# Onboarding ### How onboarding works in Fluid CRM Fluid CRM includes a guided onboarding flow designed to help you start selling immediately, not configure software for hours. Instead of long setup wizards, Fluid walks you through the exact actions you need to take to run your pipeline every day. You can complete the full onboarding in a few minutes. *** #### Step 1: Create your first deal As soon as you create an account, Fluid prompts you to create your first deal. A deal represents an active sales conversation. In Fluid, every deal automatically creates and links a contact and company in the background. When you create a deal, you: * Name the deal * Add the contact, company and value * Pick a stage from the dropdown * Add notes or context (optional) Fluid is deal-first by design. Contacts and companies exist to support deals, not the other way around. The goal of this step is simple: get your first real conversation into the system. **Why this matters** Traditional CRMs force you to manage contacts first, then build deals around them. Fluid flips this. You start with the deal because the deal is the thing that closes. This keeps your pipeline clean and your attention where it belongs. *** ### Step 2: Set your first reminder Right after creating your first deal, Fluid guides you to set a reminder. Reminders are core to how Fluid works: * Every deal should have a clear next action * Reminders ensure nothing silently goes cold * Your daily workflow is built around them This step teaches you the habit Fluid is built for: always leave a deal with a next step. *** ### Step 3: Customize your pipeline Next, Fluid guides you to edit your pipeline. Pipelines reflect how you sell. You can: * Rename stages * Reorder them * Add new stages * Delete the ones you do not use * Or keep the default structure The goal is not perfection. It's alignment with how your real sales conversations progress. You can always adjust pipelines later, and you can create multiple pipelines for different workflows (sales, onboarding, partnerships, client delivery). *** ### Step 4: Configure preferences and deal fields After your pipeline is set, Fluid takes you to the Preferences page. Here you can: * Choose which fields appear on deal cards (3 fields visible per card) * Decide what information matters to you * Create custom fields if needed * Hide everything that creates noise Fluid is intentionally flexible here. You control what shows up and what stays out of the way. *** ### Step 5: Set your theme and general settings You can then: * Choose your preferred theme from 6 dark options (Graphite, Midnight, Ocean, Forest, Sunset, Amethyst) * Set general workspace preferences * Adjust small details that make Fluid feel comfortable to use daily These settings do not affect how Fluid works. They affect how pleasant it is to work inside it. *** ### Step 6: Invite your team (optional) If you work with others, you can invite teammates from the Team Settings page. This step is optional.\ Fluid works just as well for solo users as for small teams. Each teammate shares the same pipelines, deals, and follow-up rhythm. *** ### Optional: Earn free months with referrals Fluid includes a referral program. When you invite others using your referral link and they subscribe to Fluid: * Your friend gets 30 bonus days when they sign up * You get 30 bonus days when they subscribe * Unlimited referrals, stack as many months as you want This is completely optional and not required for onboarding, but it is available if you want to share Fluid with others. *** ### What happens after onboarding Once onboarding is complete, you are ready to use Fluid daily. Your next step is learning the core habit Fluid is built around: working through your pipeline every day. #### What to read next * Your daily workflow, how to use Fluid every day * Pipeline customization, deeper pipeline setup * Visual pipeline, how Fluid structures sales conversations --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://fluid-crm.gitbook.io/fluid-crm-docs/getting-started/onboarding.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.