Record and work a lead

A lead is someone who may buy but is not a customer yet: a call to the office, a business card from an exhibition, a name from a campaign. Recording every lead in one place means none is forgotten, and you can see which sources bring business.

Add a lead

1. Open CRM › Sales › Leads and select New lead.

1. Type the Company; it is the only required field. Add the Contact person, Email, Phone, Mobile and Website.

2. Choose the Industry and the Source, so you can later see where your leads come from.

3. Set the Status, the Estimated value and the Expected close date.

4. Check Assigned to. Set the Team if leads are shared by a team.

5. Fill the Address, Country, State / Governorate and City, and place the pin on the map if you will visit.

6. Add any Custom fields, Notes and Attachments, then select Save.

Leads also arrive from the lead import and from reps who add them on the field sales screen.

Work a lead

Click View in the lead's Actions menu to open the lead page. It has the Timeline, Overview, Conversion and Attachments tabs.

1. On the Timeline, select Log activity after every contact.

2. Choose the Type: Call, Email, Meeting, Note, Task, Field Visit, Demo or Proposal, and the Direction.

3. Type the Subject, which is required, add Notes and, for something still to do, a Due date. Select Log.

Planned items show as Planned on the timeline, and late ones as Overdue. Use Pin to keep an important note at the top.

Schedule a follow-up

1. In the lead's Actions menu, select Follow-up.

2. Choose the Due date, add Notes and save.

The follow-up appears in the responsible person's tasks and in the field-sales feed on the day it is due.

Assign leads to reps

1. In the list, tick the leads you want to hand over. The bar shows how many records are selected.

2. Select Assign to user, choose the user in Assign to and select Assign.

The selected leads move to that user, who will see them in their list, pipeline and field-sales feed.

Close a lead that will not buy

1. In the lead's Actions menu, select Mark as lost.

2. Type the Loss reason and confirm.

The lead's status becomes Lost. A converted, won or lost lead can no longer be marked as lost or converted again.

Find and rank leads

• Search with Search leads and filter by status with All statuses, or by your company's custom fields.

• The Score column ranks leads automatically from their details, so reps can call the most promising first.

• Export the filtered list to Excel or PDF.

Common questions

I cannot see a colleague's leads. Why? You see leads you are responsible for and those of your team. Users with the permission to view all records see every lead.

What is the difference between Status and the pipeline stage? The stage is the column on the leads pipeline. Moving a lead between stages updates its status for you.

The lead is ready to buy. What next? Convert it into a customer, with a sales opportunity if you like.