Follow Up Boss Setup Basics: How to Set Up Stages, Tags, Smart Lists and Automations

The short answer

Follow Up Boss setup basics come down to four pieces. Build eight to ten stages around the buyer's timeline. Use tags for interests and on/off switches. Build smart lists that become each agent's daily call list. Attach one automation per stage so emails and tasks start when the stage changes.

Then one rule: every lead gets a call, a stage, a note and a next task. That's the setup I'd give any agent or team. Below are the nine steps, a one-page checklist, the daily call order and the mistakes that break it.

Step by step: how to set up Follow Up Boss

1. Build stages around timing. Keep it short:
   • Lead (new, not reached)
   • Attempted contact (tried, not reached)
   • Hot (0 to 2 months)
   • Warm (2 to 6 months)
   • Nurture (6+ months or unsure)
   • Under contract
   • Closed
   • Archive (cold after real attempts)
   • Trash (wrong number, spam, not a person)
2. Attach one automation per stage. Change the stage and the old plan stops, the new one starts. Agents never stop things by hand. (Newer accounts use Automations. Older accounts may still have Action Plans. Pick one tool and stick with it.)
3. Make tags do work. Use tags for interests (first-time buyer, VA, 55+, new construction, investor), status (has an agent, bad phone) and switches (pause drips for sphere and referrals). Each interest tag can start a long-term email series.
4. Build smart lists for the daily loop. New leads. Attempted contact. Overdue tasks. Hot due this week. Warm due this month. Nurture due this quarter. Number them and share them with the team.
5. Set up behavior alerts. When a lead saves a home, inquires, requests a showing or comes back after 30+ quiet days, create a note and a call task. Turn off alerts that fire on everyone; they train agents to ignore alerts.
6. Use tasks as the to-do list. Complete tasks, never delete them to make them go away. Completed tasks are proof of work and feed your reporting.
7. Connect email, phone and calendar. So texts, calls, showings and appointments land on agents' phones and log themselves.
8. Lock down admin. Agents shouldn't edit automations. One owner does. Test every change on a test contact first.
9. Write it down. A one-page "how we use our CRM" doc keeps everyone consistent.

Follow Up Boss setup checklist

Which Follow Up Boss smart lists should I build?

Build these as numbered smart lists and work them top to bottom, each one to zero before the next:

1. Showing requests and inbox replies. They raised a hand.
2. New leads. Call, saved search, stage.
3. Attempted contact call and text tasks. Different time of day than last try.
4. Every other task due today, then overdue.
5. Hot with no contact in 7 days.
6. Warm with no contact in 30 days.
7. Nurture with no contact in 90 days.
8. Website activity: who was on your site today.

Only when 1 through 8 are clear do you go fishing in archives. In our experience, archived leads pick up about 1 in 100 calls, while Warm and Nurture pick up closer to 1 in 5. Same dials, far more conversations. See the daily order of operations.

The two rules that keep it honest

1. Every call ends with the stage set, tags added and a note. No exceptions. Set the stage the moment you reach someone, on the call, not later.
2. Change stages and tags one lead at a time. Never in bulk. A bulk change can fire hundreds of emails in a minute. Agents don't edit automations, templates or stages either. If something looks wrong, tell the owner.

Clean up the "zombie" stages

If you sync with a portal like Zillow, your stage dropdown fills up with extras ("Spoke with customer," "Showing homes," "Submitting offers"). Those usually have no plan behind them, so a lead parked there gets nothing. Move them to one of your real stages. Someone with an appointment or a showing is Hot.

The three tags that change everything

• Seller. Pauses buyer emails and starts a seller series, whatever the stage.
• Pause drips. Stops every automated email and text for that person. Your own calls and tasks keep going. Use it when they ask for quiet, or for sphere and referrals you talk to yourself. Never because you're too busy to call.
• No behavior alerts. Turns off only the website alerts, for people you already talk to daily.

More in CRM tags that matter and Hot, Warm and Nurture stages.

A worked example (illustration only)

A lead signs up at 7 PM, views five townhomes.

• Lead stage: new-lead plan starts. Intro text sends. Call task created.
• Agent calls at 7:03. Reaches them. Lease ends in four months.
• Agent sets stage to Warm. Warm plan starts (monthly value email). Adds tag "first-time buyer" (series on loans and DPA starts). Notes it. Creates a call task for two weeks out.
• Two weeks later, the lead saves a home. Behavior alert creates a call task. Agent calls about that home.

Illustration only. Configure automations to fit your team and test them first.

How to explain it to your client

Clients rarely see your CRM, but they feel it. If a client says, "You always remember everything":

Watch-outs

• Too many stages = no stages. Agents stop using them.
• Overlapping automations. Two plans emailing the same lead looks like spam. Only one stage plan should run at a time.
• Texts and carriers. Automated texts must be carrier-compliant. See carrier-compliant texting.
• Opt-outs and bad contacts. Unsubscribed, bad email and Trash should stop everything.
• Lead routing fairness. Route by availability and rules, not by who the lead is.
• Data hygiene. Merge duplicates. Fix bad numbers. Keep stages current.

Keep going

• All CRM pages: CRM and Follow Up Boss training
• Next: how to call internet leads, website behavior alerts, the saved search click
• Want the follow-up plan we run built in your own account? See 90 Days of Gain for Follow Up Boss.
• Free download: The PadLeaders Playbook, seven systems written as a checklist you can use this week.

This is training for real estate agents. Follow federal and state calling and texting laws and your brokerage policy.

Frog tip: Turn a scary rate into a monthly number. A half point on $400,000 is about $133 a month in an illustration. Real numbers come from the lender. Learn more →

Questions

How do I set up Follow Up Boss for the first time?

Connect your email and phone, install the mobile app, then build stages, tags, smart lists and one automation per stage, in that order. Test each automation on a test contact before it touches real leads.

How many stages should I have in Follow Up Boss?

About eight to ten. Enough to match timing, few enough that agents actually use them.

What's the difference between a tag and a stage?

A stage is where they are in the timeline. A tag is something about their interest or status. One stage, many tags.

How do smart lists work in Follow Up Boss?

A smart list is a saved filter, like "Hot leads not contacted in 7 days." It updates itself, so it becomes your call list for the day.

What's the difference between Action Plans and Automations?

Both send emails and create tasks on a schedule. Automations are Follow Up Boss's newer tool and can start from stage and tag changes. Use one system so plans don't overlap.

Should agents create their own automations?

On a team, no. One owner manages them so nothing overlaps.

Where do I learn the details?

Follow Up Boss's own help center covers each feature. Start there, then write your team's one-pager.

Brian Lee Burke is the founder of PadLeaders, a Colorado real estate broker licensed since 2003, team leader of The Kenna Group at Keller Williams DTC (formerly Kenna Real Estate Group) and the author of Mastering Real Estate and The Real Estate Playbook. More about Brian.