# Leads

A pipeline for work that might be bought. Each lead moves across stages on a board; a won lead
becomes a project, with its company and contact made or updated on the way.

## What you can do

- Keep leads on a board, one column per stage, each column with a count and a value total.
- Record a lead's Title, Company (an existing one, or Or a new company by name), Contacts, an
  Enquirer who is not a contact yet (name, Email, Phone), Source, Owner, Estimated value, Next step
  and Next step on, and Notes.
- Drag leads between and within columns.
- Search, and filter by owner and source. Show leads closed over 90 days ago from the display cog.
- Add, rename, reorder and delete stages from the cog, under Stages.
- Confirm or Dismiss proposed leads listed above the board.
- Open a lead to see its fields, change its stage, Edit, Delete, and read its Activity log.
- Convert a won lead with Won: create project.
- See a company's leads in the Leads panel on its company page, and add one from there.
- Read and write leads through the API with `leads:read` and `leads:write`.

## How to

1. Open Leads in the sidebar. Press Add lead, fill Title and the rest, and save.
2. Drag the card to the next stage as the lead moves on.
3. Dropping a lead on a won stage offers conversion. Or open the lead and press Won: create project.
4. In Won: create the project, check Project name and press Create project. Not now leaves the lead
   as it is.
5. To change stages, open the cog, then Stages.

Default stages: New, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal, Won and Lost.

Converting a lead:

- A company given only by name becomes a new company classified as client. An existing prospect
  company becomes a client.
- The enquirer is linked to an existing contact with the same email, or becomes a new client contact
  at the company.
- Linked prospect contacts become clients.
- A project named after the lead is made for the company, with the lead's notes as its description and
  four lists: Backlog, Todo, In progress and Done. The person converting and the lead's owner become
  members.
- The lead moves to the won stage and links to the project.

## Limits

- Needs the Leads plugin switched on for the install. See [Plugins](/docs/manual/plugins/plugins.md).
- Permissions: `view leads`, `create lead`, `edit lead`, `convert lead`, `delete lead`,
  `manage lead stages`. Admin holds all six. Manager holds view, create, edit and convert. A bot holds
  view, create and edit.
- Converting also needs `create project`, and `create company` when the lead names a new company.
- A lead with no company cannot be converted: "Give the lead a company first." A lead already converted,
  or whose project name is taken, is refused and nothing is written.
- A stage holding leads, or the last open stage, cannot be deleted: "Only an empty stage can be
  deleted".
- Proposals come from website forms and other sources the install connects. Confirming one needs a
  person with `create lead`; a bot never can. A proposal writes no company or contact until the lead
  is converted.
- Estimated value is a whole number in the install's currency, an estimate rather than an invoice.
- Website form sources are set up by the server operator.

## Related

- [Plugins](/docs/manual/plugins/plugins.md)
- [Companies](/docs/manual/clients/companies.md)
- [Contacts](/docs/manual/clients/contacts.md)