Required fields for every new lead
Keep intake simple enough that the team will use it, but complete enough to manage the opportunity. Automate defaults where the answer is known and leave uncertain fields blank instead of inventing data.
- Contact and business information
- Lead source and campaign when known
- Owner and current status
- Next contact date
- Last contact date and channel
- Offer presented
- Appointment result
- Revenue when collected
What to automate
Automation should remove repetitive work without hiding important decisions. Good early automations create a lead ID, assign a default status, calculate a score, flag overdue contacts and log meaningful stage changes.
Lead source should not be guessed. Use tracked links and campaign parameters when available. Otherwise, let a person select the source after the first conversation.
What still requires human judgment
A person should confirm fit, record the result of a conversation, choose the right offer, explain why a lead was lost, and verify revenue. Automating those decisions too early creates reports that look clean but rely on bad data.