else is optional and can be filled in over time" },
    { x: 34.6, y: 20.4, caption: "Contact: email and phone, so you can follow up" },
    { x: 49.6, y: 28.2, caption: "Child's date of birth. You'll need it before you can convert the lead" },
    { x: 34.6, y: 44.2, caption: "Source: website, referral, walk-in, phone, and so on" },
  ]}
/>

## Move a lead through the pipeline

Every lead sits in one stage:

- **Inquiry**: just came in
- **Tour Scheduled**: a tour is booked
- **Toured**: they've visited
- **Waitlisted**: they want a spot that isn't open yet
- **Admitted**: you've offered a spot
- **Lost**: they went elsewhere or stopped responding

Drag the card to another column, or click the card to open its drawer and pick a new **Status**. Every change is logged on the lead's timeline. When you convert a lead, it's marked enrolled and leaves the board.

<ScreenshotWithPointers
  src="/screenshots/owners/enrollment/lead-detail-page.png"
  alt="The lead drawer with status, assignment, activity timeline and tasks"
  pointers={[
    { x: 58.6, y: 24.2, caption: "Status: change the lead's stage here" },
    { x: 62.7, y: 3.4, caption: "How warm the lead is, worked out from its logged activity" },
    { x: 65.7, y: 7.1, caption: "Activity timeline: every status change, note, call, email you send, and the parent's reply" },
    { x: 72.2, y: 7.1, caption: "Tasks: follow-ups for yourself, like calling back Monday" },
  ]}
/>

## Assign a lead

If more than one person chases leads, pick a staff member under **Assigned To** in the lead's drawer. Hand-offs are logged.

## Calls, tasks and follow-ups

- **Log Call** and **Add Note** on the timeline record a phone conversation or anything else worth remembering.
- **Add Task** sets a follow-up with a due date.
- The **Today** button on the Pipeline opens **Today's actions**: overdue tasks, tasks due today, today's tours, and leads that have gone quiet or have nobody assigned.

<Callout kind="tip" title="Three touches is the sweet spot">
Families usually need about three touches between first inquiry and decision: a tour invitation, a tour follow-up, and a "ready to enroll?" check-in. Set those three tasks the day a lead comes in.
</Callout>

## Email a lead and see their reply

Open the lead and click **Send email**. Pick one of your email templates as a starting point (the one matching the lead's stage is listed first) or start from scratch, edit the subject and message, and send. The email goes out under your daycare's name, and the send is logged on the lead's timeline.

When the parent replies, the reply lands on the same timeline as **Reply from …**, the lead's assignee and the person who sent the email are told (bell and push, plus a copy in their own inbox), and you can click **Open conversation** to read the whole exchange and answer right there. Answer from NestliCare rather than from the emailed copy so the reply is kept with the lead.

Automated emails from your lead automations work the same way: the send is logged, and a parent's reply lands on the timeline. Since no one person wrote them, the reply alert goes to the lead's assignee, or to your admins if the lead is unassigned.

Email sending is switched on per daycare. If the composer says it isn't switched on for your account yet, you can still write the message and copy it into your own email; email support@nestlicare.com to have sending turned on.

## Extra questions on the lead

To collect extra details (how they heard about you, the days they need, allergies), add questions to your inquiry form under **Admissions & CRM → Enroll Page → Inquiry Form → Questions**. The answers show on the lead under **From the inquiry form**. See [Change your inquiry form questions](/owners/enrollment/change-your-inquiry-form-questions).

## Convert a lead to a family

When the family says yes:

1. Open the lead and click **Convert to Family** at the bottom of the drawer.
2. Under **Where does this child go?**, choose:
   - **New family** for their first child with you. Check the **Family name** and **Billing email**.
   - **Existing family** for a sibling of a child already enrolled. Search by name, email, or a child's name and pick the family. If the parent looks like someone you already have, the dialog says so.
3. Check the **Child**: first name, last name, and **Date of birth**. The date of birth is needed to create the child.
4. Choose what happens for the parent:
   - **Add [parent] as a family member** is ticked when the lead has an email. Their phone comes across too.
   - **Email them an invite to the parent app** is off by default. You can also send it later from the family card.
5. Under **Enrollment**, leave **Place the child in a classroom** ticked and pick the **Classroom** and **Start date**, or untick it to place them later.
6. Click **Convert** (or **Add to family**).

Any completed enrollment forms are copied to the family's documents; the dialog tells you how many. Conversion can't be undone. Afterwards, attach a tuition plan so the child is billed. See [Create a billing plan](/owners/billing/create-a-billing-plan).

## Troubleshooting

**Converting said the parent member wasn't added.** The family and child were still created. Usually that email already belongs to a parent in NestliCare. Add or invite them from the family card. For a returning family, use **Existing family** next time.

**Converting asks for the child's date of birth.** Enter it in the dialog's **Date of birth** field and convert again.

**There's no Convert to Family button.** It's hidden on **Lost** leads. Change the status back to an active stage first.

**A lead is sitting in Inquiry but I did call them.** Stages don't change on their own. Move the card after each contact, and use **Log Call** so the timeline shows it.

**The lead looks cold but the parent is engaged.** How warm a lead is comes from logged activity. If you talked on the phone but didn't log it, the system has no idea. Use **Log Call** or **Add Note**.