Leads represent contacts who have entered active engagement. Unlike Lead Scouting (where prospects wait for outreach via your outreach platform), contacts in the Leads phase are receiving attention. You have sent emails, made calls, or scheduled meetings. The relationship has started.

The goal here is qualification. Is this person a real opportunity? Do they have budget, authority, need, and timing? Through structured stages, you develop leads until they are ready to become deals or get disqualified.

Leads move through customizable stages on a Kanban board. The default stages work for most B2B sales processes, but you can rename, add, or remove them in settings.

Some teams add stages like "Discovery Scheduled" or "Demo Completed" between Engaged and Qualified. Do what matches your actual process. The stages should reflect real decision points, not arbitrary checkboxes.

The Leads page displays your leads as cards arranged in stage columns. Drag a card from one column to another when a lead progresses. The visual layout shows immediately where your pipeline is healthy and where it is stuck.

When you open a lead, the right-side panel shows everything known about their company. This context helps you personalize outreach (via your favorite outreach platform) and qualify faster.

Why does this matter? If you are pursuing a contact but their colleague already has an active deal, you need to know. The intelligence panel surfaces these relationships automatically.

A lead is a contact, but opportunities often involve multiple people. Use contact linking to build the full picture of who is involved in a potential deal.

When this lead converts to a deal, all linked contacts carry over. You do not lose the relationship mapping you built during qualification.

Every interaction with a lead gets logged. Emails synced from your inbox, calendar events, phone call notes, and manual activity entries all appear on the timeline.

Not every lead becomes a deal. That is fine. The Leads phase exists to qualify and filter. But when a lead is ready, here is what "ready" looks like:

• Need confirmed. The prospect has articulated a problem your product solves. They understand why they are talking to you.
• Budget discussed. You have a sense of their spending capacity or at least know budget is not a blocker.
• Timeline exists. They have a reason to act. A renewal date, a project deadline, a board mandate.
• Authority identified. You know who makes the final decision, even if you have not spoken with them yet.
• Next step agreed. There is a concrete action planned: a proposal, a technical review, a meeting with leadership.

When these boxes are checked, click "Convert to Deal" and enter the estimated value and close date. The lead moves to your pipeline.

Some leads will not work out. They do not have budget, they chose a competitor, or they went dark after initial interest. Disqualifying is not failure. It is pipeline hygiene.

When you disqualify, select a reason. This data informs future strategy. If most disqualifications cite "no budget," maybe your targeting needs adjustment. If "chose competitor" spikes, examine your competitive positioning.

• Set stage entry criteria. Define what must be true before a lead can move to the next stage. Shared criteria prevent inconsistent qualification.
• Time-box each stage. If a lead sits in "Contacted" for 30 days without progress, something is wrong. Set alerts for stale leads.
• Use templates for outreach. In your outreach platform, standardize your first touch, follow-ups, and breakup emails. Consistency improves response rates.
• Log everything. Future you will thank present you. Notes from calls, email summaries, and objections heard all matter later.
• Review weekly. Block 30 minutes to review your Leads board. Move stale cards, update stages, and disqualify dead ends.