Leads: the people who got in touch, from first contact to a deal
A lead is one person's interest — where leads come from, the queue New, Contacted, Qualified and Disqualified, how qualifying turns a lead into a deal and how to close one with a reason.
A lead is a person who showed interest — they filled in a form, wrote to you, or a colleague met them. In CRM a lead is a card about one person at one moment: what they asked for, where they came from and what happens next. The person is always a contact; their history stays on the contact.
Open Sales → Leads.
Where leads come from
- Added by hand — + Add lead, or Create → Lead on the dashboard.
- From a contact — Convert to Lead on a contact's page.
- From your forms, your inbox and the API — they land in New on their own.
Every lead has a contact. CRM finds the person by e-mail or phone, or adds them as a contact.
Add a lead
- Click + Add lead.
- In Select Existing Contact, pick the person if they are already in CRM, or leave Someone new.
- Fill in Full Name, Email, Phone, Job Title and Company.
- Choose Status — New or Contacted — and, if you like, Lead Score (0-100), Lead Source (Website, LinkedIn, Referral, Cold Call…), Assign To and Description / Notes.
- Click Create Lead.
The queue
The leads page is a queue with one tab per step and its count:
| Tab | Who is there |
|---|---|
| New | People who just got in touch. |
| Contacted | People you are talking to. Set Status to Contacted on the lead's Edit page when the conversation starts. |
| Qualified | Leads that became a deal. |
| Disqualified | Leads closed with a reason. |
Search by name, e-mail, phone or company, filter by owner or Min score. The columns show the lead, what it is about, how and when it came in, the score, the owner and the next activity. On an open lead the row has Qualify and Disqualify; on a closed one, Reopen.
Qualify: from a lead to a deal
Qualify on the row or on the lead's page opens Qualify this lead:
- Stage — the pipeline and stage the deal starts in.
- Deal name (optional) — left empty, the deal is named after the company (or the person) and the lead source, for example Acme — Website.
- Value and Currency.
- Click Qualify.
The person gets a deal and the lead moves to Qualified. Their history stays where it is — on the contact. Open the deal on the lead's page takes you to it: Deals.
Disqualify
Disqualify asks Why is it not going anywhere? Pick a reason — Not a fit, No budget, Wrong contact, Bad timing, No response, Went with a competitor, Spam or test or Duplicate — and add a note if you like. The contact stays; only the lead card closes. A manager can change the list of reasons: Pipelines and stages.
Reopen brings a disqualified lead back to Contacted.
The lead's page
The page shows the person, the source, the score and the status, with Qualify, Edit, Disqualify, Share and Delete. Quick actions: Send Email, Activity, Create Task, Add Note and Upload Files. The history and the person's details are below.
Leads you see follow the same rule as contacts: Who sees which records.
If something doesn't work
The lead is not in the queue
Look in the other tabs, and clear the owner and score filters. You see your own leads, the ones with no owner and the ones shared with you.
Pick why this lead is not going anywhere.
A reason is required to disqualify a lead. Pick one from the list.
Convert to Lead opened an existing lead
The person already has an open lead card. CRM opens it instead of making a second one.