7.2 Leads, Prospects, and Customers

One record, three stages

NetSuite keeps this sales cycle on one relationship record. The stage is Lead, Prospect, or Customer. The status name a rep sees is a customer status whose stage field is one of those three. The stage changes what the record is. The status name is the label inside that stage.

A lead is an individual or company you might sell to. That stage does not already carry an estimate or an opportunity. A prospect may have opportunities and estimates, and does not yet have a sales order, cash sale, or invoice. A customer is the stage that carries those sales transactions.

Help documents two workflows, and both still move from lead to prospect to customer. This section teaches conversion by a status change or a sales transaction, where the same record moves forward. A separate Lead Conversion feature fits teams that turn a person into a contact on a company. The defaults below control the status-and-transaction path. A file can load lead records into the account. Saving an estimate or an opportunity does not wait on that file. The stage changes because of the document you save, or because someone edits Status.

Five defaults on Sales Preferences

On the General subtab of Sales Preferences, at Setup > Sales > Preferences > Sales Preferences, an administrator sets one default for each step:

• Lead Status applies to a new lead.
• Prospect Status - New applies to a prospect that does not yet have a transaction.
• Prospect Status - Opportunity applies when an opportunity is created.
• Prospect Status - Estimate applies when an estimate is created.
• Customer Status applies to a customer.

NetSuite uses those defaults when it converts the record. The status on the opportunity and the status on the estimate are different fields. Help says the relationship status is independent of associated opportunities, estimates, and sales transactions, so the lead does not follow the opportunity status.

The probability on a customer status is a third number. A lead status should be 0 percent. A higher probability means the status is a prospect status. That percent classifies the status. It does not replace Prospect Status - Opportunity, and it is not the deal probability section 7.3 multiplies by a projected amount.

What creating an opportunity does

Create an opportunity for a lead, and the record becomes a prospect with Prospect Status - Opportunity, the default stored under Sales Preferences. The opportunity keeps its own status, such as in discussion, in negotiation, closed won, or closed lost. Closed won sets that opportunity's probability to 100 percent. Closed lost sets it to 0 percent. Neither value is copied onto the relationship record.

The opportunity status stays on the opportunity

A rep saves an opportunity for a hotel group, sets the opportunity status to in negotiation, and sets probability to 60 percent. The relationship record does not become in negotiation. It shows whatever label the administrator saved in Prospect Status - Opportunity, such as Qualified Prospect, while the opportunity still says in negotiation. Later edits to the opportunity status still do not rename the prospect. The two fields can be updated in one working session. They are not the same field.

A prospect created only by a status edit, with no opportunity and no estimate, uses a prospect-stage status. Prospect Status - New is the default for a prospect that does not yet have a transaction.

What creating an estimate does

An estimate, often handed to a buyer as a quote, is a non-posting transaction. Enable it at Setup > Company > Enable Features, on the Transactions subtab under Basic Features. Prepare it at Opportunities > Transactions > Estimates > New.

Saving an estimate for a lead makes the record a prospect and assigns Prospect Status - Estimate.

The Northwind estimate that does not stay a lead

A Harbor & Pine rep creates a lead for Northwind Outfitters and immediately saves an estimate for twenty patio tables. The rep expects the stage to remain Lead until Northwind accepts the price. The estimate is enough to leave Lead. The stage becomes Prospect, and the status becomes Prospect Status - Estimate. The estimate's own status, probability, and expected close stay on the estimate. Northwind is not a customer yet, because an estimate is not a sales order, cash sale, or invoice. The expiration date still starts from Default Estimate Expiration (in days). Changing that date on this quote does not put the stage back to Lead.

Customer stage with no sales transaction

A lead can become a customer without a sales order, cash sale, or invoice. Change the status to a customer status, one whose stage is Customer. The record moves because of that stage, not because something was sold in NetSuite. A manager does this when a contract was signed on paper and the order will be entered later, or when a legacy account should show as a customer before the first invoice. The same kind of edit can move a lead to a prospect status before any opportunity exists. With the Mass Updates permission, one update can change many leads. It still uses customer statuses. It is not a different conversion method.

Moving a record back

On a prospect or customer, choose a lead status or a prospect status and the record moves back to that stage. If transactions already exist, NetSuite keeps them. They do not appear on the Standard Lead Form. From the Actions list, View All Transactions shows them. Move the record forward to a prospect or customer again, and the transactions appear on the Sales subtab. A mistaken status edit can be corrected without retyping the documents.

What a sales transaction does

A sales transaction in this workflow is a sales order, a cash sale, or an invoice. Create one for a lead or a prospect, and the record becomes a customer with Customer Status from Sales Preferences. Hold that next to the other two documents: an opportunity applies Prospect Status - Opportunity, and an estimate applies Prospect Status - Estimate. A status edit follows the stage on the status you pick, including Customer when nothing has been sold yet.

Five days for Northwind

Monday, the web form creates Northwind as a lead because Set Lead Status was a lead-stage status. Tuesday, an opportunity makes the stage Prospect and the status Prospect Status - Opportunity. The opportunity can say in negotiation at 50 percent without renaming the prospect. Wednesday, an estimate updates the status to Prospect Status - Estimate. The record is still a prospect. If that estimate had been the first document, it alone would have moved Monday's lead to prospect. Thursday, the manager selects a customer-stage status named Contract Signed. No order exists, and the stage is Customer anyway. Friday's sales order finds a customer already. Without Thursday's edit, the sales order would have applied Customer Status by itself.

How the document picks the stage

Read the document in the question, not the rep's hope. An estimate saved while the rep expected Lead is still a prospect. A cash sale makes a customer. A status change to a customer status makes a customer even when the transaction list is empty. A customer set back to a lead status is a lead again, and View All Transactions still shows the history.