Overview

A source records how someone came into your sphere: a referral, your personal network, an open house. Tag your contacts with sources and you can pull up everyone from a single channel in a couple of clicks, so you know which relationships keep sending business your way.

What a source is

Grove keeps three ways to describe a contact on one settings page, Stages & Types:

• Stage is where the relationship stands right now (for example Nurturing or Past Client).
• Role is the part someone plays in a deal (for example Buyer or Seller).
• Source is how you know them.

A contact can have more than one source. Someone you met at an open house who was also referred by a past client can carry both.

Built-in sources. Every account starts with these: Referral, Sphere, Vendor, Unknown, Gmail, IDX, Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook, Open House, Cold Call, and Manual Entry. A lock icon marks them. Their names are fixed and they can't be deleted, but you can add a description, change their colors, or turn off assignment.

Custom sources. Add your own for the places your business actually comes from, like a golf club, a church group, or your kids' school. A pencil icon marks custom sources, and you can rename or delete them.

Order. Drag sources into the order you want. That's the order you'll see when you pick a source for a contact, so put the ones you use most at the top.

Find your sources

1. Click Settings in the bottom-left corner of the app.
2. Under People, click Stages & Types.
3. Scroll to Sources. The Contacts column shows how many contacts use each one.

You can also get here from People: click People Settings at the bottom of the sidebar.

Add a custom source

1. On Stages & Types, scroll to the bottom of Sources and click + Add source.

2. Type a name in the Source field.
3. Click Save. Grove confirms with Source added, and the new source appears at the bottom of the list.

Edit, reorder, or remove a source

Rename a custom source: click its label and type the new name.

Reorder: drag a source by the handle on the left of its row. The new order carries over to the Sources picker on contacts.

Everything else lives in the Actions menu:

1. Click the … button in the Actions column next to any source.
2. Choose what to change:

• Edit description adds a note that appears next to the badge, handy for reminding your team when to use it.
• Background and Text change the badge colors.
• Assignable decides whether the source can be used on contacts. Turning it off removes the source from every contact that has it and takes it out of the Sources picker.
• Delete source appears for custom sources that no contacts are using.

Add a source to a contact

1. Go to People and open the contact.
2. In the Status section on the right, click the Sources field.
3. Check every source that applies. Type in Search sources… to find one quickly.

4. Click away from the list or press Esc. Your changes save automatically. The sources show as badges on the contact.

Adding someone new? In the Add Person form, click the Sources button below the phone number and check the sources before you click Save.

Find contacts by source

1. Go to People and click Filter.
2. Choose Sources.

3. Check one or more sources. The list shows contacts that have any of them.

4. To come back to this list later, click Save View.

Good to know

• Long source names get cut short on the badge in settings. A short name reads better everywhere.
• The Contacts count updates as you assign sources, so it doubles as a quick read on where your relationships come from.
• Pick a source when you add someone. It's much easier than going back through your database later.
• Think twice before turning off Assignable on a source you've been using. Every contact with that source loses it, and you'd need to tag them again.

Troubleshooting

I can't delete a source.

Built-in sources can't be deleted. Grove shows "Built-in sources can't be deleted, but assignment can be disabled." If you don't want a built-in source used, turn off Assignable instead. Keep in mind that clears it from any contacts that have it.

A source disappeared from my contacts, or I can't find it in the picker.

Assignable was likely turned off for that source. Go to Stages & Types, open the source's … menu, and turn Assignable back on. Contacts that lost the source will need it added again.

There's no Delete option on my custom source.

The source is still on at least one contact. Grove shows how many, for example "1 contact still uses this source. Reassign them before deleting." Filter People by that source, switch those contacts to another source, then try again.