8 Salesforce Lead Status Best Practices

Salesforce is a powerful CRM platform that helps businesses manage their customer relationships. One of the most important features of Salesforce is the ability to track leads and their status. This helps sales teams stay organized and prioritize their efforts.

However, managing leads can be a challenge. To ensure that your sales team is working efficiently, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the different lead statuses and how to use them. In this article, we’ll discuss 8 Salesforce lead status best practices that will help you get the most out of your CRM.

1. Qualified

Qualified leads are those that have been identified as having the potential to become customers. This means they meet certain criteria, such as being in the right industry or geographic area, and having a need for your product or service.

By keeping your lead status qualified, you can ensure that your sales team is focusing on leads that have the highest chance of becoming customers. This will help them save time and resources by not wasting their efforts on leads that don’t fit the criteria. Additionally, it will also help you track which leads are most likely to convert into customers so you can focus your marketing efforts accordingly.

2. Unqualified

When leads are marked as unqualified, they can be removed from your sales pipeline and won’t take up valuable resources. This allows you to focus on the leads that have a higher chance of converting into customers. Additionally, it helps keep your data clean and organized so that you can easily identify which leads should be pursued further.

Finally, marking leads as unqualified also helps with reporting accuracy. If you don’t mark them as such, then they will still appear in reports even though they aren’t viable prospects.

3. Converted

When a lead is marked as “converted,” it means that the lead has been successfully converted into an opportunity. This status indicates that the sales process for this particular lead is complete, and that the customer is now ready to move forward with their purchase.

Marking leads as “converted” also helps you track your success rate in converting leads into customers. By tracking how many leads are being converted, you can identify areas of improvement and adjust your sales strategy accordingly. Additionally, marking leads as “converted” allows you to easily measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns by seeing which ones generate the most conversions.

4. Open

When a lead is marked as “Open”, it indicates that the lead is actively being worked on and has not been disqualified or converted yet. This allows sales reps to quickly identify which leads are still viable opportunities, and prioritize them accordingly.

Additionally, setting the status of a lead to “Open” helps ensure that all relevant information about the lead is captured in Salesforce. For example, if a rep sets the status to “Closed – Converted” before they have added notes about their conversations with the lead, then those details will be lost. By keeping the status set to “Open”, reps can make sure that all important data is recorded in Salesforce.

5. Working

When a lead is marked as “working,” it indicates that the sales team is actively engaging with them. This helps to ensure that leads are not forgotten or overlooked, and that they receive timely follow-up from the sales team. Additionally, setting “working” as the default status allows for better tracking of lead progress and performance. It also makes it easier to identify which leads need more attention and which ones have already been contacted.

6. Recycled

When a lead is marked as recycled, it indicates that the lead has already been contacted and is no longer active. This helps to ensure that sales reps don’t waste time trying to contact leads who have already been reached out to or are not interested in your product/service. Additionally, setting the status to “recycled” allows you to track how many leads have been recycled over time so you can better understand your sales process and make improvements where needed.

7. Dead

A dead status allows you to track leads that have been disqualified or are no longer viable. This helps your sales team focus their efforts on the most promising leads and avoid wasting time on those that won’t convert.

Having a “dead” lead status also provides valuable insights into why certain leads didn’t convert, which can help inform future marketing campaigns and strategies. Additionally, it’s important to note that having a “dead” lead status doesn’t mean that the lead is completely lost forever; it just means that they aren’t currently in the market for what you’re offering.

8. Nurturing

Nurturing leads is a process of building relationships with potential customers over time. It involves providing them with relevant content and information that will help them make an informed decision about your product or service.

Nurturing leads can be done through email campaigns, social media posts, webinars, and other forms of communication. By nurturing leads, you are helping to build trust and credibility with potential customers, which can lead to more sales in the long run. Additionally, it helps you stay top-of-mind for prospects who may not be ready to buy right away but could become customers down the line.