<< Return to help center
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Contacts vs. leads

Learn more about the difference between contacts and leads.

Contacts are the base record in your CRM to save information about a person or company.
  • Contacts and companies are the only records types in the CRM. You can take additional actions on contacts, such as adding an event, setting a task, or attaching a lead.
  • Contacts will have name, email, phone number, and additional general details saved. Contacts will also have notes, email logs, and a history of other interactions. Learn more about contacts generally here.
  • On the Contact list you can filter by contact details to narrow the list of records.
Leads are a type of pipeline, and are used to track a sales process.
  • Leads will have a status to represent the stage of the process, and may have additional custom fields to track other relevant details like value or product. Learn more about pipelines generally here.
  • Leads are attached to a contact or company to track that record’s movement through the process. Once a lead is attached, that record will appear in the pipeline report.
  • On the pipeline report you can filter by lead details or contact details. Learn more about using the pipeline report here.
  • Please note: pipelines are customizable and the exact options and terminology may vary depending on your account structure. Leads are typically used for a sales process, but many other processes can be tracked via pipelines.
Important distinctions to keep in mind:
  • Structurally, a lead must be attached to a contact. You cannot have a lead without a contact, but you can have a contact without a lead.
  • Contacts are good for general details that tend to remain static over time, like a physical address or phone number.
  • Leads are good for details related to the process specifically, like an estimated close date or product of interest.
  • Saving a note to a contact will appear differently than saving a note to a lead. Learn more about the difference between contact notes and pipeline notes here.
Next up:
Keywords:
Person, opportunity, prospect, client
How do I can you are you able to can I how to is it possible