When an operator visits your public CrewFinder profile and clicks the Get in Touch button, they can send you a short message without needing your direct email address. Every message lands in your Inquiries inbox on the manage dashboard. This article walks you through the inbox, how to reply, and how to keep it tidy.
Where to find your inbox
Sign in, open your manage dashboard, and click the Inquiries tab at the top. If you have unread messages, a small orange number appears next to the tab name.
What's in a message
Each inquiry shows:
- Sender name, and their company if they entered one
- Email address (clickable — opens your email app)
- Phone number (clickable on mobile — taps to call)
- A timestamp like “2h ago” or the date if it's older
- The message itself, in full
- A “New” badge on unread messages
The three sub-tabs: New, Read, Archived
Inside the Inquiries tab there are three sub-tabs, each with a count next to it:
- New — messages you haven't opened yet. This is where fresh leads live.
- Read — messages you've opened (or marked as read) but haven't archived. A sort of “working tray” while you follow up.
- Archived — messages you've filed away. Nothing is deleted; it's just out of the way.
Messages stay in New until you reply (which marks them read automatically) or click Mark read. You can always click Mark unread on a message in the Read tab to bring it back to New if you want to deal with it later.
Replying to an inquiry
Click Reply
The orange Reply button opens your default email app (Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, etc.) with the sender's email already filled in and a starter subject line like “Re: Your inquiry via CrewFinder”.
Write your response
Write your reply as you would for any normal email. CrewFinder doesn't see or store your reply — it goes straight from your inbox to theirs.
Send
Hit send in your email app. The inquiry is automatically marked as read in your CrewFinder inbox once you've opened it, even if you don't hit Reply.
Fast responses win work
Operators often message three or four companies at once and hire whoever replies first with a useful answer. A reply within a couple of hours during business time puts you at the front of the line.
Convert to Deal — track the inquiry in your Sales Hub
Each non-archived inquiry has a black Convert to Deal button next to Reply. Click it and we create a contact, a company (if they entered one), and a new deal pre-filled with the inquiry as the first activity on the timeline. We drop you on the new deal so you can pick a stage and add a deal value. After that the lead lives in your Sales Hub where you can build a quote, log notes, set follow-up tasks, and track it through to Won or Lost. See Creating a deal for what to do once you're in.
Already in your Sales Hub?
If the sender's email matches an existing contact, we link the new deal to that contact instead of creating a duplicate. Your existing notes and history on that contact are preserved.
Keeping the inbox tidy
Each inquiry card has two buttons next to Reply:
- Mark read / Mark unread — toggle an inquiry's read state without replying. Useful if you're just scanning and want to come back to something later.
- Archive / Unarchive — move the message out of your working inbox (New and Read tabs) and into Archived. This is the tidiest way to “close” an inquiry after you've dealt with it. Unarchive brings it back.
Nothing ever gets deleted
Archiving hides an inquiry but never deletes it. You can always scroll back through the Archived tab to find an old message, check contact details, or pick up a conversation again.
What the Overview counts mean
The Overview tab shows three numbers for your inbox:
- Unread — messages still in the New sub-tab.
- Received (last 7d) — every inquiry that arrived in the past week, whether read, unread, or archived.
- In inbox — everything that isn't archived. Your “active” workload.
No inquiries yet?
Inquiries only come in when operators can find and reach your profile. If your inbox has been quiet, check:
- Profile completeness — the more sections you fill in, the higher you rank. See How to Improve Your Listing.
- Your services and locations — if these are missing, you won't show up in the searches that matter.
- Your Verified badge — verified profiles get more clicks. See What Does the Verified Badge Mean?
- Where you're sharing your profile — linking to your CrewFinder profile from your website, email signatures, and LinkedIn all drive inbound messages. See How to Share Your Company Profile.
Privacy and spam
- Operators only see the public info you've put on your profile. Your sign-in email is never shared through the inquiry form.
- The inquiry form has anti-spam protection built in, but the occasional junk message can still slip through — just archive it.
- If an inquiry looks abusive or fraudulent, email support@crewfinder.info and we'll take a look.
Was this article helpful?
Need more help? Contact support
Related articles
Your Dashboard: A Guided Tour
A plain-English walkthrough of the CrewFinder manage dashboard — the tabs across the top, what each one does, and where to find everything.
How Do I Contact a Subcontractor?
How to reach out to a company you've found on CrewFinder, including phone, email, and website links.
How to Share Your Company Profile
Share your CrewFinder profile link in email signatures, bids, proposals, or on your website.
Adding contacts
Three ways to get people into your Sales Hub: add one by hand, upload a CSV, or convert an inquiry from your CrewFinder inbox.
Creating a job you're chasing (a “deal”)
How to add a deal to your sales board, what to put in it, and what happens after you save.