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How do I use the Prospect Board?
The Prospect Board is a Kanban pipeline for people who have inquired but are not enrolled. Each column is a stage, each card is a client record. Add people by creating a client, through the lead form, or via self-booking, then work them from the board: follow up, assign staff, tag, book, enroll, or mark lost. Opus1 Plus is required — without it, Clients → Prospects shows an upgrade message.
Last updated: September 8, 2026
Applies to: Owner / Manager / Staff
PLUS Feature: Yes
Plan: Opus1 Plus (Prospects Funnel & Management)
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Why the board exists
- Which job are you doing?
- Get prospects onto the board
- See the pipeline at a glance
- Work a prospect today
- Move them through the pipeline
- Convert them into students
- Park them or close them
- Stay on top of follow-up
- Reach more than one prospect at a time
- Measure what actually converted
- Configure the pipeline
- Permissions
- FAQ
- Related Articles
Overview
The Prospect Board is not a second client list. It is where you go when the question is who still needs us to do something before they become a student?
A prospect in Opus1 is a client record with a prospect-type Client Status. There is no separate Create Prospect button — the moment someone has a name and a pipeline stage, they have a card. When they enroll and the subscription lifecycle applies Member, they usually leave the prospect columns on their own.
Use the board for a shared, visual pipeline. Use All Clients for a directory. Use Prospects Conversion for numbers.
Location: Clients → Prospects
Requires: Opus1 Plus. Owner, Manager, or Staff — Limited Staff cannot open the board.
Why the board exists
Music schools rarely lose a student at the recital. They lose them in the gap between "we called about piano" and "they're on the schedule."
That gap usually looks like a voicemail living in one person's phone, a website inquiry sitting in email until someone remembers, a trial that went well with no callback, a family waiting on Tuesday 3:30 while somebody else books the slot, or three staff each assuming another one followed up.
A spreadsheet can list names. It cannot book the trial, text the parent, hold the time, or show the whole team which column a family is in. The board exists so that gap is visible and workable from the same place you already enroll and schedule.
What it gives you that a list does not:
- One picture of the funnel the front desk, teachers, and owner can all see
- Accountability — every card can carry an assigned staff member and a next follow-up date
- A next action attached to the person — book, enroll, share a booking link, SMS, or mark lost without hunting through profiles
- A process that survives busy weeks — columns and follow-up tags still show who is overdue when the person who took the call is teaching
If you only needed a searchable list of families, Clients already does that. The board is for pipeline work.
Which job are you doing?
The board is one screen with several doors. Pick the job, then the tool.
| What you are trying to do | Where to go | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stop a new inquiry dying in email or on a sticky note | Get prospects onto the board | A card in Prospect (new) is a shared to-do. An unread email is not |
| See who is waiting, who is in trial, and who went quiet | See the pipeline at a glance | Columns answer "where is this family?" without opening records |
| Call, text, or note one family right now | Work a prospect today | The detail panel is the working surface for one card |
| Advance someone because something happened | Move them through the pipeline | Stage changes are how the team knows the story moved |
| Turn a yes into a weekly student or a class seat | Convert them into students | Booking from the board skips the hunt through Clients |
| Stop pursuing without deleting the record | Park them or close them | Sleep and Lost are different on purpose |
| Make sure overdue calls happen today | Stay on top of follow-up | Red and orange tags plus Show only overdue are the morning list |
| Email or text a whole stage at once | Reach more than one prospect at a time | Batch tools are for groups; the detail panel is for one conversation |
| Know whether trials convert, and why you lose people | Measure what actually converted | The board is triage. Prospects Conversion is the report |
If you are unsure, one question settles it: do you need to do something with this person today, or see how the studio is doing this month? Today's work stays on the board. Monthly performance is Clients → Prospects Conversion.
Get prospects onto the board
A prospect who is not on the board is invisible to everyone except whoever took the call. Getting them on it is how the rest of the team can help, how follow-up dates can fire, and how conversion reporting has anything to count.
New clients receive the Status to assign to new clients from CRM settings, typically Prospect (new).
| Option | When to use it | How |
|---|---|---|
| Add client... | You are on the phone or at the desk and have a name | Clients → Add client.... Fill in contact info, set Client Status if you need a stage other than the default, add tags such as #piano, and save |
| Lead capture form | You want website and social traffic creating cards without staff typing | Owner sets this up in Business settings → General → CRM. Open the public form in a browser not already signed in as a client. See How can I embed the lead capture form in my website? |
| Self-booking or self-registration | The family already booked a trial, class, or event themselves | They get a client record and the default status. The board then handles the follow-up after the booking rather than capturing the name |
| Auto-assign staff | You do not want new cards sitting unowned | Owner enables Automatically assign staff to new prospects. New prospects in the default status are assigned round-robin from your priority list. See How do I automatically assign my staff to prospects in my pipeline? |
After someone is added, the card appears in the column for their Client Status, or in Unassigned if no status is set and filters are on. Card order follows board position — new cards usually land at the bottom, so drag them up or use Move prospect to top in the detail panel. If auto-assign is on, Assigned staff may already be filled.
