Conceptual differences
Lead |
Deal |
|---|---|
Potential customers expressing interest. |
Genuine leads with formalized and structured engagement |
Preliminary opportunities in the early stages |
Ongoing transactions tracked through defined pipeline stages |
Help organize prospects before qualification |
Include a business value target and are tracked until they are won or lost |
Differences in features
Feature |
Lead |
Deal |
|---|---|---|
Can be archived |
Yes |
No |
Can be added to a pipeline / stage |
No |
Yes |
Can have a value |
No |
Yes |
Can be associated to a product |
No |
Yes |
Can be created through webforms |
Yes |
No |
Can be created using spreadsheet import |
Yes |
No |
When to Create a Lead vs a Deal:
Create a lead when identifying potential interest for early-stage prospect management and convert it to a deal when a structured engagement is established, signifying a commitment to pursue the ongoing transaction.
Converting a lead to a deal will move all the interactions from the lead to the deal so that no information or captured communication is lost. So when in doubt, create a lead. You can either archive them if they didn't materialize, or you can convert them to a deal when you think your customer is expressing genuine interest in availing your service.
If you are certain that a customer is genuinely interested, then create a deal directly.