What are leads in Zoho CRM?

In Zoho CRM, a lead is a person or company that has shown interest but is not yet qualified as a real sales opportunity. Leads sit in their own module. When a lead is qualified, you convert it, and Zoho CRM creates a contact, an account and, if you choose, a deal.

Zoho CRM keeps unqualified prospects separate from your real customers and opportunities. A lead might be someone who filled in a website form, a business card from a trade show, an enquiry from an ad, or a name from a purchased list. You do not yet know if they have a need, a budget or the authority to buy.

Leads, contacts, accounts and deals each have a job. A lead is an unqualified prospect. A contact is a qualified person you deal with. An account is the company a contact works for. A deal is a specific sales opportunity with a value, a stage and an expected closing date. Keeping these separate stops your customer list filling up with cold names and keeps pipeline reports honest.

When your team decides a lead is worth pursuing, they convert it. Conversion creates a contact from the person, an account from the company name, and optionally a deal. Notes, activities and emails move with the record. You can map custom lead fields to contact, account and deal fields so nothing is lost during conversion.

Not every business needs the Leads module. Some B2B firms with few, well-known buyers skip leads and start straight at contacts and deals. High-volume businesses rely on it, using lead sources, lead scoring, assignment rules and web forms to route new enquiries quickly. Decide which model fits your sales process before you import data.

Written by Flowpeak, a Zoho implementation partner. Zoho pricing and features change, so confirm current details on the official Zoho site. Free checklists | Ask us a question