ℹ️ Tip: Put the lead form on the website and train the desk to use Add client... for phone and walk-ins. The board only works when both doors empty into the same pipeline.
See the pipeline at a glance
A list of 200 clients does not tell you who needs a call before 5pm. Columns do. In a few seconds the board answers how many people are waiting for first contact, how many trials are this week, who went quiet after a trial, and what is parked in Sleep or Lost.
Each column is a Client Status from your pipeline, and each card is one prospect. Cards typically show the name and age, hashtag tags, a follow-up date tag when the next follow-up is overdue or within 48 hours, and campaign or opt-out tags where those apply.
Default stages when CRM is first enabled:
| Status | What it means on the floor |
|---|---|
| Prospect (new) | Just inquired. Nobody has had a real conversation yet |
| Prospect (follow up) | An active conversation with a next step |
| Prospect (trial) | A trial is scheduled or just happened |
| Prospect (trial follow up) | The trial is done and you are closing |
| Prospect (sleep) | Not now — maybe summer, maybe "call us in the fall." Still a prospect |
| Prospect (lost) | Done pursuing. Record a reason so reporting means something |
The Owner can rename, add, remove, and reorder these, so Waitlist, Tour booked, Proposal Sent are all valid if that is how your studio talks. Reserved statuses — Member, Lifetime Member, Member Lost — are applied by the subscription lifecycle and should not be used as prospect columns.
Prospects with no Client Status appear in Unassigned when filters are on, and you can drag a card to Unassigned Status to clear the stage.
Keeping the board readable
| Control | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Collapse a column | Hide Sleep or Lost so active stages fill the screen. Prospect (lost) starts collapsed unless you have shown it before |
| Search clients... | Find a name, or type #piano to filter by tag — the box hints Use # sign to search for tags ex: #piano. Multiple tags accept and / or |
| Staff dropdown | A manager reviewing one teacher's pipeline |
| Show only my prospects | Your personal working list. Only useful when cards actually have assigned staff |
| Show only overdue | The morning standup list: next follow-up is in the past |
| Show only actions due | Campaign Action or Call stages needing a human. Different from follow-up dates |
| Refresh | Reload after someone else has moved cards |
| Shift + scroll | Move sideways when you have many columns |
Opus1 remembers your search, toggles, and staff filter in the browser, so Monday's view comes back on Tuesday.
🗒️ Note: Client Status — the column — is not the same as Prospect Status (Pending / Won / Lost) on the Prospects Conversion report. The board is the pipeline you work; the report is deal-level conversion for analytics.
Work a prospect today
The board tells you who. The detail panel is the conversation. Open a card when you are about to call, text, book, or leave a note, not when you only wanted a column count.
Click any card to open it, and use the previous and next chevrons to walk a column without closing the panel.
| Field or action | Why it is there | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Tells the team where this family is, without a meeting | Click the status tag, choose a stage, save |
| Tags | Lets you find all piano inquiries or all camp leads later | Click the tags area to add or remove, creating tags as you go. Tags can also be edited on the client edit form and the client profile, and show on cards as #tagname chips |
| Assigned staff | Makes Show only my prospects and staff filters honest | Click Assigned staff and select one or more people |
| Next follow-up | The promise you make yourself about the next touch | Presets of 1, 3, or 7 days and 1, 3, 6, or 12 months, or a calendar date |
| Move prospect to top | This family is hot and should not sit under twenty cards | Sidebar button |
| Staff comments | The next person opening this card should not have to guess what happened | Post a comment on the Client History tab. This is also what updates Last follow-up |
| Share booking link | They said yes but you want them to pick the time | Sends a booking-link proposal by email |
| Go to SMS conversation | The thread already exists, so stay in context | Requires SMS and a phone number |
| Edit details | Fix a parent email, add an account manager, change a birthday | Opens the full client form |
| Enroll in Session | They want a group class, camp, or course | Opens session enrollment for this client |
| Book Appointment | They want a private lesson or trial on a teacher's calendar | Opens appointment booking for this client |
Each change confirms with a short message such as Client updated or Client tags updated. If you do not see one, the edit did not save.
The header carries read-only context: when the account was created, the last staff message or comment, and the next planned follow-up, which turns red once overdue. Note that Last follow up tracks staff messages and comments — it does not update from a phone call, an SMS, or a marketing email.
