What a contact form gives you

A form gives you a name, a phone number and a message like "interested in a shop, how much?" Sometimes not even that.

That's not a lead you can quote. It's the start of a phone call where you find out everything you actually need: size, use, doors, location, budget, timeline. If you reach them. If they remember which builder they asked.

Why the lead goes cold

The person filled in the form at night. You call back the next day during work hours. They don't pick up. You leave a message. They call back while you're on a roof. A few rounds of that and they've talked to someone who answered first.

Even when you connect, you're starting from zero. They haven't thought the building through yet, because the form never asked them to. So the first call is an interview, and the quote is still days away.

What a full-spec lead looks like

A 3D configurator on your website asks the customer to design the building before they ask for a quote. With the Website 3D Designer, they size the building, add attached buildings, lean-tos, open walls, partition walls and mezzanines, and place doors and windows with Add Opening.

When they send the quote request, the full design goes into your dashboard. You're not reading "interested in a shop." You're looking at their building.

That changes the first call. You're confirming and adjusting, not interviewing. "I see the lean-to is on the side by the driveway. Is that for equipment?" That's a call where you sound like you already know the job, because you do.

Better leads, not just more of them

A form is easy to fill in, so it collects tire kickers right alongside buyers. Someone who spent time designing their building has told you they're serious before you ever pick up the phone.

You can also see what they want at a glance. A small carport and a finished shop with a mezzanine are different jobs with different urgency. The design tells you which is which, so you can decide who to call first instead of working the list top to bottom.

It has to work on a phone

A lot of people browse for buildings on their phone. The designer runs on a phone too, so a customer can design and send their building from the couch, with nothing to install. If the configurator on your site only works on a desktop, it's a contact form for your mobile visitors. More on the phone side of this.

Your systems, your branding

You pick which framing systems your customers see on your site, from post frame, red iron (bolt-up and weld-up), stick frame, hybrid post frame and tube frame. It's your website and your branding, so the customer is designing with you, not with a software company. Why covering all five matters.

What the dealer does with it

The design in your dashboard is the starting point for the real quote. Confirm the site details, adjust what needs adjusting, and price it from your supplier price sheet once that's loaded. You're refining a building the customer already chose, which is a much shorter road to a signed quote than starting from a blank page.

Keep a way to just call

None of this means hiding your phone number. Some people want to talk first, and they should be able to. The point is that the main path on your website should collect the building, not just the person. Make the designer the headline where the contact form used to be, and keep the phone number right next to it.

Customers who don't want to design anything will still call. Customers who do will send you something you can quote.

What it costs

The Website 3D Designer on its own is $145/mo. The full dealer configurator plus the designer on your site is $290/mo. Setup is $0, and the 10-day free trial lets you try the configurator first. See pricing.

Put the two side by side for a month: the leads your contact form sends and the designs the configurator sends. Then decide which one you'd rather call back.