Chapter 4: Working with Leads

Businesses consider Lead management as one of the important activities in their organization-wide sales & marketing process. Leads are raw details about individuals or representatives of organizations collected from trade shows, seminars, advertisements, purchasing from external sources, and other marketing campaigns. These are used to qualify a particular individual or organization to next stage of your sales process so that you can sell your products/services to them in future. Some times leads may not be interested to purchase specific products/services, but may be useful as referral to sell other products in future.

The terminology related to lead management may differ across the industries, but the basic process is approximately same. You can use Leads module, if you have a well-defined lead management process in your organization. In the Zoho CRM system, lead contains a combination of company, person, and business opportunely (potential) details. You can use Zoho CRM for managing both Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) scenarios. In B2B scenario company name can be made mandatory where as in B2C company name can be optional. For more details on customizing Zoho CRM for B2C, refer to Zoho CRM for B2C tutorial.

Typical Lead Management Process

1. Customize lead related fields in lead page according to your organization Sales & Marketing process (You may use the existing fields, disable some of the standard fields, or add new custom fields).
2. Setup lead generation process by filling the lead form, importing lead data from external sources, or capturing leads directly from your Web site using Web-to-Lead form.
3. Assign leads to the correct sales persons/partners using the Lead Assignment rules.
4. Qualify the leads as potentials by following-up till the lead reached to a certain stage. Afterwards convert lead to potential. While converting leads to potentials, accounts and contacts are created automatically.
5. After converting leads to potentials follow-up further in Potentials module till the deal is either won or lost. All the converted leads status is changed to "Converted", which can be used for future reference.

The Leads home page contains,

• Leads List View
• Page Navigation
• Quick Create Leads
• Leads Reports
• Dashboard
• Lead Tools, such as Import, Export, Mass Delete, and Mass Transfer
• Alphabetical Search
• Custom Views

You can perform the following operations in Leads module:

• Navigate leads
• Search leads (Alphabetical or Advanced search options)
• Manage custom views
• Create leads (form filling, quick create, or duplicate options)
• Import leads (from external sources)
• Associate lead with other records
• Send mass e-mail to the leads
• Merge duplicate leads
• Export leads (to spreadsheet programs)
• Convert lead to other sales records (account, contact, and potential)
• Map lead conversion fields
• Change lead status (individually or in bulk)
• Change lead owner (individually or in bulk)
• View Reports & Dashboards
• Print lead details
• Delete leads (individually or in bulk)
• Customize leads
• Set up Lead Assignment Rules
• Capture Leads from Web site
• Approve Web-to-Leads

Navigating Leads

(Access Privilege: Read access)

You can navigate the leads according to the status of the leads.

To navigate leads

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads Home page, under the Lead List section, select one of the views from Select View drop-down list to display the list of leads according to the status of the leads (For example, Contacted, Hot, Won, and others).
3.  In the Lead List section, click the Start, Previous, Next, or End links to access the respective list of leads.

Searching Leads

(Access Privilege: Read permission)

You can search the leads alphabetically or filling the required information in Search box.

To search leads

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads Home page, under Lead Search section, do one of the following:
3. • Specify the search criteria in Search box and click the Go button. Or
   • Select one of the alphabetical search links.
3. In the Lead List page, a list of leads is displayed as per search criteria.

Creating Custom List Views

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

In the Lead List you can create/modify/delete the custom views, sort columns in the list view (ascending/descending order), search the records available in the current list view. In addition, you can modify some of the columns in standard list views. By default, the following standard list views are available in the Leads module:

• Standard Views
  • All Open Leads
  • My Leads
  • Toady's Leads
  • Converted Leads
• Recent Views
  • Recently Created Leads
  • Recently Modified Leads
  • Recently Viewed Leads

Note: User created list views are displayed under User Created Views category in View drop-down list.

Refer to Chapter <>: Managing List Views to learn more about creating list views.

To create custom views

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads Home page, under Lead List section, click the Create View link.
   
