Clients & CRM

Clients are the foundation of your Kiaro workspace. Every project, invoice, and contract is linked to a client.

Adding a client

There are three ways to add a client, each with different policies so the workflow matches the situation:

• Clients → New Client (the full form) is for clients you plan to invoice. It requires a name, a contact person, an email address, and a complete billing address (address line 1, city, postal code, country). These fields are what every invoice needs, so we collect them up front rather than letting you save an incomplete profile you’ll have to come back to.
• Clients → Quick add is for capturing a lead before you have any other details. It only requires a name. The client lands in Lead status and waits for you to fill in the rest when the engagement becomes real.
• AI command bar (/client Acme Corp or a natural sentence like “add Acme to my clients”) also creates a lead-stage client with just the name, and extracts any other fields you happen to mention. Fastest path for ad-hoc capture.

Backfill prompt for legacy clients

If you open a client that predates the required-field policy and is missing any of the invoice-ready fields, you’ll see an amber banner at the top of the client detail page listing exactly which fields are missing, with an Add details button that opens the Identity card for inline editing. The banner disappears once all required fields are saved. Existing clients are never auto-blocked or deleted, just nudged the next time you touch them.

Client fields

• Client name, Short name shown throughout Kiaro (dropdowns, dashboard cards, breadcrumbs). Think “Brand Factor”
• Legal / billing name, Optional. The registered entity name rendered on invoices and contracts. Think “CDF Marketing Pty Ltd”. Leave blank and Kiaro uses the Client name everywhere
• Email, Used for sending invoices and portal access
• Phone, Contact phone number
• Contact person, The primary person you work with at the client
• Industry, The client’s industry (optional, useful for filtering)
• Billing address, Required for new clients. Rendered on every invoice sent to this client. Includes street, city, state/region, postal code, and country (searchable picker — type the country name, Kiaro stores the ISO-3166 code behind the scenes)
• Billing currency, Optional override that changes the default currency used when creating invoices, projects, or quotes for this client. Leave empty to use the workspace default. Once an invoice is issued, its currency is locked; changing this setting later does not affect existing invoices
• Default VAT rate, Optional percentage (0 to 100) pre-filled on new invoices for this client. Falls back to your workspace default, then 0, when unset. Existing invoices keep the rate they were saved with — changing this later does not alter past invoices
• VAT / tax number, Optional. Rendered on invoices in the Bill To block. Required in most jurisdictions when invoicing a VAT-registered client
• Status, One of: Lead, Active, Inactive, or Past
• Value, Lifetime or contract value for this client
• Start / End date, When the engagement began and ended
• Notes, Free-text notes visible only to your team

Client name vs legal name

Kiaro splits the short display name from the legal billing entity so you get the best of both worlds: “Brand Factor” in every dropdown and dashboard card, “CDF Marketing Pty Ltd” on the actual invoice. Common cases where this matters:

• South African Pty Ltd trading-as — “CDF Marketing Pty Ltd t/a Brand Factor”
• UK Limited trading as — “Acme Holdings Ltd t/a Acme Studio”
• Dutch BV handling onder — “Acme Consultancy BV h/o Acme Studio”

Leave Legal / billing name blank if the two are the same — Kiaro will just use the Client name on invoices.

Cross-border invoicing and VAT

When you invoice a client in a different VAT jurisdiction than your own (for example a Dutch consultant invoicing a South African client), the VAT treatment is usually reverse-charge: you charge 0% VAT and add a note on the invoice like “VAT reverse-charged” or “Out of scope, non-EU B2B services”.

The simplest way to handle this in Kiaro is to set the client’s Default VAT rate to 0 and add the reverse-charge note in the invoice’s Notes field. Kiaro does not yet auto-detect reverse-charge scenarios based on country and VAT number — if your situation is more complex than the common cases, check with your accountant.

Client statuses

Use statuses to organize your pipeline:

• Lead, A prospective client (default for new clients). A lead opens into a lead workspace with pipeline stages, deal details, and a prep checklist.
• Active, Currently working with this client
• Inactive, Paused or dormant relationship
• Past, Engagement has ended
• Lost, A lead that did not convert. Read-only and archived, with an optional reason. You can revive a lost lead back into your pipeline at any time.

What each status can do (Free plan)

On the Free plan, each status has different capabilities. Solo and Team plans have no restrictions — all statuses can do everything.

Leads can capture early-stage context (meetings, proposals, notes) and run the full lead workspace without counting against your active-client limit. Once a lead is ready to work with, mark them won (or activate them). The limit check runs at that point.

Past, inactive, and lost clients are fully read-only. All historical data remains visible, but no new records can be added. Reactivate a past or inactive client, or revive a lost lead, any time (subject to the 3-active-client cap) to resume work.

