Switching from Leads & Clients to Contacts & Inquiries
📝 Learn what changed, what stayed the same, and how to migrate your pipeline to the new Contacts model when you're ready.
Table of contents
- What changed and why
- Leads vs. Contacts: the key differences
- How to switch to Contacts
- What the migration copies over
- Analytics and exports
- Timeline and what to expect
- Frequently asked questions
What changed and why
LeadTruffle has moved from a Leads and Clients model to a Contacts and Inquiries model.
In the old model, every lead submission was its own pipeline record. If the same homeowner reached out three times — once via Yelp, once via your website, once by phone — you had three separate lead records, each with their own status and history. Over time this created clutter, duplicate pipeline entries, and confusion about which record to actually work from.
The new model flips this around. The person is now the record. Every time someone reaches out, that event (an Inquiry) attaches to their existing Contact rather than creating a new pipeline entry. One person = one Contact, with all their Inquiries, conversations, and history underneath it.
Old model | New model |
|---|---|
Lead | Inquiry |
Client | Contact |
Lead status | Contact status |
Leads Board | Contacts Board |
Lead assignee | Contact assignee |
Lead notes | Contact notes |
Leads vs. Contacts: the key differences
Where status lives
In the old model, status lived on the individual lead submission. In the new model, status lives on the Contact — the person. This means if someone submits three inquiries, there's one status to manage, not three.
Repeat inquiries
In the old model, a repeat submission from the same person created a new lead record. In the new model, it attaches to their existing Contact and triggers a Needs Review badge so your team knows something new came in — without creating a duplicate pipeline entry.
One exception: Won and Lost Contacts
If a new Inquiry comes in on a Contact you've marked Won or Lost, the status resets to New and Needs Review triggers automatically. LeadTruffle treats this as a fresh opportunity.
Notes, assignee, and activity
In the new model, notes, assignee, and activity all belong to the Contact — not to any individual Inquiry. When you add a note or reassign a Contact, it applies to the person, not a single lead event.
Inquiry history
Every lead submission you had in the old model becomes an Inquiry under the Contact. Nothing is deleted. All your conversation history, AI data collection, and lead details are still there — they just live under the Contact's Inquiries tab instead of as standalone lead records.
👉 Learn more about how Contacts and Inquiries work in LeadTruffle
How to switch to Contacts
Switching is optional for existing customers. You won't be forced to change — but we recommend making the move when your team is ready.
- Go to Company Settings
- Click Contacts
- Press Switch to Contacts
- Type OVERWRITE CONTACTS to confirm
- Press Run Contacts Migration
What the migration copies over
The migration is a one-time script that copies your existing pipeline data from Legacy Leads into your Contact records so you're not starting from scratch.
What gets copied:
- Status — your lead's current pipeline status is copied to the Contact
- Assignee — the assigned team member is copied to the Contact
- Notes — any notes on the lead are copied to the Contact
If a Contact has multiple leads:
The migration looks across all lead submissions tied to that Contact and picks the best available data. If one lead has notes and another doesn't, it uses the one with notes. Same logic applies to status and assignee — it takes the most complete record.
What the migration does not do:
- It does not delete any leads or conversation history
- It does not move transcripts, recordings, or AI qualification details — those stay on the Inquiry where they belong
- It does not trigger any status change webhooks
- It does not create an ongoing sync between Legacy Leads and Contacts — after migration, Contacts is the source of truth
Analytics and exports
The new model gives you two separate export types depending on what you need.
Contacts export
A contact-first export — one row per person. Includes:
- Contact name, phone, email, address
- Contact status and assignee
- Source (from first Inquiry, never overwritten)
- Initial Inquiry source, entry point, and channels
- Latest Inquiry source, entry point, and channels
- Total Inquiry count
Use this for pipeline reporting — understanding where your people are in the sales process and where they originally came from.
Inquiries export
An inquiry-first export — one row per inbound event. Includes the source, entry point, channels, and AI qualification details for each individual Inquiry.
Use this for lead volume reporting — understanding how many inbound events you're getting and from which sources.
Timeline and what to expect
We won't force you to switch. Legacy Leads will remain available for existing customers during the transition. Your current workflow won't break.
That said, the Contacts model is the direction LeadTruffle is heading. New features, improvements, and integrations will be built around Contacts and Inquiries going forward. Legacy Leads will be maintained but won't receive new development.
Our recommendation: switch when your team has a quiet moment to run the migration, review the Contacts board, and get comfortable with the new layout. It's a one-time adjustment — and once you're through it, managing repeat leads and keeping your pipeline clean gets significantly easier.
When you're ready, start here: Company Settings.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to switch?
No. Switching to Contacts is completely optional for existing customers. Your current Leads and Clients setup will keep working. We won't force a migration.
That said, Contacts is where new features and improvements will be built going forward. We recommend switching when your team has a quiet moment to do it cleanly.
Will I lose any of my data?
No. The migration copies your pipeline data — status, assignee, and notes — from your existing leads into your Contact records. All conversation history, AI data collection, transcripts, and lead details stay exactly where they are. Nothing is deleted.
What happens to my existing leads?
Every lead you had in the old model becomes an Inquiry under the corresponding Contact. They're all still there — they just live under the Contact's Inquiries tab instead of as standalone records.
Can I go back to Leads after switching?
Yes, during the transition period Legacy Leads remains available and you can return to it from Company Settings. That said, we don't recommend running both simultaneously — after migration, Contacts becomes the source of truth and Legacy Leads fields may become stale.
What if the same person has multiple leads in the old system?
The migration handles this automatically. It looks across all lead submissions tied to the same person and picks the most complete data — whichever lead has notes, a status, or an assignee set. The rest of the submissions become Inquiries underneath the Contact.
Will my pipeline status carry over?
Yes. The migration copies the lead status to the Contact's pipeline status. Your New, Contacted, Quoted, Won, Lost — whatever you had set — comes across.
What about my team's notes?
Yes, notes carry over to the Contact record as part of the migration.
When should I run the migration?
Run it once before your team starts working in Contacts — ideally before anyone begins updating statuses, assignees, or notes in the new model. The migration will overwrite Contact-level pipeline data, so running it after your team has made edits could undo their work.
What if I need help switching?
Just reach out — reply to the announcement email, contact us at support@leadtruffle.com, or message the team via the chat on this article. We're happy to walk you through it.
--
Need help? Contact us at support@leadtruffle.com or message the team via the chat on this article or in-app.
Updated on: 11/06/2026
Thank you!