Communications Centre
From Standout Property Manager Wiki Help
Communications Centre
The Communications Centre is Standout's staff-facing inbox for inbound customer communication. It brings together:
- property-portal enquiries from Rightmove, Zoopla, OnTheMarket and Homeflow;
- enquiries submitted by the agency's own website through the Standout Website Enquiry API; and
- Customer Portal conversations.
This means staff do not have to monitor a separate Customer Portal inbox and separate portal-lead screens. New work is presented in one queue and can be searched, filtered, assigned and actioned from the same place.
For configuration, see Inbound Enquiries and Feeds and Portals.
Open the Communications Centre
Use Communications Centre from the main Standout navigation.
The top of the screen summarises:
- New / unread - new portal/website enquiries plus unread Customer Portal conversations;
- Assigned, not actioned - enquiries that have been given to a member of staff but have not yet had a first action recorded;
- Awaiting customer - enquiries where the next action is with the customer; and
- Received today - communications received today.
Search and filters
Use the search box to find a communication by customer name, property, email, telephone, property reference or message text.
The list can also be filtered by:
- Status;
- Branch;
- Source, including Customer Portal;
- Assigned to, including unassigned enquiries.
By default, closed and not-proceeding enquiries are not shown.
Sources shown in the inbox
| Source | What appears in Communications Centre |
|---|---|
| Rightmove | Leads received from the configured Rightmove branch connection. |
| Zoopla | Leads received from the configured Zoopla Leads API connection. |
| OnTheMarket | Leads received from the configured OnTheMarket connection. |
| Homeflow | Leads pushed to the secure Standout callback URL supplied for that branch. |
| Website | Contact forms, viewing requests, valuation requests and other enquiries sent by the agency website through the Website Enquiry API. |
| Customer Portal | Message threads sent between an existing Standout contact and the agency through Customer Portal. |
Handling a portal or website enquiry
Open the enquiry from the list.
The enquiry screen brings together the customer details, original message, property, source, portal qualification/details, assignment, workflow status and activity history.
A useful routine is:
- Check the customer name, telephone and email.
- Check the property and property reference.
- Read the original message and any portal-specific details.
- Check whether Standout has already matched the enquiry to an existing Contact.
- Assign the enquiry if another member of staff is responsible for it.
- Contact the customer and record an appropriate workflow status.
- Link an existing Contact or create an applicant if required.
- Continue into the normal viewing, valuation, applicant or property workflow.
Existing Contact matching
Standout attempts to match an inbound enquiry to an existing active Contact using the supplied email address and telephone number.
The list can show:
- Existing contact - an unambiguous match was found; or
- Match needs review - more than one possible match exists or the match is not safe to choose automatically.
If no Contact is linked, the enquiry screen can show possible Contacts for staff to review.
Do not create a new Contact simply because the enquiry is new. Search/link the existing Contact where appropriate so notes, requirements, viewings and Customer Portal activity remain together.
Create applicant
If no Contact is linked, use Create applicant. Standout carries as much useful information as possible from the enquiry into the new Contact form, including names, email, telephone, company/qualification details where supplied, property-to-sell information and the assigned negotiator.
The original source, property reference, received time, message and available portal qualification details are carried into the staff notes so the enquiry remains traceable.
Important address rule: an address or postcode supplied by a property portal normally describes the property being enquired about. Standout therefore does not treat generic portal address/postcode fields as the applicant's home address. Applicant/contact/current/home/residential address fields are copied only when the source explicitly identifies them as the customer's address.
Property and branch routing
Where possible Standout links the enquiry to the correct property. Website integrations can supply Standout's internal property ID or the agent's property reference.
Branch selection follows the configured source/connection and the matched property. Where a property has an active managing negotiator, Standout can automatically assign the enquiry to that member of staff.
Enquiry statuses
The available workflow statuses are:
- New
- Assigned
- Contacted
- Awaiting customer
- Viewing booked
- Valuation booked
- Qualified
- Not proceeding
- Closed
Moving an enquiry into an actioned status records the first response where applicable. The enquiry screen also shows how long a new/assigned enquiry has been waiting.
Use the status to describe the real state of the enquiry, not merely to make the queue look tidy.
Recommended next actions
Depending on the enquiry, Standout can offer direct actions such as:
- create/open applicant;
- email the customer;
- call the customer;
- book a viewing once a Contact and property are linked;
- open the property.
The activity history records receipt, automatic matching/assignment and later staff workflow changes.
Customer Portal conversations
Customer Portal messages are part of the same Communications Centre.
A Customer Portal row is different from a portal lead because the sender is already an authenticated Standout Contact. The row is therefore shown as an existing-contact conversation rather than a new applicant lead.
When a member of staff opens the conversation:
- unread customer messages are marked as read;
- the complete conversation is shown in chronological order;
- messages show the customer or staff sender and time;
- a property is shown where the message was linked to one; and
- staff can reply directly from the conversation.
A staff reply can be a general message or can be linked to one of the customer's properties.
What happens when a customer sends a message
- The message is saved in the Customer Portal conversation history.
- It appears as unread in the Communications Centre.
- The message is also recorded against the Contact's communications/history where available.
- Standout sends a notification email to the relevant branch email address.
- The notification email clearly says Do not reply to this email.
- The email contains Reply in Standout Property Manager, which opens that customer's conversation in the Communications Centre.
Staff should reply in Standout, not by replying to the notification email. An email reply would not be added to the Customer Portal conversation.
What happens when staff reply
- The reply is stored in the same Customer Portal conversation.
- The customer sees it in Customer Portal.
- Standout records the communication against the Contact where available.
- If the Contact has an email address, Standout sends an email notification telling the customer that a new Customer Portal message is waiting.
If the Customer Portal reply is saved but the notification email fails, Standout keeps the portal message and reports that the email notification could not be sent.
Customer Portal submissions screen
The Contact still has:
Contact → More actions → Customer Portal submissions
This is used for onboarding/buyer-ready data, secure uploads, AML history, portal appointment requests and other customer submissions. The page also shows the Customer Portal conversation and includes Open in Communications Centre.
Use Communications Centre for day-to-day messaging; use Customer Portal submissions when reviewing the wider information/documents the customer has submitted.
Good working practice
- Treat New / unread as work waiting for a response.
- Link existing Contacts rather than creating duplicates.
- Keep assignment and status current so colleagues can see who owns the next action.
- Record viewing/valuation outcomes in the normal Standout workflow after the enquiry has been qualified.
- Reply to Customer Portal messages from Standout, never from the branch notification email.
- Close or mark not proceeding only when that genuinely describes the outcome.