   

   Note: Under the Lead List section some of the standard list views are displayed. You can only rearrange the order of columns and more columns.

3. In the Create New View page, do the following:
   • In the View Information section, specify name of the custom view in the View Name (mandatory) field. The custom view name appears in the View drop-down list. You can also set the custom view as a default list view by selecting the Set as Default View check box.
   • In the Specify Criteria section, specify the filter criteria. For more details refer to the Specifying List View Criteria section.
   • In the Choose Columns section, select the columns to be displayed in the List View. For more details refer to the Selecting List View Columns section.
   • In the Accessibility Details section, select the users to whom custom list view has to be enabled. For more details refer to the Enabling View Access section.
4. Click Save. The custom list view is displayed in the View drop-down list.

Creating Leads

(Access Privilege: Write permission)

In the Zoho CRM system, you can create leads by:

• Entering data manually into lead details form
• Importing leads from external sources
• Capture leads from Web site through Web-to-Lead form

Note: Some of the standard fields listed below may not be visible/editable depending on your organization business process and field-level security settings. In case your organization added/modified fields please contact your System Administrator for more details about usage of the other fields.

List of Standard Lead-related Fields

In the Lead: Edit form, you need to specify the lead-related information. The following table provides descriptions of the various standard fields in the form.

Creating Leads Individually

You can create leads manually whenever there are very less number of leads. For example, you might have met a person in travel, and in normal chat, he/she has shown some interest in your product/service. After that, you have exchanged business cards and were asked to contact him/her later with more details about the product/service. The next day morning, you can create a lead manually with the available details. The best way to handle this type of scenarios is to create leads manually where you can fill the available details instantly.

You can create leads by:

• Filling details in the lead creation form.
• Using the Quick Create, a quick create component present in left hand-side of the Leads Home page.
• Duplicating the lead with few changes in the existing lead details

Note: By default, the person who creates the lead owns the lead. If you want to assign the lead to a different user, select the user name from the Change Owner field in the lead details view. In addition, the lead status is marked with a default lead status as per your organization's sales process.

To create leads individually

1. Click the New Lead link.
2. In the Lead: page, enter the lead-related information.
   
   Note: The Last Name and Company fields are mandatory. Refer to the List of Standard Lead-related Fields section for more details.
3. Click Save. Lead details are displayed in Lead: <Lead Name> page where you can perform the additional operations. Refer to the Associating Leads with Other Records section for more details.

To create leads instantly

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In left hand-side under the Quick Create section, enter the mandatory details, such as Last Name and Company name.
3. Click Save. Lead details are displayed in Leads Home page, where you can update the additional details.

To create duplicate leads

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Lead List view page, select the lead to be duplicated.
3. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Clone button.
4. In the Edit: <Lead Name> page, modify some of the lead details.
5. Click Save. Lead details are displayed in the Lead: <Lead Name> page where you can perform the additional operations.

Importing Leads

(Access Privilege: Data import permission)

Importing leads from external to the CRM system is one of the most important activities in marketing and sales, when you are using different systems to gather leads data. For example, you may be purchasing leads from external sources, capturing product requests through Web site, getting leads from a different business unit within organization where there is a chance of cross-selling of products, or migrating data from your old system to the Zoho CRM system. In all these cases, importing leads enhances your productivity.

You can import leads, if you are authorized to perform this operation. Otherwise, Import Leads button in Leads Home page will be hidden in your user interface. By default, lead ownership is held up with the user, who imports the leads. You can change the lead ownership while importing by adding a lead owner column in import (CSV/XLS) file and map to the Assigned To field. This will automatically assign leads to particular users. Use the exact Zoho CRM users' names while creating the lead import file, otherwise leads are not created in Zoho CRM.

To import leads

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page under Lead Tools section, click the Import My Leads or Import My Organization Leads button.
   
   

   Note: Import link is displayed only if you have privilege to use Import feature. Please contact your administrator in case these links are disabled.

