Separate leads from deals

Our CRM once held fifteen hundred “opportunities”. In truth, half were free-ebook sign-ups that never replied and a quarter were trials that stalled before a call. Forecasts were fiction and reps wasted hours nursing ghosts. The fix was simple yet brutal: separate leads from deals with a line the whole team could spot in their sleep.

This chapter shows how I draw that line. First we decide what qualifies as a lead worth any human effort. Second we mark the exact moment a lead graduates into a deal owners should forecast. Third we split leads and deals into distinct views so data never blurs. Finally we lock the separation with automation and hygiene checks so it stays clean when volumes spike.

A lead is more than an email. It is a contact that shows enough intent or fit to justify follow-up. I start with three filters: firmographic, role, and behaviour. The company must meet size or industry fit, the person must influence budget, and the action must show interest beyond curiosity—think demo request or webinar attendance, not a blog visit.

Scorecards help junior marketers decide fast. Assign a simple one-point system: ideal firmographic match, +1; correct role, +1; high-intent action, +1. Anything under two points stays in nurture. Two or three points enters the lead queue.

Document the rule in one sentence inside the CRM: “A lead scores at least two points across fit and intent.” This sentence appears in tooltips, onboarding guides, and weekly dashboards so nobody forgets.

Bridge: knowing when a contact becomes a lead is half the story—next we define when that lead earns a spot in the sales pipeline.

A deal is a lead that has agreed to explore a paid solution in a live conversation. The signal can be a booked discovery call, a requested trial set-up, or a formal RFP received. Without that commitment, the entry into pipeline waits.

Write the upgrade trigger in plain language: “Deal stage starts when the prospect schedules time to discuss pains and budget.” This removes grey zones such as casual LinkedIn chats that never progress.

Use your meeting-booking tool to enforce the rule. When a Calendly event fires, Zapier moves the record from Lead Status to Deal Stage One and alerts the assigned rep. Manual moves are banned; automation keeps emotions out.

Bridge: now we must build clear walls in the CRM so leads and deals cannot mix even by accident.

Create two separate pipelines or boards: one labelled “Lead Working” and the other “Sales Pipeline”. Marketing owns the first; sales owns the second. Each has its own dashboards, SLAs, and automation.

Leads view shows status columns such as New, Attempting Contact, Nurture. The sales pipeline shows stages like Discovery, Proposal, Decision. No record should live in both simultaneously. Movement is one-directional unless disqualified.

Add permissions to reinforce the wall. Marketers can edit lead fields but cannot touch deal probability. Reps cannot change lead scores. Shared read access keeps transparency without finger-pointing.

Bridge: walls matter only if they stay upright—let us make the system airtight with reviews and automated checks.

First, schedule a weekly hygiene report that flags any record violating the rules—leads with meetings but still in the lead board, or deals lacking a discovery call note. The owner must correct the record within twenty-four hours.

Second, automate downgrade logic. If a deal sits in Discovery for thirty days without activity, a workflow pushes it back to Nurture and notifies marketing to restart warming. Stale data never clogs forecasts.

Third, review the lead-to-deal conversion rate each month. If fewer than ten per cent progress, either the lead definition is too loose or the qualification call is too weak. Adjust one variable at a time and retest.

Bridge: with airtight separation you gain cleaner metrics and sharper focus, setting up the final reflection on the change.

Separating leads from deals sounds administrative yet drives real revenue. Clear lead criteria keep reps out of low-value chatter. A firm promotion trigger protects pipeline accuracy. Distinct boards stop data bleed, and automated hygiene keeps the system honest when lists balloon.

Block one afternoon this week to write your one-sentence lead rule, define the deal trigger, and build the two-board structure. By next quarter your team will spend more time selling to buyers who are ready and less time wondering where the forecast went wrong.