Active clients are capped at 3 on the Free plan. Leads, past, inactive, and lost clients are unlimited regardless of plan. The lead workspace is free on every plan, including new leads on Free; the only paywall is the active-client cap, which you reach the moment you win the work.

Activating a lead

A lead without full details shows an Activate button below the financial summary on their detail page. Click it to move them to Active. If you are already at 3 active clients, Kiaro will tell you which limit you hit and offer to list your active clients so you can archive one or upgrade to Solo .

Reactivating a past or inactive client

Past and inactive clients show a read-only banner (“[Client name] is past — all records are read-only.”) with a Reactivate button. Clicking it runs the same limit check as activating a lead.

Status transition rules

Moving a client between statuses follows these rules:

• Lead can move to: Active (Won), Lost, Past, Inactive
• Active can move to: Past, Inactive (not back to Lead — once active, always active or archived)
• Past can move to: Active, Inactive
• Inactive can move to: Active, Past
• Lost can move to: Lead (revive), Active

The status selector on the Identity card only shows valid destinations for the current status, so invalid transitions are not possible from the UI. For leads, the quickest path is the Mark won and Mark lost buttons in the lead workspace.

Lead workspace

While a client is a Lead, their detail page opens with a lead workspace above the usual tabs: a place to do the pre-sale work before you have won the job. It is available on every plan, including new leads on the Free plan, and nothing here counts against your active-client limit.

Pipeline stages

Every lead moves through four fixed stages, shown as a timeline at the top of the workspace: New → Contacted → Quoted → Follow-up. You never set the stage by hand. It advances on its own from what actually happens, so the timeline always reflects reality:

• New — the lead has just been added.
• Contacted — you have logged a meeting or started a proposal.
• Quoted — you have sent a proposal.
• Follow-up — a sent quote has been waiting a week or more for a reply, or you have set a follow-up date. This is the highest-risk moment in a deal, so it gets its own stage.

Stages are deliberately not customizable, so the pipeline reads the same across every lead. Won and Lost are outcomes, not stages (see below).

Deal details

The Deal card holds the commercial shape of the opportunity:

• Value, what you expect the work to be worth
• Expected close, when you think you will win or lose it
• Source, how the lead arrived (referral, website, social, cold outreach, repeat client, or other)
• Confidence, a coarse low / medium / high read

Click the pencil to edit, then Save. Values are shown in the client’s currency (or your workspace default).

Prep checklist

The Prep checklist is a lightweight to-do list for the work you do before quoting (measure the space, send a mood board, confirm scope). Type a task and press Enter or click Add. Check items off as you go, give them due dates, and reorder them. The checklist is separate from project tasks: it carries no time tracking and never appears in your Tasks  views. Items stay with the client after you win the work.

Marking a lead won

When you win the work, click Mark won. Kiaro activates the client and creates a project in one step:

• If the lead has an accepted proposal, Kiaro offers to build the project from it, pre-filling the name and the budget from the proposal’s non-optional line items, and links the proposal to the new project.
• Otherwise you name a blank project, pre-filled with the lead’s deal value as the budget.

The active-client limit is checked first. If you are already at 3 active clients on the Free plan, Kiaro stops before making any changes and points you to upgrade to Solo  or archive an existing client. Once the conversion is done, you land on the new project, where you can create the first invoice whenever you are ready. Kiaro never sends it automatically.

Marking a lead lost

If a lead does not convert, click Mark lost and optionally pick a reason (price, timing, competitor, no response, not a fit, or other). The lead moves to Lost: read-only and archived, but still fully visible. A banner on the detail page lets you Revive the lead back into your pipeline whenever things change.

Pipeline view

From the Clients page, click Pipeline in the header to see all your leads grouped by stage in a single board, with your total open pipeline value shown per currency at the top. Click any lead to open its workspace.

Lead reminders on your home page

Your home page  surfaces reminders for leads that need attention: a lead with no next step scheduled, a lead that has gone quiet, and a quote you sent that has been waiting for a reply. Each reminder can draft the follow-up message for you in one click.

Client detail page

Click any client to view their detail page. From here you can see all related data in one place:

• Projects linked to this client
• Invoices and payment history
• Contracts
• Knowledge Base articles linked to this client
• Contact details and notes

Editing client information

The client detail page displays information in cards: Identity, Contacts, Billing Address, Portal Settings, and Notes. To edit any card, click the pencil icon in its top-right corner. The card enters edit mode and you can update the fields. Click Save to confirm your changes. Only the card you are editing enters edit mode; the rest of the page remains read-only.

Multiple contacts

Each client can have multiple contacts. Contacts are managed in the Contacts card on the client detail page. Click the pencil icon on the Contacts card to add, edit, or remove contacts. Every client must have at least one contact; Kiaro will not let you delete the only contact on a client.

