Leads Management

Leads are the starting point of your sales process. A lead represents a person or company that has shown interest in your product or service but has not yet become a customer. This guide covers how to create, manage, and convert leads in Ambivo.

What Is a Lead?

A lead is a prospective customer — someone who has expressed interest through a website form, a phone call, a referral, or a marketing campaign. In Ambivo, leads are tracked separately from confirmed contacts and accounts so your team can focus on qualifying and converting them.

Once a lead is qualified, you can convert it into a Contact and Account, and optionally create an Opportunity to track the deal.

Getting There

• Log in to Ambivo
• Make sure you are in the CRM application
• Click Leads in the left sidebar
• You will see a list of all leads you have access to, with columns showing key information like name, status, source, and assigned owner

Create a New Lead

1. 1

   Open the create form

   From the Leads list, click the + New button (or Add Lead).

2. 2

   Fill in required fields

   First Name and Last Name; Email (recommended for communication); Phone (optional); Company (if applicable).

3. 3

   Set lead source and owner

   Set the Lead Source to track where this lead came from (e.g., Website, Referral, Trade Show). Assign an Owner — the team member responsible for following up.

4. 4

   Add details and save

   Add any additional details such as notes, address, or custom fields. Click Save.

What Happens Next

The new lead appears in your leads list. If you have automation rules set up, they may trigger actions like sending a welcome email or assigning a task to the owner.

Understanding Lead Fields

When you create or edit a lead, you will see many fields available. Here is what the key fields mean and when to use them.

Identity and Contact

Professional Details

Personal Details

Sales Qualification

View and Edit a Lead

1. 1

   Open the lead

   Click on any lead in the Leads list to open its detail page.

2. 2

   Review sections

   The detail page shows all lead information organized in sections.

3. 3

   Edit and save

   To edit a field, click on it (or click the Edit button) and make your changes. Click Save when done.

The lead detail page also shows related information like:

• Activity Timeline — A history of all interactions with this lead
• Notes — Internal notes added by your team
• Comments — Discussion threads about this lead
• Tasks — To-do items linked to this lead
• Files — Documents attached to this lead

Lead Statuses and Lifecycle

Leads move through statuses that represent their progress in your sales process. Common lead statuses include:

Your administrator may customize these statuses to match your sales process. This includes renaming, recoloring, or reordering the built-in statuses (for example, renaming Assigned to "Assigned (Hot)") — not just adding new ones. Built-in automation tied to a status (auto-assignment, lifecycle reporting) keeps working after a rename; only the display changes. Resetting a customization restores the original label, color, and position.

Changing a Lead's Status

1. 1

   Open the lead

   Open the lead's detail page.

2. 2

   Update status

   Find the Status field and select the new status from the dropdown.

3. 3

   Save

   Click Save.

Convert a Lead

When a lead is ready to become a real customer, you convert it. Conversion creates a Contact record (the person you will continue working with). You can optionally link the new contact to an existing Account (company).

1. 1

   Open the lead

   Open the lead you want to convert.

2. 2

   Start conversion

   Click the Convert button.

3. 3

   Review and link account

   Review the information that will be carried over to the new contact record. Optionally select an existing Account to link the contact to (if no account is selected, the contact is created as an individual consumer).

4. 4

   Complete conversion

   Click Convert.

What Happens Next

• A new Contact record is created with the lead's personal details
• If an account was selected, the contact is linked to that account
• The original lead record is preserved for historical reference
• You can then create an Opportunity from the new contact's page if you want to track a deal

Filter and Search Leads

Quick Filters

At the top of the leads list, you can use preset filters to quickly narrow your view:

• To Follow Up — Leads that need your attention
• Assigned Today — Leads assigned to you today
• Favorites — Leads you have starred

Search

Use the search bar at the top of the leads list to find leads by name, email, phone, or company.

Advanced Filtering

• Click the Filter icon on the leads list
• Add one or more filter conditions (e.g., Status equals "Qualified", Source equals "Website")
• Apply the filter to see matching leads

Import Leads

If you have a list of leads in a spreadsheet, you can import them in bulk.

1. 1

   Open import

   Go to Settings in the left sidebar and click Object Import.

2. 2

   Select object type

   Select Leads as the object type.

3. 3

   Upload and map

   Upload your CSV file. Map the columns in your file to the corresponding fields in Ambivo (e.g., "Name" to First Name, "Email" to Email).

4. 4

   Run import

   Review the mapping and click Start Import. Monitor progress in the Import Log.

What Happens Next

Imported leads appear in your leads list. Any records that could not be imported (due to missing required fields or formatting issues) are listed in the import log with details on what went wrong.

Assign and Reassign Leads

Manual Assignment

1. 1

   Open the lead

   Open the lead's detail page.

2. 2

   Change owner

   Change the Owner field to the desired team member.

3. 3

   Save

   Click Save.

Automatic Assignment

If your administrator has set up routing queues, new leads can be automatically distributed to team members using round-robin or other distribution methods. See Auto-Assign Leads and Tasks to Your Team (CRM-006) for more details.

Common Questions

Tips and Best Practices

• Always set a Lead Source so you can track which marketing channels produce the best results
• Follow up with new leads quickly — response time matters
• Use statuses consistently across your team so everyone understands where each lead stands
• Set up automation rules to notify the owner immediately when a new lead is assigned to them
• Regularly review Disqualified leads to ensure they are truly not worth pursuing
• Use import for bulk data entry instead of creating leads one by one

Related Guides

• CRM-002 — Contacts Management
• CRM-003 — Accounts Management
• CRM-004 — Opportunities and Pipeline
• CRM-005 — Data Import and Export
• CRM-006 — Auto-Assign Leads and Tasks to Your Team