Sales: work leads through a pipeline

The Sales screen is a pipeline for the enquiries worth chasing. A conversation tells you what somebody said; a lead tells you what you are going to do about it, and by when.

Creating a lead

• From a conversation — in the contact panel of the inbox. The commonest route, and it keeps the chat attached.
• From Group Leads — a matching group message becomes a lead automatically. See Group Leads.
• From a Flow — a submitted form can write straight to a lead. See Flows.
• By hand — on the Sales screen, for anything that arrived by another route.

Working the pipeline

1. Set a value and an owner

   Even a rough value makes the pipeline worth looking at as a number rather than a list.
2. Move it through the stages

   New, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal, then Wonor Lost. Each is a tab with a count, so the shape of the pipeline is visible at a glance. The stage should reflect where the deal actually is, not where you hope it is.
3. Record what was agreed

   Notes on the lead, not just in your head. This is what makes handover possible.
4. Close it either way

   A lead marked lost is information. A lead left open for ever is noise, and it quietly inflates every forecast you make.

Following up automatically

Most leads are lost to silence rather than to a no. A drip sequence triggered on lead creation gives every enquiry the same three-touch follow-up without anyone having to remember — and stops the moment they reply.