> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.comforthub.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# The customer lifecycle

> Lead, customer, equipment, and the visits that repeat for as long as they own it

export const Touches = ({systems}) => <p>
    <strong>Systems involved:</strong>{" "}
    {systems.split(",").map((s, i) => <span key={s}>
        {i > 0 ? " · " : ""}
        <a href={"/systems/" + s.trim()}>{s.trim().replace(/-/g, " ")}</a>
      </span>)}
  </p>;

<Touches systems="zoho-crm, supabase-backend, quickbooks, resend, the-7am-app" />

A customer's life with Comfort Hub is one loop that runs again every year: a visit, an invoice, a payment. The first visit installs the equipment; every visit after looks after it. The office does every step in Zoho, and the engine does the rest.

## The first visit: installation

| Step                                                      | Where the office acts | What the engine does                                                                                                                                                          |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| A lead is typed in                                        | Zoho, **Leads**       | Mirrors it on our side                                                                                                                                                        |
| The lead is converted                                     | Zoho, **Convert**     | Makes the customer, the account, the property and the QuickBooks customer, all linked                                                                                         |
| A work order is typed with a furnace line                 | Zoho                  | Mirrors it, matches the line to the catalog, writes the billing decision back to Zoho                                                                                         |
| An appointment is booked with the commissioning checklist | Zoho                  | Mirrors it, emails the customer, sends the technician a [push notification](/reference/notifications-we-send)                                                                 |
| The checklist is answered and **Complete** is tapped      | The app               | Marks the appointment and the work order complete in Zoho, and makes the furnace a piece of equipment on the customer                                                         |
| Nothing                                                   |                       | Builds the invoice, puts it in QuickBooks and Zoho, emails it, and files the certificate on the work order                                                                    |
| The customer pays                                         | The pay page          | Records the payment, marks the invoice partly or fully paid, emails the receipt, and marks the work order paid. See [How payments work](/handbook/payments/how-payments-work) |

## Every visit after: maintenance

The same customer, the same furnace. A maintenance work order in Zoho with the furnace picked on it, an appointment with the maintenance checklist, **Complete**, invoice, certificate, payment, receipt. The maintenance checklist finds the furnace on its own; see [Assign a checklist to a visit](/handbook/booking/assign-a-checklist).

## What repeats and what does not

* The customer, account and property are made once. Every later job hangs off them.
* Equipment is made once, on the job that installs it, and every later job links to it. See [Complete a work order](/handbook/on-site/complete-a-work-order).
* Certificates are made per visit and filed on that visit's work order. Which visits earn one is on [Certificates](/handbook/invoicing/certificates).
* Each invoice is its own QuickBooks invoice and its own Zoho invoice, and each payment its own record in both.

## Related

* [How Comfort Hub runs](/handbook/the-business/how-comfort-hub-runs)
* [How a lead becomes a customer](/handbook/new-customers/how-a-lead-becomes-a-customer)
* [How invoicing works](/handbook/invoicing/how-invoicing-works)