Leads
Go to: CRM → Leads
A lead is a person who has shown interest — someone who filled in a form, replied to a campaign, visited your stand at an exhibition, or was introduced by an existing customer.
Everything downstream starts here: an opportunity is generated from a lead, and a customer is converted from one.
The lead lifecycle
| Status | What it means | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| Open | Captured, not yet worked | Make contact |
| Contacted | You have reached out | Decide whether they qualify |
| Follow Up | A follow-up date is scheduled | Do the follow-up on the date |
| Qualified | Real need, real budget, right person | Generate an opportunity |
| Unqualified | Not a fit right now | Reopen later, or mark lost |
| Opportunity | A deal has been generated from this lead | Work the opportunity |
| Converted | A customer was created from this lead | Sell to the customer |
| Lost | No longer being pursued | Reopen if circumstances change |
Converted is terminal. A converted lead cannot be edited, re-statused, bulk-edited, or deleted — and it is only reachable by actually converting the lead to a customer. Everything else can be corrected: a lost lead can be reopened, and an unqualified lead can go back to Open.
Creating a lead
Open the form
Go to CRM → Leads and click New.
Fill in the person
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Salutation | Mr, Mrs, Ms, Dr, Prof |
| First name | Required |
| Middle name / Last name / Gender | Optional |
| Must be valid, and unique across all leads, prospects, and contacts | |
| Phone / Mobile no | Mobile must contain at least 10 digits |
| Organization / Website | The company they work for |
Classify the lead
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Lead Owner | The user responsible. Defaults to you if left empty |
| Territory | The territory this lead belongs to |
| Lead Type | Client, Channel Partner, or Consultant |
| Lead Source | The channel it came from — see Lead Sources |
| Request Type | Product Enquiry, Request for Information, Suggestions, Other |
Add business detail
On the Details tab: Lead Name, Industry, Market Segment, Annual Revenue, No. of Employees, Expected Value and Currency, address fields, Lead Score (0–100), Lead Rating (0–5), Next Follow Up, and a Description.
Save
Saving a lead also creates a linked Contact with the same name, email, and mobile number, marked as the primary email and phone. Editing the lead keeps that contact in step; deleting the lead deletes it.
The email uniqueness rule
An email address can exist on only one record across the whole system — leads, prospects, CRM contacts, and customer/supplier contacts share one namespace.
If a save is rejected because the email already exists, search for that address before retyping it. You are almost certainly looking at a duplicate of a record that is already in the system.
Following up
Setting Next Follow Up moves the lead to the Follow Up status automatically and re-arms its reminders. The date cannot be in the past — clear the field instead if the follow-up is no longer needed.
Working a lead
| Tab | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Details | Business, address, and qualification fields |
| Comments | Internal discussion on the record |
| Activity | The audit trail of changes |
| Emails | Emails sent to this lead, with their delivery status |
| Attachments | Files uploaded against the lead |
| Connections | Linked opportunities and sales quotations |
| Communications | The full interaction trail — see Communication |
Actions
| Action | Available when | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Mark as Contacted | Open, Follow Up | Records that outreach happened |
| Mark as Qualified | Contacted, Follow Up | Confirms the lead is worth a deal |
| Mark as Unqualified | Contacted, Qualified, Follow Up | Parks the lead without losing it |
| Schedule Follow Up | Most active statuses | Sets the next follow-up date |
| Convert to Opportunity | Qualified only | Creates a deal and moves the lead to Opportunity |
| Convert to Customer | Not already converted | Creates a customer and marks the lead Converted |
| Create → Opportunity / Sales Quotation / Prospect | Not converted or lost | Starts the related record pre-filled from this lead |
| Mark as Lost | Any active status | Records a lost reason and stops work |
| Delete | Not converted | Removes the lead and its linked contact |
Convert to Opportunity requires the Qualified status. Mark the lead qualified first.
Views
| View | Best for |
|---|---|
| List | Filtering, sorting, bulk selection, CSV import and export |
| Kanban | Dragging leads between status columns — Open, Contacted, Follow Up, Qualified, Converted, Lost |
| Calendar | Seeing follow-up dates laid out by day |
Summary tiles above the list show Total, Open, Follow Up, Converted, and Opportunities — click a tile to filter to it. The list can be filtered by status, lead type, source, owner, industry, territory, and created-date range.
Bulk editing leads
Go to: CRM → Leads → Bulk Edit
Select several leads and change shared fields in one pass: Lead Owner, Lead Source, Territory, Status, Lead Type, Lead Score, Lead Rating, Next Follow Up, and Market Segment.
Each lead is validated on its own, so a bad row does not sink the batch — the result lists which leads updated and why the rest failed.
Converted leads cannot be bulk-edited, and status cannot be set to Converted in bulk. Convert leads to customers one at a time.
Emailing a lead
The Emails tab sends email directly to the lead, pre-filling a subject and greeting from the lead’s details. Every send is logged, so the tab doubles as the outbound email history.
For sending to many leads at once, use a Campaign.
Everyday tips
- Set Lead Source on every lead — it is the only way source reporting works.
- Use Follow Up dates instead of mental notes.
- Qualify honestly. Unqualified is reversible; forcing a weak lead to Qualified distorts every forecast.
- Record a lost reason when marking a lead lost — it is the raw material for loss analysis.
Related pages
- Opportunities — the deal a qualified lead becomes
- Contacts — the contact created alongside every lead
- CRM Workflows — the full capture-to-customer walkthrough
- Forms — public forms that create leads automatically
- Reports — lead analysis and lifecycle tracing