For anything the sidebar cannot reach — account managers, dependents, address — use Edit details. Client history in depth is covered in PLUS: How do I find a client's history?.
🗒️ Tip: Do not close the panel until two things are true — you took the action, and you set the next follow-up. A card with no next date will never turn red and will never appear in Show only overdue.
Move them through the pipeline
Stage changes are how the team learns the story moved — you had the conversation, they booked a trial, the trial happened, they went quiet.
| Option | Who does it | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Drag-and-drop to another column | You, on the board | The fastest manual move. Drag within a column to reorder |
| Status dropdown in the detail panel or client form | You | The panel is already open, or you are editing the full profile |
| Move prospect to stage in an ongoing campaign | Opus1 runs it | The sequence should hand them off, for example three days after the last trial message |
| Subscription lifecycle | Opus1 runs it | They enrolled. Reserved Member and Member Lost statuses take over — do not drag people into Member by hand |
While you drag, drop zones appear at the bottom of the board:
| Drop zone | What it does |
|---|---|
| Unassign Status | Clears the stage. They may show in Unassigned when filters are on |
| Book Appointment | Skips the column change and opens private lesson or trial booking |
| Enroll in Session | Skips the column change and opens class enrollment |
| Prospect lost | Opens the lost-reason dialog. Requires Status to mark prospect as lost in CRM settings |
Owners on desktop can drag column headers to reorder the pipeline. That updates Client statuses in CRM settings for everyone, not just your own view.
Manual moves win over automation. If a staff member has already changed the stage, the campaign step stands down — a person looking at the family beats a sequence written last month.
Convert them into students
The board's job is not collecting cards. It is getting people onto the schedule and into billing.
| Option | Use it when | How from the board |
|---|---|---|
| Book Appointment | You or the teacher are picking a time on a private-lesson calendar — trial, makeup, or weekly | Drag the card to Book Appointment, or use the detail panel action. Booking opens with this client selected |
| Enroll in Session | They belong on a class roster, camp, or course | Drag to Enroll in Session, or use the panel action |
| Share booking link | They want to pick the time themselves, on their phone, after the call | Detail panel → Share booking link, which sends a booking-link proposal by email. See Sending Proposals |
| Appointment hold | They asked you to save Tuesday 3:30 while they talk at home | Hold the slot so nobody else takes it. See What are appointment holds? |
One thing worth knowing: sending a proposal does not reserve the time on its own. If the family needs that slot held while they decide, hold it explicitly — If I send a proposal, is that spot automatically put on hold? covers exactly this.
After they enroll, the subscription lifecycle usually applies Member and they leave the prospect columns, so you should not need to drag them to a member status. If a converted family is still sitting in Prospect (trial follow up), refresh the board — and if the card stays, check whether the plan they booked is configured to set member status. That is a settings question rather than a board-drag question.
Park them or close them
Not every inquiry enrolls this month. The board needs a place for "not now" that is not the same as "never," and a place for "never" that still captures why. Mixing them is how win-back lists get polluted and how Sleep becomes a junk drawer.
| What they said | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| "Call us in September." "We're traveling until November." | Prospect (sleep) | Still a prospect, just not in the daily working columns. Collapse the column, and set a next follow-up for the date they named |
| "We're going with another school." "We decided not to start." No response after a real sequence | Prospect (lost) | You are done. The reason feeds Prospects Conversion and any later win-back export |
| They enrolled | Let Member apply | They are a student, not a parked prospect |
| You do not know yet and have not tried | Stay in new or follow up | Do not mark lost to tidy the board. That destroys your reporting |
To mark someone lost, the Owner must first set Status to mark prospect as lost in Business settings → General → CRM. Then either drag the card to the Prospect lost drop zone and choose or enter a reason, or open the detail panel and change Client Status to your lost status.
Use reasons the team will type the same way twice — Price, Schedule, Went elsewhere, no response, moved. Vague reasons make the conversion report ornamental.
Stay on top of follow-up
Most studios do not have a prospect problem. They have a next-call problem. Follow-up dates exist so "I'll call them Thursday" lives on the card instead of in someone's head, and the colored tags exist so you do not have to open every card to see who is late.
| Tag on the card | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red, clock and date | Next follow-up is in the past |
| Orange, clock and date | Next follow-up is within 48 hours |
| No date tag | No next date, or a date more than 48 hours out — still saved, and visible in the panel and in reporting |
Follow-up tags are separate from campaign Action and Call tags and from Email and SMS opt-out tags. A card can show more than one.
A daily habit that works: turn on Show only overdue, optionally with Show only my prospects, and the board becomes today's call list. Set the next date before you close each panel. Log the conversation as a staff comment on the Client History tab, since that is what updates Last follow-up — a phone call does not.
