What Are Leads?
Leads
•Apr 10, 2026A Lead in SalesKey represents a potential business opportunity that is early in your sales process — it may not yet be fully qualified, but it's worth tracking and nurturing.
Leads vs. Deals
Understanding the difference between leads and deals helps you organize your pipeline effectively:
| Lead | Deal | |
|---|---|---|
| Stage | Early stage, unqualified | Active, qualified opportunity |
| Purpose | Track and nurture potential | Move through sales stages to close |
| View | Table or Kanban | Table or Pipeline board |
| Next step | Convert to Deal when ready | Move through stages until Won/Lost |
Think of leads as the "top of the funnel" — the raw interest that needs to be evaluated before moving into your main sales pipeline.
What Information Does a Lead Contain?
Each lead can store:
- Title — A name or description for the opportunity
- Value — The potential monetary value of the lead
- Currency — Multi-currency support for international deals
- Expected Close Date — When you expect the lead to convert
- Source Channel — How the lead came to you (e.g., Referral, Website, Cold Call)
- Status — Current state (e.g., New, Contacted, Qualified — configurable by admin)
- Person — The individual contact associated with this lead
- Organization — The company this lead is from
- Assignee(s) — Team member(s) responsible for the lead
- Labels — Categorization tags
- Custom Fields — Any additional fields your admin has configured
- Activities — Calls, emails, meetings, and tasks linked to this lead
- Notes — Internal notes from your team
- Attachments — Documents related to this lead
Lead Lifecycle
A typical lead moves through this process:
- Created — Lead captured (from a form, import, manual entry, or business card scan)
- Contacted — First outreach made, status updated
- Qualified — Lead evaluated and confirmed as a real opportunity
- Converted — Lead promoted to a Deal in your sales pipeline
Leads that are not a fit can be archived or deleted.
Getting Started with Leads
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