3. In the Specify Import File: page, browse the leads-related import file (CSV/XLS format) and then click the Next button.
4. In the Fields Mapping page, map the CSV/XLS column header with lead fields in Zoho CRM.
5. Click the Import button. It will take few minutes to complete the importation.
6. In the Import Summary page click the Go to Leads List button. If there are any duplicate records in XLS/CSV file or already leads are existing in the Zoho CRM system, Duplicate Records page is displayed. For more details on importing duplicate records refer to the To import duplicate records section.
7. In the Leads: Home page, imported leads are displayed under the Leads List section. You can continue the importation further or complete the operation.

To import duplicate records

1. Refer to the steps 1 through 4 in the To import leads section.
2. In the Duplicate Records page, list of duplicate leads are displayed. You can select one of the following options for each record:
   • Overwrite: To overwrite the existing record with new record. Click the Overwrite All link to select all the records.
   • Skip: To skip the importation of the new record. Click the Skip All link to select all the records.
   • Clone: To create a new record in addition to the existing record. Click the Clone All link to select all the records.
3. Click the Next button. It will take few minutes to complete the importation.
4. In the Import Summary page click the Go to Leads List button.
5. In the Leads: Home page, imported leads are displayed under the Leads List section. You can continue the importation further or complete the operation.

Import Duplicate Records

Merging Duplicate Leads

Over a period, there may be a chance of accumulation of duplicate fields in Leads module. You can merge the duplicate leads for a better organization of leads.

To merge duplicate leads

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads Home page, under the Lead List section, click the required lead.
3. In the Lead Details page, click the Find & Merge Duplicates button.
4. In the Find Duplicate Leads page, do the following:
   1. Under the Search Criteria section, by default the some of the matching criteria and the corresponding values are displayed. Add additional criteria if required. Click the Search button.
   2. Under the Matching Leads section, select the leads to be merged.
   3. Click the View Duplicates button.
5. In the Merge Leads page, select the fields to be updated to master record. All the duplicate fields are highlighted with a different color.
6. Click the Merge button. The fields details will be merged with the master lead record and lead details page is displayed for further operations.

Associating Leads with Other Records

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

After creating leads, you may need to associate leads with other records, such as tasks, events, E-mails, products, attachments, and notes until the lead is reached to a certain stage where it can be converted to potential as per your organization's sales process.

To associate lead with other records

1. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, you can update the following details:
2. • Open Activities: To add tasks and events (meetings, and calls).
   • Closed Activities : To archive the closed activities.
   • Products: To add products to the lead.
   • Attachments & Notes: To attach documents and notes to the lead.
   • Mails: To archive the sent email messages as part of the mass mailing.
   • Notes: To add notes to the lead.
2. After updating the associated records, you can work with the next record.

Sending E-mail to Leads

(Access Privilege: Write permission)

You can send bulk E-mails to the selected leads from the Leads module. Before sending E-mail, ensure that the lead contains a valid E-mail address; otherwise, E-mail will not be sent to the corresponding lead.

To send Emails to individual leads

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page under the Lead List View section, select the lead.
3. In the Lead Details page, go to Mails related list view and click the Send Mail button.
4. In the Compose Mail page, enter the email message, attach files, add additional email IDs in CC & BCC fields, and finally click the Send button. An Email will be sent to the recipients and copy of the mail is stored under Mails related list view.

To send E-mails to a group of leads

1. Click the Leads tab
2. In the Leads: Home page under the Lead Tool section, click the Mass E-mail Lead link.
3. In the Mass E-mail page, do the following:
   • By default, the E-mail Template tab is enabled. Select the template to be used from the E-mail Template pick list. The template content is displayed under E-mail Template Body section.
   • Click Matching Criteria tab. You can create a leads mailing list by specifying the matching criteria under Specify Criteria section.
4. Click the Send button to send the E-mail message to the selected leads. 

Exporting Leads

(Access Privilege: Data export permission)

Occasionally it is very useful to export the leads from Zoho CRM to Spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice, and others for further data analysis.

To export leads to external sources

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page under the Lead Tools section, click the Export All Leads button.
3. In the File Download pop-up dialog, Click Save to save the leads details in CSV/XLS file format.

