Your first lead to deal
Add a lead in CRM, work it with comments, activities and tasks, then convert it into a company, a contact and a deal.
A lead is a potential client you haven't won yet. In this guide you add a lead, work with it, and convert it into a company, a contact and a deal.
Before you begin
You need CREATE_LEAD, UPDATE_LEAD and CONVERT_LEAD. The Employee role has them for the leads the person owns; Department Heads, Directors and Administrators have them too. Leads and deals belong to the Sales module.
1. Add a lead
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In the sidebar, click CRM, then the Leads tab.
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Click Create. You can also open the same form from the top bar: Quick create (the + button) → Lead.
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Fill in what you know. No field is required:
- Lead Name — a short name for the opportunity, for example Website redesign;
- First Name, Last Name, Email, and Phone in international format, starting with
+; - Company, Source and Temperature (Hot, Warm or Cold);
- Owner — you, unless you pick someone else.
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Click Create. The lead's card opens.
While you type an email, phone, company or last name, APROS checks for existing records. If it finds a match, it shows Possible duplicates found with a link to view the match, so you can avoid creating the same lead twice.
If you don't choose a Pipeline Stage, the lead starts in the first stage of the funnel.
2. Find the lead on the board
The Leads page has two views: List and Kanban. In Kanban, each column is a stage. To move a lead to another stage, drag its card to that column.
The tabs My, Team, Dept and All narrow the list to your leads, your team's, your department's or all the leads you can see. Team and Dept appear for managers.
3. Work the lead
Open the lead to see its card. On the General tab, use the buttons above the activity feed:
- Comment — write a note and click Send. Comments are internal unless you mark them as shared.
- Activity — plan a Call, Email or Meeting with a deadline, then click Schedule.
- Task — create a task linked to the lead. Only the Title is required.
- Chat and Email — write to the client, if you have a channel or mailbox connected.
To change the stage, click a stage in the bar under the lead's name, or change Stage in the panel on the left. To hand the lead to a colleague, change Responsible.
The stage bar includes a Converted stage. Clicking it only moves the lead to that stage — it doesn't create a company, contact or deal. To convert a lead, use Convert (next step).
4. Convert the lead
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On the lead's card, click Convert. On the Kanban board you can also drag the card onto Convert, which appears at the bottom of the screen while you drag.
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In Convert Lead, choose what to create:
- Company — Create New (with Type Client or Partner) or Link Existing;
- Contact — Create New or Link Existing. A contact always comes with a company;
- Deal — off by default. Select it to create a deal, then fill in Deal Title, Amount and Stage, and optionally Expected Close Date. If you have several deal funnels, also choose the Deal funnel.
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Click Convert.
APROS shows Lead converted successfully. If you created a deal, the deal opens.
What conversion does:
- creates or links the company, contact and deal; the new company and deal are assigned to the lead's owner;
- moves the lead's conversations, activities, tasks, files, calendar events and emails to the new records;
- copies the lead's products to the deal, and its comments and notes to the contact and company;
- marks the lead Converted. It leaves the Kanban board and is counted under Converted above the board.
5. Find your deal
Click the Deals tab. The deal is on the stage you chose. From here, move it through your sales process — see Create a pipeline and move a deal.
If the lead doesn't work out
On the Kanban board, drag the card onto Lost at the bottom of the screen. In Mark Lead as Lost, choose a Lost Reason — Price, Competitor, Not Relevant, No Budget, No Response or Other — add an optional Comment, and click Mark as Lost.