Follow-up tags do not send notifications. They are visual. If nobody opens the board, nobody gets nudged. Full detail is in Follow-Up Date Tags on the Prospect Board.
Reach more than one prospect at a time
One-to-one work closes a family. Group work is how you avoid ignoring forty #summer-camp cards in Prospect (new) the week registration opens. Use group tools when the message is the same for a stage, a tag, or a filter, and stay in the detail panel when the message depends on this family's trial, teacher, or schedule.
| Option | Where | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Batch Email | Toolbar envelope, or a column's ⋮ menu | A stage or filtered set needs the same email. Respects the search, tag, staff, and overdue filters already on |
| Batch SMS | Toolbar, or column ⋮ menu | The same idea for text. Requires SMS. Cards with an SMS opt-out tag will not send — see Batch SMS best practices |
| Create Campaign for status | Column ⋮ menu, with campaigns enabled | This stage needs a sequence over days rather than one blast. See How do I create an email campaign? |
Narrow the board before you send — Show only overdue plus #guitar, for instance. Batch tools follow what you are looking at.
Measure what actually converted
The board answers who you work today. Prospects Conversion answers how the studio is doing this month. Mixing those is how a manager tries to run a KPI meeting on a Kanban board.
Location: Clients → Prospects Conversion. Same Plus requirement as the board.
Go there for win rate by staff or date range, time-to-close, lost reasons, and a CSV with emails and account managers for outreach outside Opus1. Clicking a row opens the same detail panel as the board, so a manager can fix a missing follow-up date without leaving the report.
See Prospect Conversion Stats: Exporting Contact Details to CSV.
Configure the pipeline
Out of the box the default stages match a common lesson-school story: new inquiry, follow up, trial, close, with sleep and lost as exits. If your studio runs tours, proposals, waitlists, or camp-only leads, rename the columns to use your language. A pipeline nobody believes in becomes a board nobody updates.
Location: Business settings → General → CRM. Visible only with Opus1 Plus enabled, and only the Owner can edit these settings.
| Setting | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Client statuses | The columns — add, rename, reorder, remove. Accepts letters, numbers, spaces, underscores, hyphens, and parentheses. Member, Lifetime Member, and Member Lost are automatic and not customizable |
| Status to assign to new clients | Where brand-new records land. Get this wrong and every web lead starts in the wrong column |
| Status to mark prospect as lost | Where the Prospect lost drop zone sends people. Required before lost-reason tracking works |
| Automatically assign staff to new prospects | Stops unowned cards, round-robin from a priority list you configure |
| Client tag categories | Optional structure for tags used in templates and related features |
Reload the board after changing statuses. Existing cards follow the updated pipeline.
The lead capture form lives on this same CRM card. Point website and social traffic there so staff are not typing every inquiry.
Permissions
| Action | Owner | Manager | Staff | Limited Staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access the Prospect Board | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Add prospects with Add client... | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Edit status, tags, follow-up, and staff on the board | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Drag and drop cards | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Batch email or SMS from the board | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reorder pipeline columns | Yes | No | No | No |
| Rename Status from a column's ⋮ menu | Yes | No | No | No |
| Configure CRM settings | Yes | No | No | No |
| Enable Opus1 Plus | Yes | No | No | No |
| View Prospects Conversion | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
FAQ
Why don't I see the Prospect Board? It requires Opus1 Plus. Confirm Plus is on for the location, and that you are signed in as Owner, Manager, or Staff rather than Limited Staff.
Is there a Create Prospect button? No. Prospects in Opus1 are client records with a prospect Client Status, so use Add client..., the lead capture form, or any other client-creation flow including self-booking.
What is the difference between Client Status and Won or Lost on the report? Client Status is the Kanban column you work on the board. Prospect Status — Pending, Won, Lost — on Prospects Conversion is deal-level tracking for analytics. Move cards on the board; read win rate on the report.
Do prospects leave the board when they enroll? Usually. When a subscription applies Member, the subscription lifecycle moves them out of the prospect stages, so you should not drag them into Member yourself.
Do follow-up tags send reminders? No. Opus1 shows them visually on the card only, and a date more than 48 hours out gets no tag at all — the date is still saved in the detail panel and in reporting.
Related Articles
Working the pipeline
- Follow-Up Date Tags on the Prospect Board — red and orange tags, last versus next follow-up, and board filters
- How do I automatically assign my staff to prospects in my pipeline?
- PLUS: How do I find a client's history? — staff comments and the client history trail
Getting leads in
- How can I embed the lead capture form in my website?
- How do I create conditional questions for my registration and lead forms?
Converting
- Sending Proposals — sharing a booking path with one family
- If I send a proposal, is that spot automatically put on hold?
- What are appointment holds? — saving a trial time while a family decides
- A guide to proposals tracking
Outreach and reporting