Converting Leads to Other Sales Records

(Access Privilege: Lead Conversion permission)

Once lead status has reached a certain stage, where it can be qualified as an potential, i.e., there is a chance of further negotiations with the lead, it can be converted to account, contact, and potential. It depends on your organization's sales process. During lead conversion, all the fields in Lead details are converted to the account, contact, and potential fields. Also the related lists, such as tasks, events,

Note: Once a lead is converted into potential, lead status will be changed to Converted in Leads Home page.

Lead Conversion Rule

While converting a lead to an potential first a new account and contact are created with the relevant lead data, and then a new potential is created. The following table provides descriptions of the various fields converted to account, contact, and potential (optional) during lead conversion:

To convert leads to other sales records

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, select the lead to be converted.
3. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Convert Lead button.
4. In the Convert Lead: <Lead Name> page, enter the following details:
5. • Assigned To - Select the user name.
   • Account Name - Display the company name. This field is non-editable.
   • Potential Name - Specify the potential name.
   • Potential Close Date - Specify the potential closing date or select the date from the pop-up Calendar.
5. Click Save.

Mapping custom fields

By default, all the standard lead fields are mapped with the corresponding account, contact, and potential

To map lead fields with other records

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Setup page, expand the Lead Settings section and click the Fields link.
3. In the Lead Fields page, click the Map Custom Fields button.
4. In the Map Lead Custom Fields page, custom fields are displayed under Lead Custom Fields column.

Changing Lead Status

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

When the prospecting is in progress, it may be very useful to change the status of some of the leads in a single step. Lead status is customizable and your administrator has already configured the Lead Status field as per your organization's sales process. You can change the status of individual lead or group of leads.

To change the status of leads individually

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, select the lead.
3. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Edit button.
4. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, change the lead status from Lead Status pick-list.
5. Click Save to update the lead status.

To change the status of leads in bulk

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, go to the Lead List section and select the check boxes corresponding to the leads. You can also select all the leads.
3. Click the Change Status button.
4. In the Leads: Change Status page, select the status from the Select New Status pick list and click the Update Status button.
   
   

   Note: Leads status will be changed to a new status, irrespective of its existing status. Use this operation carefully, otherwise leads at different states will be changed to new status violating the organization's sales process. If you are not sure of using this operation, change the status of leads one-after-another. The other ways of overcoming this problem is first search the leads with a required status then change the status in bulk.

Changing Lead Owner

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permissions)

When the prospecting is in progress, occasionally it may be very useful to change the owner of some of the leads in a single step. You can change the owner of an individual lead or a group of leads.

To change owner of leads individually

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, select the lead.
3. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Edit button.
4. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, change the lead owner from the Lead Owner lookup field.
5. Click Save to update the lead owner.

To change owner of leads in bulk

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, go to the Lead List section and select the check boxes corresponding to the leads. You can also select all the leads.
3. Click the Change Owner button.
4. In the Leads: Change Owner page, select the user from the Select New Owner pick list and click the Update Owner button to change the owner of the leads permanently.
   
   

   Warning: Leads ownership will be changed to another user, irrespective of its existing owner. Use this operation carefully, otherwise leads belonging to different users will be changed to new user. To overcome this problem, first you may search the leads with a required owner name then change the owner in bulk.

Viewing Reports

(Access Privilege: Read/Write permission)

You can directly access some of the standard reports pertaining to leads from the Lead Reports section. In addition to reports you can access one of the dashboards in Leads module.

By default, the following reports are displayed under Leads module:

• Leads By Source
• Leads By Status
• Today's Leads
• Leads by Ownership
• Converted Leads
• Leads by Industry

To view Lead report 

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, go to the Lead Reports section.
3. Click the required Report link. The Report is displayed in Reports page, which can be further customized as per your requirements.

Printing Lead Details

(Access Privilege: Read permission)

You can view the lead details in printable form and print them using browser’s Print function.

