Getting Started with Scout CRM

Before you start

Scout was built for mineral acquisition, so the setup process assumes you already have owner data, deal history, and a workflow — owner spreadsheets, county-level deal tracking, call logs. The job is getting them into one place, not starting from scratch.

Before creating your account, gather your existing data: owner spreadsheets, county-level deal tracking, any call logs or contact notes. Scout's import engine handles CSV and Excel files, so you don't need to reformat anything. Just know where your files are.

Importing your existing data

The first thing most teams do is import their owner database. Navigate to the Import section, upload your CSV or Excel file, and map your columns to Scout's fields — owner name, contact info, county, legal description, mineral interest, and any custom fields you track.

Scout previews your data before committing, so you can catch mapping errors before they become problems. Most teams complete their initial import in under an hour, even with thousands of owner records.

If you're tracking deals in a separate spreadsheet, import those next. Scout maps deals to owners automatically when the data matches, so your pipeline populates with existing relationships intact.

Setting up your deal pipeline

Scout ships with the acquisition pipeline: Under Negotiation, PSA Sent, Signed, Closed. These are the deal stages mineral teams actually use — built for acquisition, not adapted from a generic sales funnel. Each deal carries its NRA, $/NRA, days-in-stage, and a document checklist: PSA, W-9, deed, lease.

Owners you haven't started a deal with stay in your owner list with their full call history; once you're negotiating, an owner becomes a deal that moves through those four stages. The dashboard shows pipeline value, overdue callbacks, and deals gone stale, so nothing slips between the first call and the close.

Working your first call list

Once your owners are imported and your pipeline is set, start working the list. Scout isn't a dialer — you make the call, then log the result: who you reached, what was said, and the next callback date. Every owner builds a full call history on their timeline, so nobody gets worked twice and no follow-up slips.

For paper, Scout generates your offer letters and PSAs — pick a template and Scout fills in each owner's name, address, acreage, price, and legal description straight from the deal. No re-typing, no merge errors, no manual addressing; you print and send.

As responses come in, log each touch against the owner. Every call, letter, and note lands on that owner's timeline, so your whole team sees who's been contacted and when, and a manager can watch progress from the dashboard.

What to do in your first week

Day 1-2: Import your owner database and deal history. Verify the data looks right.

Day 3: Move any active deals into the right stage — Under Negotiation, PSA Sent, Signed, or Closed.

Day 4-5: Generate offer letters for a targeted AOI and start working your call list — log each result as you go.

End of week: Review your pipeline. Every owner you're tracking should be in Scout, not in a spreadsheet, and every active deal should have a stage, an NRA, and a next action — so you're working the list from Scout, not rebuilding it each morning.