Each contact has:

• Name, The contact’s full name
• Email, Their email address
• Phone, Their phone number
• Job title, Their role at the client organization
• Role, Decision Maker, Project Manager, Finance, Technical Lead, or Other

One contact is marked as Primary. The primary contact is who receives proposals and invoices by email.

When you create a new client with contact information, that contact is automatically created as the primary contact.

AI re-engagement

When a client’s status is Inactive or Past, a Draft Outreach button appears on their detail page. Click it to have the AI draft a re-engagement email based on the client’s history, previous projects, last contact date, and industry context. Review the draft and send it from your email.

Scheduled follow-ups

Use follow-ups to remind yourself to reach out to a client on a specific day, with an optional note for why. It works for any status: warm leads you’re nurturing, active clients you want to check in on, and past clients worth reactivating.

Setting a follow-up date

There are two places to set or change a follow-up:

• The follow-up pill in the client header shows the next scheduled date (or a prompt to schedule one). Click it to open a popover with a full date picker, four quick options (In 1 week, In 2 weeks, In 1 month, In 3 months), an optional What’s this follow-up about? field for a short reason, and a Done button.
• The AI command bar accepts natural language, including a reason in the same sentence: “follow up with Acme next Tuesday about the signed contract”, “remind me to follow up with Acme in 3 weeks”, or “clear Acme’s follow-up”. Kiaro resolves the phrase to a concrete date, captures the reason if you gave one, and shows both on the confirm card before saving.

The reason is not required. It shows up wherever the follow-up date appears: the client detail page, the clients list, and Home.

What you see on the day

Clients with a follow-up due today or tomorrow appear as cards on your home screen, showing the client’s name, the reason (if you added one), and two inline actions: Snooze 1w to push the date out a week, and Done to mark it complete without leaving Home.

Marking a follow-up done

When you’ve reached out, click Done in the follow-up pill’s popover (or use the AI command bar: “mark my follow-up with Acme done, remind me again in a month”). Kiaro records the timestamp as Last followed up, clears the current follow-up and its reason, and the popover stays open prompting you to schedule the next one: In 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, or Done (leave it cleared). This cadence loop makes it easy to keep a recurring check-in going without a separate reminder tool.

Finding follow-ups on the Clients list

The clients list has a Follow-ups filter (All, Due or overdue, Upcoming, No follow-up) and a Next follow-up sort, so you can pull up everyone you need to reach out to next. Where a client has a reason attached, it shows next to the follow-up date in the list.

How the AI drafts your message

When you click the Draft button on a follow-up card, the AI uses the client’s notes, industry, status, latest meeting, and any open proposal as context. The tone changes based on status:

• Lead gets a closing-oriented message that proposes a concrete next step
• Active client gets a relationship check-in that avoids generic “just checking in” language
• Past client gets a low-stakes reactivation message — no selling, just opening the door

The AI never sends. It always returns a draft for you to read, edit, and send from your own email client.

Status changes preserve the date

Moving a client from Lead to Active, or Active to Past, keeps your scheduled follow-up date in place. The safest default for a “don’t forget” feature is to preserve, not clear. Clear it manually from the Follow-up card if you no longer need it.

What is not included

Recurring cadences, daily email digests, lead scoring, and automated email sequences are deliberately out of scope. Tell us at hi@kiaro.io if any of those would help you.

Portal access

Each client can be given access to the Client Portal. Toggle Portal Enabled on the client record to allow them to log in and view their projects, deliverables, and invoices. The client needs an email address on file for portal access to work.

Last activity and the “Quiet 30d+” tag

The Last Activity column and the small coloured health dot next to each active client reflect your most recent activity of any kind on that client: tasks, time entries, invoices, meetings, proposals, contracts, notes, client edits, and logged follow-ups. An active client with no activity at all for 30 days is tagged Quiet 30d+ so genuinely dormant relationships stand out. Any activity in the last 30 days clears the tag.

Searching and filtering

Use the search input on the clients list page to quickly find a client by name. You can also filter by status or by follow-up status, and sort by name, revenue, last activity, or next follow-up.

Saved filters

Kiaro remembers your status filter, follow-up filter, and sort order for the clients list, per browser. Leave the page and come back later, and it reopens exactly where you left it instead of resetting to the unfiltered list. The search box is not remembered: it always starts empty so you never land on a filtered list you didn’t mean to see.

Opening a link with its own filter in the URL (for example, one shared by a teammate) always shows that filter and does not overwrite what you had saved.

To go back to the full list, remove a filter chip shown above the list, or click Clear all to reset every saved filter at once.

Export

You can export your full client list from the clients list page. Click Export and choose CSV or Excel (.xlsx).