To print lead details

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, go to the Lead List section and select the required lead.
3. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Printable View link.
4. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Print Page button. You can print the document using the Web browser print function.

Deleting Leads

(Access Privilege: Read/Write/Delete permissions)

Occasionally you may need to remove some of the unnecessary leads from the Zoho CRM system for a better user experience. You may consider removing leads that are not useful for future reference.

Warning: The deleted leads are temporarily stored in Recycle Bin. If required you can restore the deleted leads again. But if you delete leads from Recycle Bin, you cannot restore again.

To delete leads individually

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, select the lead.
3. In the Lead: <Lead Name> page, click the Delete button.
4. In the Confirmation dialog, click OK to remove the lead permanently.

To delete leads in bulk

1. Click the Leads tab.
2. In the Leads: Home page, go to the Lead List section and select the check boxes corresponding to the leads to be removed.
3. Click the Delete button.
4. In the Confirmation dialog, click OK to remove the selected leads permanently.

Customizing Leads

(Access Privilege: System Administration)

Customization of the Leads module includes, renaming the tab name, modifying the pick list values in standard fields, adding new custom fields, modifying lead page layout, and show/hide the related list views according to your Lead management process requirements.

For more details, refer to Chapter 24: Customizing Zoho CRM

Setting up Lead Assignment Rules

(Access Privilege: Manage Lead Assignment Permission)

You can setup lead assignment rules based on your organization-wide lead distribution (based on sales territories) process so that leads generated through import tool are automatically assigned to the respective sales team members.

Lead Assignment Workflow

• Create lead assignment rule.
• Associate rule entries to the assignment rule, which contains matching criteria, selecting user, and adding default workflow task.
• Select the required assignment rule in lead import tool
• During lead importation, first assignment rule is evaluated and the leads are assigned to the Zoho CRM users according matching criteria.

Limitations

• You can create up to 20 different lead assignment rules.
• In each assignment rule, you can associate up to 20 different criteria.
• Even though you can setup multiple rules, users can select only one rule at a time.
• Lead assignment rule can be used only for the leads generated through import tool.

To set up lead assignment rules

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Settings Home page, under the Lead Settings section click the Assignment Rules link.
3. In the Lead Assignment Rules page, under the Rules List section list of default rules are displayed. Click the Create New Rule button to add a new rule.
4. In the New Rule page, specify the rule in the Rule Name field and click the Save.
   
   

   Specify Rule Name

   
   
5. In the Lead Assignment Rule Entry page, under the Rules Entries section list of default rule entries are displayed. Click the Create New Rule Entry button to add a new rule entry.
6. In the Rule Entry page, do the following:
   1. Specify Criteria: Select the matching criteria to evaluate the rule (Refer to Chapter 25: Managing Workflow)
   2. Select User: Select the user to whom the lead has to be assigned.
   3. Add Task: Select the workflow task to be assigned (Refer to Chapter 25: Managing Workflow)
7. Click Save.
   
   

   Specify Rule Details

Capturing Leads from Web site (Web-to-Lead Form)

(Access Privilege: Web-to-Lead Permission)

Using Web-to-Lead form your organization can allow Web site visitors submitting their information directly so that you can create leads directly. All the leads captured through Web site are first assigned to the Lead Administrator, which can be reassigned to the corresponding Sales persons.

Important Points

• Anyone visiting your Web site can submit leads and submit any type of information. Hence you cannot control the Spam.
• All the leads are first assigned to the User selected in Web-to-Lead settings page. The Lead Administrator can change the lead ownership to other users.
• To send automate replies to visitors select the required e-mail template from the Web-to-Lead settings.
• The generated Web-to-Lead form contains only Web form related tags. You have to customize the generated Lead form further to suite your Website requirements.
• Test the complete workflow of Web-to-Lead form, before publishing in the Website.

Note: For creating a lead, Last Name and Company Name fields are mandatory. If your Website visitors do not enter these fields, lead with company name as "Not Available" is created.

