Leads

A lead is an early-stage prospect — a person or company you think might become a customer, but who hasn't bought anything yet. Leads are where you capture interest before there's enough information or commitment to treat the contact as a real customer.

The difference between a lead and a customer in DealJourney is intentional: leads are lightweight (only the contact details and the qualification you've gathered so far), while customers carry full billing, contract, and history records. You qualify a lead and convert it into a customer once it's clear the relationship is real.

The difference between a lead and an opportunity is about commitment. A lead is "this company might be interested." An opportunity is "we are actively working a specific deal with a defined value and stage." Most opportunities start as leads that have been converted; some are created directly on an existing customer.

Typical lead workflow:

1. 1Capture interest — through a form, an import, manual entry, or a sales-rep noting a conversation.
2. 2Qualify — add notes, follow-up dates, the source, the next action.
3. 3Convert when ready — into a customer (and optionally a first opportunity at the same time).

Leads that go cold can be archived without losing the history; nothing is permanently deleted unless you explicitly delete it.