Enquiries and trials
Chess academy CRM for enquiries and trials
ChessCore is a chess trial-to-enrollment CRM: it keeps each enquiry as one lead, names who owes the next action, tracks the trial class, and records whether the student enrols. When the family enrols, the lead becomes a student record, so nobody types the details twice.
Chess coaching lead management is knowing which family needs an answer next. For the rest of the academy, read the chess academy management software guide, and see the platform overview for how records connect. Two guides cover the steps on either side of this page: how to bring in chess academy enquiries and how to follow up after a demo class.
See an enquiry become an enrolled studentIllustrative screen from a made-up demo academy.
Enquiry to trial to enrolled
One enquiry, start to finish
The example below follows one family through Knight's Gate Chess Academy, an invented academy. Each section after it explains the step in the product.
Day 1Diego G. fills in the academy's website enquiry form about his daughter Mia, aged 9, who plays casually. ChessCore creates one lead with the source set to web.
Day 2Diego also writes on WhatsApp. Noor records it with the source set to WhatsApp. Diego's phone number matches the open lead, so ChessCore does not create a second one.
Next actionNoor owns the next action: book a trial in Beginners A. She sets a follow-up date on the lead.
TrialThe trial is Monday at 17:00 with coach Daniel. After it, the outcome is recorded as attended.
DecisionMia enrols. Converting the lead creates her student record and links Diego as guardian.
Step one
Capture an enquiry
A website form, or a staff member recording an enquiry by hand, opens the lead. The AI can then suggest a priority and a follow-up draft for staff to review. A lead stays open until the family enrols and the lead is converted, or until it is marked lost. The source is one of web, WhatsApp, referral, walk-in or phone, and it stays fixed once set. The lead also keeps the campaign details the form arrived with, so you can see which campaign brought the family.
Duplicates are caught at this step. ChessCore compares the email address and phone number with the academy's live leads. A match means no second lead is created. A staff member who captures by hand is shown the existing lead and can open it or capture anyway. This is why Diego G. stays one lead after writing on both the website and WhatsApp. If two enquiries use different contact details, ChessCore cannot tell they are the same family, so a staff member has to notice. A lead that is converted or lost no longer blocks a fresh enquiry from the same contact.
Illustrative screen from a made-up demo academy.
Enquiries already in a spreadsheet
Enquiries that already sit in a spreadsheet can come in as a CSV import. Each row goes through the same capture path, so the same duplicate check runs on every row. For the messaging prerequisites, see the WhatsApp updates page.
Step two
Assign the next action
Each lead in ChessCore has a stage, one owner and an optional follow-up date. The stages are new, contacted, trial booked, trial attended, converted and lost. The owner is picked from the academy's coach list, so a front-desk admin such as Noor needs a coach profile to be named there. ChessCore sends one reminder when that follow-up date passes.
The lead's timeline records the capture, each stage change, each assignment, each follow-up date and each note. Several leads can be reassigned or moved at once. The AI follow-up is a suggested priority and a draft for staff to review. It is not a message sent to the family. The triage draft uses only the lead source, stage and age of the enquiry; staff add the family and trial details after checking the record.
Step three
Track a trial
Staff record a chess class trial booking with the time, the length and the coach, and that moves the lead to trial booked. Booking a second trial does not move a lead back a stage. After the class, a staff member marks the trial as attended, no show or cancelled. Attended moves the lead to trial attended. A coach can also write a trial report, which staff approve.
A family books a slot
A family books a trial by choosing an available public slot and confirming it. The confirmation screen says the trial is booked, offers an Add to calendar (.ics) download, and tells the family the academy will reach out to confirm details. It saves a booking request linked to a lead. Staff still confirm the coach and arrangements, and check that the CRM trial record is booked at the agreed time.
The calendar file
The calendar file is a one-time snapshot of the trial; confirmed bookings can also be mirrored into Google Calendar. You can download the file again while the link is valid and the reservation remains confirmed; it reads the current slot times. A cancelled reservation cannot be downloaded. Ask families to check and update their calendar after a change rather than assume it updates itself.