To create Web-to-Lead form

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Settings Home page, under the Lead Settings section click the Web-to-Lead link.
3. In the Capturing Leads from Website page, do the following:
4. Enable Web-to-Lead option for your organization: Refer To configure Web-to-Lead settings section.
5. Set up Custom Lead Fields in Web-to-Lead form: Refer To add custom lead fields in Web-to-Lead form section.
6. Generate HTML page as per your fields in the Web-to-Lead form: Refer To generate HTML page for Web-to-Lead form section.
7. The generated HTML page contains only the web form objects and minimal HTML tags. Customize the web page according to your Website layout requirements.
8. Publish the Web-to-Lead form in your Website. Your visitors can submit their contact information, which will be routed to Leads module. All the leads captured through Web Form are assigned to the Owner selected in Web-to-Lead settings page.

To configure Web-to-Lead settings

1. In the Capturing Leads from Website page click the Web-to-Lead link.
2. In the Web-to-Lead Settings page do the following:
3. Enable Web-to-Lead: Select the check box the enable the Web-to-Lead form.
4. Return URL: Specify the URL of the page to be displayed after visitor submits the case (For example, Thanks page for submitting the information)
5. Web Leads Approval: Select the checkbox to enable approval system, so that leads will be assigned to respective sales person upon approving the lead. By default, the lead approval is disabled.
6. Default Lead Owner/Creator: Specify the Zoho CRM user to whom the case has to be assigned.
7. Default Response Template: Select the automate e-mail response template, which is used for sending an e-mail to the person submits the case.
8. Click Save. Again Capturing Leads from your Web Site page is displayed.

To add custom lead fields in Web-to-Lead form

1. In the Capturing Leads from Website page click the Setup Custom Lead Fields link.
2. In the Lead Fields section add the custom fields to be added. For more details, refer to Chapter 24: Customizing Zoho CRM
3. Once you have completed the field customization, click the Web-to-Lead link under Lead Settings section.

To generate HTML page for Web-to-Lead form

1. In the Capturing Leads from Website page click the Generate the HTML link.
2. In the Generating HTML for Web-to-Lead page, do the following:
   1. Select Web Form Fields: Select the lead fields to be displayed in the Web Form.
   2. Confirm Password: Specify your password (User who creates the Web-to-Lead form) to authenticate your Account from the Zoho CRM on-demand service.
3. Click the Generate HTML button.
4. In the Copy Generated HTML page, copy the HTML content and paste to your favorite HTML editor and click the Finish button.
5. Customize the Web-to-Lead form (HTML page) to suite your Website requirements and publish in your Website.

Approving Leads Captured through Website

(Access Privilege: Web-to-Lead Permission)

By default, leads captured through Website are assigned to one of the Lead Administrator who can update the leads with additional information and assign to the corresponding Sales Person in your organization. It will allow your sales persons focus mainly on high priority leads (lead contain correct contact information, and interest on your offering).

To approve leads from Website

1. Click the Setup link.
2. In the Settings Home page, under the Lead Settings section click the Approve Web Leads link.
3. In the Web-to-Lead Approval page, under Web-to-Lead list, leads are displayed. View the lead details, assign to specific user, and click the Approve button. Afterwards lead owner can follow-up the lead.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is it possible to create a lead without company name?

Ans: Yes, you can create a lead without Company name. By default in the Zoho CRM system Company Name and Last name are mandatory fields, which is suitable for B2B. But you can customize the product for B2C also. For more details on customizing Zoho CRM for B2C, refer to Zoho CRM for B2C tutorial.

2. My leads show interest on multiple products/services that I sell. How can I add all the products to a single lead?

Ans: You can add product(s) to a lead from the Lead Details page under the Products related list.

3. What happens to my open activities associated with leads that are converted?

Ans: After converting a lead to account, contact, and potential, activities related to lead are associated with the contact.

4. After lead conversion I am unable to see the lead details. Whether it is got deleted from the system?

Ans: After lead conversion the lead status will be changed to Converted hence you cannot see the lead details in List view. You can view the list of converted leads list by selecting the Converted view.