This video covers how contact types work in Shape’s mortgage template and shows how to convert someone from one type to another when needed. It’s a simple tool, but it makes a big difference in keeping your data clean and accurate.

Understanding the Contact Types in the Mortgage Template

Shape includes several contact types that represent different parts of your pipeline or relationship network.

Borrower-related contact types

  • Leads
  • Applications
  • Loans

These typically reflect borrower movement through the pipeline. A record may start as a lead, then move to an application, and eventually become a loan.

Referral partners

Most referral partners are real estate agents, but you can include CPAs, attorneys, financial professionals, and other service partners as well.

Contacts

This group is often used for recruiting, whether you’re tracking potential referral partners or loan officers you’d like to bring onto your team.

When You Might Need to Convert a Record

Sometimes a record gets created under the wrong contact type by mistake. Other times a person’s relationship to your business changes. In those cases, you don’t need to recreate the record or lose any history. You can convert it instead.
Common examples include:

  • A referral partner who becomes a borrower
  • A lead created under the wrong category
  • A contact you intended to track as a referral partner
  • A borrower who first enters the system as a general contact

Shape makes this process easy.

How to Convert a Contact Type

You can convert any record directly from the contact page.

Steps

  • 1. Open the contact record you want to update
  • 2. Click the Convert button in the upper right
  • 3. Choose the new contact type (lead, application, loan, referral partner, or contact)
  • 4. The record refreshes with the appropriate fields for the new type

Shape also carries over shared information so you don’t have to re-enter details that already exist. Notes transfer too, which keeps your history intact.

Keeping Your Pipeline Clean and Accurate

The convert feature helps you maintain a clean, well-organized pipeline without losing data. It keeps your reporting accurate and ensures your team is always working with the right contact type.
If you’re ever unsure of which type to use or how to convert someone, the Shape team can help you decide the best approach.