Your first week on grewray: a day-by-day setup playbook

The quickest way to get value from new software is to run real work through it early, not to configure every setting first. This playbook spreads setup over five short sessions, about half an hour each, and every day ends with something your business can use.

If you would rather see it all first, the interactive demo takes a sample business from lead to paid in five clicks.

Before you start

You need very little on day one:

• a list of your current customers and open work, in whatever form it lives today;
• your tax rates, and how you want invoices to look;
• the names and email addresses of the people who will use it.

If your data is in spreadsheets or another tool, you can send it to us and we move it in for you within 72 hours, free, while you work through the days below.

Day 1: your business and your security

Create your account, then your business: its name, web address, industry, country and time zone. The industry decides which workflow you start from; you can change the words later.

Then set up two-factor sign-in. For owners and admins it is required, and it takes two minutes with an authenticator app on your phone. Keep your recovery codes somewhere safe and offline.

By the end of day 1: a business with your details, and an account that cannot be opened with a password alone.

Day 2: your customers and your words

Bring in your contacts, either from a spreadsheet or through our migration. Check a handful to make sure names, emails and addresses came across as you expect.

Then make grewray speak your language:

1. Rename the lead stages to match how you actually win work.
2. Add the custom fields your trade needs, such as a gate code, a preferred stylist or a membership number.
3. Rename labels where your team uses a different word, like "project" for job or "member" for client.

By the end of day 2: your customers in one shared book, described the way your team talks.

Day 3: from inquiry to quote

Pick two or three live inquiries and put them in the leads pipeline, each with a value, a source and a next step. Then set up your quoting:

• save the items and rates you quote most often;
• set your tax rates, so every line applies the right one;
• add your payment terms, so every quote carries them.

Now send one real quote. The client gets a secure link to read and accept it online, and you are told the moment they do.

By the end of day 3: a live pipeline, and quotes that take minutes instead of an evening.

Day 4: jobs, bookings and the team

Turn a won lead into a job; the client and the quote carry over. Set its stages and milestones, then book the first visit or appointment. Check the confirmation the client receives, and set when reminders should go out.

Invite your team, each with the right role:

• owners and admins manage the business and its settings, with two-factor sign-in;
• staff see the jobs, visits and customers their work needs.

Show each person the one thing that gets easier for them, and start there.

By the end of day 4: real work running in grewray, with your team in it.

Day 5: invoices, payments and your books

Raise an invoice from a job, or let a finished stage raise its own. Check that the Pay now link works, and decide how reminders should run before and after the due date. If a customer pays by bank transfer or cash, record it against the invoice.

Then connect your accounting software. grewray syncs invoices, payments and expenses with QuickBooks Online, Xero or Zoho Books, so the books match without retyping. Finally, add your first expense: photograph a receipt on your phone and tag it to a job.

By the end of day 5: a job taken from inquiry to paid, and your accounts in step.

If you run more than one business

One account can belong to several businesses, with a different role in each. Create each business separately, so its customers, jobs and money stay entirely its own, and switch between them from the business picker. When you sign in on a new device, you land straight in the business you use; with several, you choose.

Your second week: make it a habit

Once the basics run, two small routines keep everything current:

• Daily, five minutes: check today's bookings and the overdue list on the dashboard.
• Weekly, fifteen minutes: walk the pipeline, making sure every lead has a next step and every old quote has been followed up.

After a month, look at what the dashboard tells you: your pipeline, your jobs in progress, what is owed and what came in. That is the moment most owners realize how much used to live in their head.

The end-of-week checklist

Before you call the week done, check each of these:

• Two-factor sign-in is on for every owner and admin.
• Your contacts are in, with no obvious duplicates.
• Stages, labels and custom fields use your own words.
• Your items, rates, tax rates and payment terms are saved.
• At least one real quote has gone out and one job is running.
• Your team is invited, each with the right role.
• The Pay now link works, and reminders are set the way you want.
• Your accounting software is connected, if you use one.

Questions people ask in the first week

Do I have to move all my history?

No. Move what is live on day one: current customers, open leads and quotes, active jobs and unpaid invoices. History can follow later, or stay in an archive you can still open.

Can I change the stages and words later?

Yes, at any time, from Settings. Renaming a stage or a label never loses a record or its history.

What if my trade has its own pack?

Switch it on from the start. If your pack is still to come, start on the core; when the pack ships it turns on in the same workspace with nothing to move.

How do customers see quotes and invoices?

Each one has a secure link. The customer reads it, accepts a quote or pays an invoice online, with no account to create. You can also share job progress and chosen files on a client page.

If you get stuck

Every plan includes support from the people who build grewray. Write to us from the email address on your account and we will find your business straight away. Our FAQ answers the most common questions, and the guides cover migration, invoicing and onboarding clients in more depth.