One dashboard from first lead to onboarding
A small accounting firm was running sales and onboarding through spreadsheets, inboxes, phone calls, and staff memory. Leads arrived in more than one place, follow-up lived on personal lists, and staff had to enter approved client details again in the firm's practice-management system.
The firm needed one place to see every opportunity, decide who owned the next step, review client communication, and understand which referral relationships produced work that fit the business. A generic contact database would have stored the names. It would not have run the work.
Daedalus built a production CRM around the firm's actual operating sequence. Onboarding emails and Vapi calls create structured leads. A shared Action Queue gathers stale work, quote reminders, approvals, ownership gaps, and missing information. Once a client is approved, the CRM checks Karbon and creates the practice-management record without another round of data entry.
At a glance
- Administrative time saved
- 10+ hrs / week
- Time saved per accountant
- 3 hrs / week
- Shared operating dashboards
- 1
- Workflow span
- Lead to onboarding
The client estimates the time savings; Daedalus has not yet measured them independently. The product details below reflect the production workflow we implemented.
The problem
The old process worked because people carried it. That made the firm dependent on memory, repeated entry, and separate trackers at every handoff.
- Leads from calls, onboarding emails, and spreadsheets needed to become one structured opportunity record.
- Follow-up depended on personal memory and manually maintained lists.
- Referral partners were judged mainly by volume or anecdotal experience.
- Staff entered approved client information again in downstream systems.
- Fit decisions, ownership, and client-facing messages needed clear review and permission controls.
The real problem was continuity. Each step had information the next step needed, but the record did not move with the work.
What we built
The CRM connects intake, daily work, communication, reporting, and onboarding in one record.
Intake that creates the record
Onboarding emails and Vapi phone calls create New Lead records with contact details, referral context, call purpose, and transcripts. Staff start with a usable record instead of copying the same facts out of an inbox or call log.
A queue for today's work
Each opportunity keeps its status, client manager, client owner, source, fee estimate, next action, notes, and activity history. The Action Queue pulls out the work that needs attention: stale leads, unapproved messages, quotes, portal invitations, ownership gaps, and missing information.
Controlled client communication
Editable templates and individual signatures keep messages inside the client record. Operations staff can review and approve outbound communication before delivery. Inbound replies return to the same history, so the next person does not have to reconstruct the conversation.
Referral reporting tied to value
The dashboard connects each lead to the person and organization that referred it. Leadership can compare sources by total leads, onboarded clients, close rate, fit outcomes, average fee, estimated closed value, and time to onboard. Reports support all-time, annual, and custom date ranges.
Karbon handoff without duplicate entry
At the approved onboarding point, the CRM checks for an existing Karbon contact before creating the practice-management record. Staff approve the change, and the data moves once.
How a lead moves through the system
- 01 Capture
Email intake and Vapi calls create a structured lead with its source and context attached.
- 02 Qualify
Staff review fit, fee expectations, referral details, and the next action.
- 03 Assign
The firm sets the client manager and owner while the Action Queue exposes any gaps.
- 04 Communicate
Staff edit and approve client messages, quotes, and portal invitations inside the record.
- 05 Onboard
After approval, the CRM checks Karbon and creates the downstream record without re-keying the client.
- 06 Measure
Leadership compares referral quality, conversion, value, outcomes, and onboarding time.
Where people stay in control
The CRM automates movement and repeated entry. It does not decide whether a lead fits the firm, send client-facing messages without approval, assign ownership on its own, or change the system of record without a controlled step. Staff keep the judgment work. The software carries the record forward and points to what needs attention.
How production data is protected
- PostgreSQL persistence, audit events, soft deletion, duplicate-ingestion protection, and recoverable archives protect the working record.
- Cloudflare identity, server-enforced permissions, manager-or-owner record access, and leadership administration limit who can see and change each record.
- Signed webhooks and delivery idempotency keep automated intake and messaging from processing the same event twice.
- Daily database backups, monthly Excel exports, and automatic OneDrive copies give the firm more than one recovery path.
The result
The firm now runs sales and onboarding from one operating dashboard. Email and calls create the first record. The Action Queue directs daily work. Messages wait for review. Referral reports show which relationships produce valuable work. Karbon receives the approved client without another pass through the data.
The system saves time because the record moves, not because staff click faster. People still decide fit, ownership, and what goes to the client. The CRM handles the copying, reminders, history, and handoff.
Prepared from an internal case-study handoff and the implemented production workflow. The client name, user names, and live operational data are intentionally omitted.