Create or edit a lead

Can I do this task?

When you create a lead, you might be tempted to only enter the system-required fields (marked with asterisks Business-required symbol ) or business-recommended fields (marked with plus signs Business-recommended symbol ); however, the more data you collect and enter into this form, the more likely you are to turn those leads into business opportunities. Remember that e-mail addresses, the source of the lead, and specific product interests are key factors in helping your sales staff complete the necessary follow-up.

In the Navigation Pane, click Sales, and then click Leads.
On the Actions toolbar, click New, or open the record that you want to edit.
On the General tab, enter information or observe any noted restrictions or requirements as needed:
- Topic
  This information should reflect what the lead is interested in. For example, if a potential customer calls and asks for details on a product, list the name of the product here.
- First Name
  If you enter a first name, it can only be a name with a length of 50 characters or fewer.You can use accent marks when you enter data, for example, in a customer's name. Your ability to sort and find information is not affected by these accent marks.
- Last Name
  You must enter a name with a length of 50 characters or fewer.
- Company Name
  You must enter a name with a length of 100 characters or fewer.
In the Contact Information area, enter all the contact information you have available for this lead because this information will assist a salesperson in making future contacts. E-mail addresses must be valid. For example, someone@microsoft.com.
On the Details tab, enter all the information you have available in the following sections:
- Address
- Company Information
- Lead Information
  It is very important to provide the lead source information so that you can determine which marketing method, such as advertisement or trade shows, generates the most leads for your organization. If you specify lead information, you can filter on Lead Source to determine how many leads were generated by a given method.
In the following boxes, observe any noted restrictions or requirements:
- ZIP/Postal Code
  Enter a code of 20 characters or fewer.
- Annual Revenue
  You must enter numbers between 0.00 and 1,000,000,000.00.
  
  You can use commas and a decimal point, but you cannot use a currency symbol, such as the dollar ($), euro (?), or yen (¥).
- No. of Employees
  You must enter a whole number between 0 and 1,000,000.
- SIC Code
  Indicate the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code for this account. You can search on SIC for organizations with a particular code to display all accounts of businesses in that category.Enter a code of 20 characters or fewer.
- Industry
  If the lead specifies an industry that is not in the list, you can work with your system administrator to get new industries added to the list because this field is customizable. This field is used in various reports such as Lead Source Effectiveness; which, if used with filtering, can display the lead source effectiveness by industry. Another form that includes the industry field is the Account form. If your system administrator adds custom industries to the Leads form, they should also add them to the Account form to keep the two lists in synch.
On the Administration tab, enter information or observe any noted restrictions or requirements as needed:
- Owner
  This box is filled automatically with the name of the user who is creating the record. You can click the Lookup button to search for other records.
- Status Reason
  This value appears in the list of leads in the Leads area. You can sort by the Status Reason column in that area to quickly view new leads or those already contacted.
- Source Campaign
  Search for and enter the campaign record if this lead was generated as a result of a campaign that has been created in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
- Contact Methods
  - Preferred
    Select the option that best describes the preferred method of contact.
  - E-mail
    If you select Allow, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online allows all e-mail, including e-mails related to campaign activities, to be sent to the e-mail address associated with the record. However, if you select Do Not Allow, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online does not allow any e-mail to be sent to the e-mail address associated with the record.
  - Bulk E-mail
    If you select Allow, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online allows any e-mail as part of a bulk e-mail process, including bulk e-mails related to campaign activities, to be sent to the e-mail address associated with the record. However, if you select Do Not Allow, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online does not allow any bulk e-mail to be sent to the e-mail address associated with the record.
  - Phone
    The selected option simply provides information to anyone who views the record. This field is not used by Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to control initiating or receiving phone calls.
  - Fax
    The selected option simply provides information to anyone who views the record.
  - Mail
    The selected option simply provides information to anyone who views the record. This field is not used by Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to control initiating or receiving mail.
- Marketing Information
  - Send Marketing Materials
    If you select Yes, marketing material corresponding to campaigns is sent to the respective addresses (e-mail, physical address) for the record. This includes general marketing mailers that might be sent on a regular basis that are not part of a targeted marketing campaign. If you select No, marketing materials are not sent, nor can activities related to sending marketing materials be created for the record.
  - Last Date Included in Campaign
    Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online automatically sets the date for this field when any marketing communication is sent to the addresses for the record. You can also manually update this field and enter a date. This field is used as filter criteria in Marketing Automation. For example, the Anti-Spam Setting area of a Campaign form uses the date in this field to ensure that you do not send frequent mailers to a customer.
On the Notes tab, click Click here to enter a new note, and add the information that applies to your record.
Click Save or Save and Close.
Resolve potential duplicate records.
1. If the system detects that your record might be a potential duplicate, instead of saving the record, you'll see the Duplicates Detected dialog box.
2. To open a record to make sure it is a potential duplicate, in the Potential duplicate records list, double-click the record.
  - If the duplicate-detection rule identified potential duplicate records in other record types, review records from each record type listed.
3. If your new or updated record is not a duplicate, to create the new record, click Save Record.
  - OR -
  
  If your new or updated record is a duplicate, to cancel your changes, click Cancel.
Notes
- If you enter a duplicate record within a few minutes of entering the first record, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will not detect the duplicate record. The matchcodes for new and updated records are created every five minutes, rather than as a record is created.
- Duplicate detection can take place only if duplicate detection is enabled in Duplicate Detection Settings and if at least one duplicate-detection rule exists for the record type.More information: Avoiding Duplicate Records
Tip

To qualify or disqualify a lead, you convert the lead. First, open the lead that you want to convert, click Convert Lead, select options for how you want to convert the lead, and then click OK.