WhatsApp trial reminders
WhatsApp trial reminders check booked CRM trials in the 24-hour and 2-hour lead-up windows. They need an enabled trial-reminder rule, an approved template, a usable phone number and the parent's trial-reminder opt-in, with no STOP suppression. A public booking confirmation alone is not a promise of a reminder; staff must check the CRM trial record and setup.
No-show recovery
A no-show can get a fixed follow-up email. Switch on trial no-show recovery from the automation gallery, and ChessCore sends that email to the family. It is off until the academy turns it on, and it carries no AI text.
Trials sit beside the regular timetable. In the example, Mia's trial is Monday at 17:00, the usual slot of Beginners A. How batches, capacity and make-up classes work is on the batch scheduling page.
Step four
From Mia's trial record to a reviewed message
The follow-up below is a made-up example at Knight's Gate, not a customer result or a captured AI response. Noor checks Mia's record: parent Diego G., source web, trial Monday at 17:00 with Daniel, outcome attended. The AI triage context is narrower: source web, stage trial attended, and an enquiry captured within the past week.
Draft for staff to review
Synthetic AI follow-up draft: “Thank you for attending the trial. Would you like to discuss the next step or ask a question before deciding?”
Noor's edited message: “Hello Diego, thank you for bringing Mia to Monday's trial with Daniel. Would you like to discuss Beginners A, or is there anything you want to ask before deciding? Noor, Knight's Gate Chess Academy.”
Noor checks the details, chooses the permitted contact channel and sends the message herself. Nothing in this example was sent to a real family.
Rehearse the review
Use the editable trial follow-up checklist (CSV) and message drafts (CSV) to rehearse the same review. Both contain fictional example data; replace it, check consent and review the wording before using a draft. These worksheets do not send messages or import records.
Step five
Record the enrolment decision
Your staff still decide to enrol the family. Converting the lead is then one step: a staff member converts it, which creates the student, marks the lead converted, and creates or links a guardian from the lead's email and phone. This happens in one step, so a failure leaves no half-made record. A staff member can also enrol the student in a batch and issue the first invoice in the same step. Enrolment through this step goes ahead only when the required consents are recorded, and if any part fails the whole conversion is rolled back.
If the family decides not to enrol, the lead moves to lost with a short reason in free text. The reason stays on the lead, and your own counts by stage are in your account.
Illustrative screen from a made-up demo academy.
After enrolment
After enrolment: one profile per student
Once Mia is a student, everything about her sits on a single profile. Staff with access to student records see the whole picture:
Guardians & consent
Who the parents are, how to reach them, and what they have consented to, recorded rather than remembered.
Attendance
Every session present, absent, or made up, rolled up per student across batches.
Fees
Invoices, dues and payments, including UPI AutoPay for recurring collection on the Grow plan and up.
Games & ratings
Imported games and ratings on the same record. A coach chooses which games to analyse.
Communication history
Messages sent to a parent, kept on the student's timeline.
Routine class and fee reminders go out automatically as fixed templates. AI drafts, such as a personal note to a parent, wait for a person to send them. For plans and student limits, see ChessCore pricing.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
- What happens when the same parent enquires twice?
- ChessCore compares the email address and phone number. If a live enquiry already has the same one, a second lead is not created. A staff member who captures it by hand is shown the existing lead and can open it or capture anyway. If the two enquiries use different contact details, ChessCore treats them as two people.
- Can I import enquiries from a spreadsheet?
- Yes. A CSV import adds leads in bulk through the same capture path, so the same duplicate check applies to every row. Columns are full name, email, phone, source, notes and campaign fields.
- Can I record why a family did not enrol?
- Yes. A lead can be moved to lost with a free-text reason of up to 500 characters. The reason stays on the lead, and a later enquiry from the same contact starts a new lead.
- How is this different from a generic CRM?
- The enquiry, the trial class and the enrolled student are linked in one system. Converting a lead creates the student and a guardian record from the lead's contact details, and the same student record later holds attendance, fees and games.
Written by Abhishek Tiwari. See our editorial standards.
