If you sell services, your client journey probably looks something like this: someone enquires, you book a call, send a proposal, they sign and pay, you onboard them, deliver the work, and wrap up. Every one of those steps can be smooth and consistent, or a scramble of emails and reminders.
GoHighLevel and Dubsado are two tools I set up often for this. They overlap, but they’re built for different businesses. Here’s how to choose, and how to set up each one properly.
The quick difference
Dubsado is a client management tool for service providers. It shines at the polished, paperwork side of the client journey: lead capture forms, proposals, contracts, invoices, questionnaires, scheduling and a client portal, all connected by workflows.
GoHighLevel is an all-in-one sales and marketing platform. It includes a CRM with sales pipelines, a shared inbox for email, SMS and social messages, calendars, funnels and websites, email marketing, and a powerful workflow builder. It’s built for businesses that need to generate and nurture a high volume of leads.
Which one should you choose?
Choose Dubsado if:
- You take on a modest number of clients each month, often with custom projects.
- Your priority is a professional, consistent onboarding experience.
- You need proposals, contracts and invoices tied together.
- You already have a website and email marketing tool you’re happy with.
Typical fits: designers, consultants, coaches with one-to-one clients, photographers, agencies with a handful of retainers.
Choose GoHighLevel if:
- You generate a lot of leads and need to follow up quickly and consistently across channels.
- You want your funnels, CRM, calendars, email and SMS follow-up in one place.
- You run ads or campaigns and need to track leads through a pipeline.
- You’re willing to invest in a more complex setup, or have someone to manage it.
Typical fits: coaches and course creators with group programmes, clinics and local service businesses, agencies running lead generation.
Some businesses use both: GoHighLevel for marketing and sales, then Dubsado once a client signs. That can work, but only if the handoff between them is automated and clearly owned.
Setting up Dubsado, step by step
Step 1: Set up your brand and packages
Add your logo, brand colours and business details. Then create your packages: each service with its description and price. Packages feed into proposals and invoices, so getting them right first saves rework.
Step 2: Build your forms
The core forms most service businesses need:
- Lead capture form: embedded on your website. Ask only what you need to qualify the enquiry: name, email, service, budget range, timeline and one open question.
- Proposal: package options the client can choose from, which flows straight into the contract and invoice.
- Contract: your terms, with smart fields that fill in the client’s name, dates and fees automatically.
- Onboarding questionnaire: everything you need to start the work.
- Offboarding or feedback form: to close the project and ask for a review.
Step 3: Set up your scheduler
Create appointment types, such as a discovery call and a kickoff call, with buffers, availability and the questions to ask when someone books. Connect your calendar so you’re never double-booked.
Step 4: Build your workflow
This is where Dubsado earns its keep. A workflow is a series of actions that runs for each client project. A typical one:
- Lead form submitted → send a thank-you email with your scheduler link.
- After the discovery call → send the proposal (I usually set this to wait for my approval first, so I can adjust it).
- Proposal accepted, contract signed and first invoice paid → send the welcome email and onboarding questionnaire.
- Questionnaire completed → create the kickoff call task and send the scheduler link.
- Project marked complete → send the offboarding form and final invoice.
- Two weeks later → send a check-in email.
Use approval steps for anything that should be reviewed before it goes out. Dubsado also lets you set workflow triggers, so one step waits until the previous one is done.
Step 5: Turn on the client portal
Clients get one place to see their contracts, invoices and forms. It cuts down on “can you resend that?” emails.
Step 6: Test it as a client
Use a test email address and go through the whole journey yourself: fill in the lead form, accept the proposal, sign the contract and pay with a test payment. Fix anything that feels clunky.
Setting up GoHighLevel, step by step
GoHighLevel can do a lot, which is exactly why setups go wrong. Build the core first, then add.
Step 1: Sub-account basics
Set up your business details, connect your email sending domain and phone number, and connect your calendar. Getting email and SMS set up correctly (including the required business and messaging registrations in your country) matters for whether your messages actually get delivered, so don’t rush it.
Step 2: Design your pipeline
A pipeline is the set of stages a lead moves through. Keep it simple and based on real steps, for example:
New lead → Contacted → Call booked → Call held → Proposal sent → Won / Lost
Each lead becomes an opportunity you can drag through the stages. Add a Lost reason field so you learn why deals don’t close.
Step 3: Set up calendars
Create a calendar for discovery calls with availability, buffers, reminders and the qualifying questions you want answered when someone books.
Step 4: Connect your lead sources
Use GoHighLevel’s forms or funnels on your website, or connect external forms. Every new lead should land in the pipeline automatically, tagged with where it came from.
Step 5: Build your core workflows
GoHighLevel’s workflows use triggers and actions. Start with these four:
- Speed to lead: form submitted → create opportunity in “New lead” → send an instant email and SMS with your booking link → create a task for a team member to call within one hour during business hours.
- Booking reminders: call booked → move the opportunity to “Call booked” → send reminders the day before and an hour before.
- No-show recovery: appointment marked as no-show → send a friendly rebooking message → if there’s no booking in three days, create a follow-up task.
- Nurture: lead not booked after seven days → add them to a short email sequence with useful content and a gentle call to action.
Step 6: Use the conversations inbox
All email, SMS and social messages land in one inbox. Assign conversations to team members and set expectations for response times. This is often the single biggest improvement for busy teams.
Step 7: Use snapshots carefully
Snapshots are pre-built GoHighLevel setups you can import. They can save time, but treat them as a starting point. Delete everything you don’t use, and rename things to match your business, or your account will become impossible to navigate.
Where AI helps in both tools
- Drafting your email sequences, proposals and contract summaries (check every fact and price).
- Writing form questions that qualify leads better.
- GoHighLevel has built-in AI features for things like conversation replies and content. Start them in a suggest-only or review mode until you trust the output.
Common mistakes I fix
- Workflows nobody owns. They break when a form or stage changes, and nobody notices for weeks.
- Too many pipeline stages, so leads sit in vague in-between states.
- No testing, so the first client to go through the workflow finds the broken link.
- Automations sending messages at 2am because time zones weren’t set.
- Copied templates that still mention someone else’s business.
Need it set up properly?
Whichever tool you choose, the setup is only half the job. The other half is keeping it running as your services, prices and team change. If you’d like help choosing, building or running your client workflow, book an audit call.