Qualifying and converting leads
From first interest to opportunity: capture, nurturing, MQL, SQL and conversion.
A lead is a person or company that has shown some interest, but without any certainty yet of real demand, budget or authority. The job of the lead stage is to find out: "does it have real potential to become a customer?"
The lead cycle
- Capture: the lead comes in through a form, content, webinar, campaign, referral, prospecting list, event or response to a sales outreach (Source field).
- Enrichment: complete data such as company, job title, segment and size to understand the potential.
- Nurturing: record interactions and advance maturity (status "Nurture").
- Qualification: assess the fit. Use the Status to mark MQL (marketing qualified) and SQL (sales qualified).
Example: MQL = profile and engagement good enough to deserve sales attention. SQL = there is concrete evidence of a need and a real chance to move forward.
💡 On the Lead, only the Email is required, so you can capture quickly and enrich later.
Convert the lead
When the lead is qualified (SQL), use the "Convert lead" button at the top of the record.
- Open the lead and click "Convert lead".
- Choose whether to create an opportunity (recommended) and enter a name and estimated value.
- Confirm. The system creates the Contact (and the Company, if any), links the contact to the opportunity and opens the opportunity in the Discovery stage, already with the stage's probability.
The lead moves to "Converted" and you go straight to the new opportunity to work the deal through the pipeline.