> ## Knowledge Base Index > Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://help.leadtruffle.co/sitemap.xml > Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further. > Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash). # Understanding Contacts and Inquiries in LeadTruffle 📝 *Learn how Contacts and Inquiries work together — and why this model keeps your pipeline clean when the same person reaches out more than once.* --- ## Table of contents * [Overview](#2-overview) * [What is a Contact?](#2-what-is-a-contact) * [What is an Inquiry?](#2-what-is-an-inquiry) * [How Contacts and Inquiries work together](#2-how-contacts-and-inquiries-work-together) * [Source, Entry Point, and Channels](#2-source-entry-point-and-channels) * [The full hierarchy: Contact → Inquiry → Conversation → Message](#2-the-full-hierarchy-contact--inquiry--conversation--message) * [How deduplication works](#2-how-deduplication-works) * [The Needs Review badge](#2-the-needs-review-badge) * [What this means for your pipeline](#2-what-this-means-for-your-pipeline) --- ## Overview LeadTruffle is built around two core records: **Contacts** and **Inquiries**. A **Contact** is the person — the homeowner or business — who is reaching out. A **Contact** is your pipeline record. Status, assignee, and notes all live here. An **Inquiry** is a specific inbound event from that person — a Yelp lead, a website form submission, a phone call. One Contact can have many Inquiries over time. This model exists to solve a real problem: the same homeowner submits a Yelp lead in March, calls in May, and submits a website form in July. In a lead-first system, that's three separate pipeline records to manage. In LeadTruffle's contact-first model, it's one Contact with three Inquiries underneath it — one pipeline record, full history intact. | Want help using and customizing the Contact Board and Table views in LeadTruffle? See [How to use the Contacts Board and Table view in LeadTruffle](https://help.leadtruffle.co/en/article/how-to-use-the-contacts-board-and-table-view-in-leadtruffle-bon0hj/?bust=1781129175585) --- ## What is a Contact? A Contact is the person, household, or business that has reached out to you. It is the primary record in LeadTruffle. 👆 [View your Contacts in LeadTruffle here](https://app.leadtruffle.com/contacts) Everything pipeline-related lives at the Contact level: * **Status** — where this person sits in your sales pipeline (New, Contacted, Quoted, Appointment Set, Nurturing, Won, Lost) * **Assignee** — which team member owns this Contact * **Source** — where this person originally came from, set by their first Inquiry and never overwritten (examples: Yelp, Google LSA, Thumbtack, Website, Phone) * **Activity** — a summary of all key events related to this Contact * **Notes** — your team's running notes on this person * **Needs Review** — a flag that new activity has come in and someone should take a look ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/d/c/4/1/dc41d3f6726e4000/image_1h1snzn.png =750x437) A Contact is created the first time someone reaches out. Every subsequent Inquiry from that same person attaches to the existing Contact rather than creating a new one. *Example: Sarah Mitchell submits a website form asking about a furnace replacement. LeadTruffle creates a Contact for Sarah with Status: New. Three weeks later, Sarah calls your business line. LeadTruffle recognizes her phone number and attaches a second Inquiry to her existing Contact — her status and notes stay exactly where your team left them.* --- ## What is an Inquiry? An Inquiry is a time-bound expression of intent — the specific inbound event that brought a Contact into LeadTruffle, or brought them back. Every time someone reaches out, a new Inquiry is created. That Inquiry captures: * **Source** — where it came from (Yelp, Google LSA, Thumbtack, Website, Phone, etc.) * **Entry Point** — how it entered LeadTruffle (Yelp Integration, Website Texting Widget, Phone System, Email Gateway, Custom Lead Source) * **Channels** — which communication channels were used for this specific Inquiry (SMS, Email, Phone, Yelp in-app) * **Inquiry contact information** — the name, phone, email, and address captured at the moment the Inquiry came in * **AI Data Collection status** — whether the AI has started, is in progress on, or has completed data collection for this Inquiry * **Conversations** — the message threads that happened in response to this Inquiry An Inquiry is a historical record. It doesn't change after it's created — it's a snapshot of that specific interaction. There is no dedicated tab today to view your Inquiries. You view Inquiries on the Contact level. *Example: Mark Crown submits a Request-a-Quote on Yelp. LeadTruffle creates an Inquiry with Source: Yelp, Entry Point: Yelp Integration, and Channels: Yelp. The AI sends an opening message. Mark replies. The AI collects his job details. All of that activity lives under this Inquiry.* ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/d/c/4/1/dc41d3f6726e4000/image_1y3ycnv.png =650x379) ![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/d/c/4/1/dc41d3f6726e4000/image_m5838s.png =750x888) --- ## How Contacts and Inquiries work together The relationship is straightforward: one Contact, potentially many Inquiries. | | Contact | Inquiry | | ---- | | What it represents | The person | A specific inbound event | | How many per person | One | One per interaction | | Pipeline status lives here | ✓ | | | Assignee lives here | ✓ | | | Notes live here | ✓ | | | Source / Entry Point / Channels | ✓ (from first Inquiry, never overwritten) | ✓ (specific to this Inquiry) | | AI qualification status | | ✓ | | Conversation history | | ✓ | When a new Inquiry comes in from an existing Contact, LeadTruffle does two things: 1. Attaches the new Inquiry to the existing Contact record 2. Triggers a **Needs Review** badge on the Contact so your team knows something new came in The Contact's pipeline status does not automatically reset. Your team stays in control of the pipeline. || One exception: if a new Inquiry comes in on a Contact marked **Won** or **Lost**, the status resets to **New** and Needs Review triggers. LeadTruffle treats this as a fresh opportunity. --- ## Source, Entry Point, and Channels These three fields appear on both Contacts and Inquiries, but they work differently at each level. ### On a Contact * **Source** — taken from the first Inquiry, never overwritten. Tells you where this person originally came from. * **Entry Point** — taken from the first Inquiry, never overwritten. Tells you how they originally entered LeadTruffle. * **Channels** — additive across all Inquiries. If a Contact has used SMS, Email, and Phone across different Inquiries over time, all three appear here. ### On an Inquiry * **Source** — where this specific Inquiry came from. * **Entry Point** — how this specific Inquiry entered LeadTruffle. * **Channels** — which communication channels were used for this specific Inquiry only. *Example: John Smith first came in via a Yelp lead in January. His Contact shows Source: Yelp. In April, he submits a website form. His Contact Source stays Yelp — but his Channels now include both Yelp and SMS. The April Inquiry shows Source: Website and Channels: SMS on its own record.* ### What Source and Entry Point are not Source and Entry Point are not the same thing. A few examples to make this clear: | Source | Entry Point | What it means | | ---- | | Modernize | Custom Lead Source | A Modernize lead came in via a configured webhook | | Google LSA | Email Gateway | A Google LSA lead was forwarded into LeadTruffle via email | | Yelp | Yelp Integration | A Yelp lead came in via the native Yelp integration | | Website | Website Texting Widget | Someone submitted your website widget form | | Phone | Phone System | Someone called your LeadTruffle number directly | | Source is *where* the lead came from. Entry Point is *how* it arrived in LeadTruffle. They often look similar for marketplace leads (Yelp/Yelp Integration) but are meaningfully different for leads that pass through aggregators or email pipelines. --- ## The full hierarchy: Contact → Inquiry → Conversation → Message Every piece of communication in LeadTruffle fits into this four-level structure: * **Contact** → the person * **Inquiry** → the inbound event that brought them in * **Conversation** → a channel-specific message thread tied to that Inquiry * **Message** → an individual message within that Conversation A single Inquiry can have multiple Conversations. For example, an Inquiry might have an SMS Conversation and a separate Email Conversation — both tied to the same Inquiry, both visible in the Contact's history. *Example: Sally Jones submits a Thumbtack lead. LeadTruffle creates an Inquiry. The AI responds via SMS — that's one Conversation. Your team later sends a follow-up email — that's a second Conversation. Both live under Sally's Thumbtack Inquiry.* --- ## How deduplication works When a new Inquiry comes in, LeadTruffle checks whether a Contact already exists for that person before creating a new one. Deduplication priority: 1. **Phone number** — matched first 2. **Email address** — matched second if no phone match If a match is found, the new Inquiry attaches to the existing Contact. If no match is found, a new Contact is created. ||| A few things to know about dedupe: calls under 10 seconds (spam/robocalls) are filtered before dedup runs and do not create Contacts or Inquiries. Outbound messages your team sends — manual SMS, emails, calls — do not create new Inquiries. They create Conversations under the existing Inquiry. --- ## The Needs Review badge The Needs Review badge appears on a Contact when new activity has come in that your team should look at. It does not change the pipeline status — it's a flag, not a status. Needs Review triggers when: * A new Inquiry comes in on an existing Contact * A new submission comes in on a Won or Lost Contact (status also resets to New in this case) Needs Review clears when any of the following happen: * A team member updates the Contact's status * A team member changes the assignee * A team member clicks **Mark Reviewed** --- ## What this means for your pipeline The practical takeaway for your team: * **Work Contacts, not Inquiries.** Status, assignee, and notes are all on the Contact. That's where your pipeline lives. * **Use Inquiries for context.** When you open a Contact, the Inquiries tab shows you every time that person has reached out — what they asked for, what the AI collected, and what was said. * **Needs Review is your signal.** When it appears, something new happened on that Contact. Check the latest Inquiry to see what came in. * **One person = one Contact.** If you see the same person in your pipeline more than once, that's a deduplication issue worth flagging to support. --- Need help? Contact us at support@leadtruffle.com or message the team via the chat on this article or in-app.