Overview
Note: Help content (except videos) has been updated to reflect the UI/UX changes in BQE CORE.
Leads are a list of people or companies in which sales opportunities are potentially going to be explored. They represent a list of potential clients that are not qualified as prospects yet and have been obtained from various sources and campaigns. However, they need to first be reviewed and qualified by an internal member of the company, like by a sales representative, business development agent or marketing team. After leads are qualified, they can then become prospects.
BQE CORE CRM provides a centralized system to track your leads and their progress through the sales pipeline. In CORE CRM, leads can be created from scratch or can be imported from Comma Separated Values (.csv) files. You can also create a custom list of lead sources to represent how the leads and prospects were identified by your company. CORE allows you to manage leads with details that can be used to evaluate their chances of becoming prospects. Click to watch this video on managing leads in CORE CRM.
When leads are converted to or qualified as prospects, this can lead to various sales opportunities. As these opportunities are won, they lead to various projects wherein the earlier leads and prospects now become your clients.
Note: You can get a visual overview of this feature in CORE from the CRM flowchart.
How To
Field Descriptions
Field Name | Field Description |
Leads > Create Lead > Details | |
Lead Type | A lead can be a company or an individual. |
Company Name | Name of the company with which the lead is affiliated. The name can be alphanumeric with a maximum of 55 characters. |
Name | Name of the lead or contact person from the company. CORE allows a name of up to 100 characters. which includes first name, middle initial, and last name. It can be alphanumeric with the middle initial being 1 character. |
Display As |
This is the unique display name of a lead. It can be numbers, letters or a combination of both, with a maximum of 65 characters. It gives you control over how the lead’s name appears in the list view and screens. |
Title |
This is the job title of the lead, say Project Manager. This is available only when you select Individual as Lead Type. |
Lead Status |
You can assign any of these status to a lead: Pending, Qualified, Not Qualified, New, etc. |
Assigned To |
Employee to whom you want to assign the lead. Typically, it is a sales representative. It is auto-filled with the currently logged-in user, but can be changed. |
Referred By |
Name of the individual or organization that recommended the lead. |
Add Contact Method |
You can choose the relevant option from the drop-down (say Email, Phone or Mobile) and then enter that contact information. Based on the settings and masks, phone number types can be just numeric or alphanumeric. |
Lead Details: Industry |
Primary business field or industry of the lead; it represents the line of work leads are in, such as Accountant, Architect, Paralegal, etc. |
Employees |
Total number of employees at the lead’s company. |
Region |
Country or region of the lead, say Asia Pacific or North America. |
Lead Source |
Source where the lead came from, for example, advertisement, Internet, trade show, etc. |
Lead Cost |
It is the amount spent on acquiring and maintaining the leads (cost per lead). |
Lead Score |
You can assign a score to the leads based on their chances of becoming a prospect and how valuable they could be to your company. The drop-down values can be set up in the Scores list. |
Leads > General > Details > |
|
Tags |
Allows you to label records or profiles by a common name or attribute. Tags are extended to global search and reports, which makes organizing and searching for information easier. You can set one or more tags for a lead, each consisting of alphanumeric characters with a maximum count of 45 characters. These tags are searchable identifiers to quickly bundle similar leads together. You can see the existing tags being used and enter a new one. |
History |
Displays the history of various actions and properties of leads. For example, it maintains the record of actions such as leads converted to prospects or campaigns assigned to leads. |
Leads > General > Custom Fields > |
|
Add Custom Fields |
You can create or view customized fields to track extra characteristics and attributes of the leads. |
Leads > Campaigns > |
|
Campaign |
The campaign name, if any, from which the lead originated or was introduced. |
Type |
The type or format of a campaign (e.g., email or web). |
Status |
Current status of a campaign (e.g., active or inactive). |
Leads > Emails > | |
Last Refresh |
Displays the date and time stamp when the emails were last synced with your Office 365 email account. This is available only if you have chosen to integrate CORE with your Office 365 account. The date and time stamp reflects the time zone from your calendar settings (local time). |
Source |
The source from which the emails are sent and received. If you are using Office 365 integration and have synced your Microsoft Outlook email account with CORE, the source will be Outlook. |
Status |
It indicates the status of the emails sent. It can be Email Sent, Read or Failed. |
Leads > Emails > Compose Email > | |
To |
You can send an email to multiple recipients and also copy them using the CC and BCC options. You can click on the Choose Contact icon to open the Address Book and select multiple individuals or groups to email. However, if you are using a trial version of CORE, it does not allow more than 3 distinct recipients at a time. For paid subscriptions, this limit is 50 recipients at a time. |
Subject |
Subject line of the email. You can also insert smart fields into it using the Add Smart Field option on the right. Besides the other regular fields, CORE allows you to select the custom fields listed at the bottom of the drop-down. |
Template |
You can select a predefined email template. It is pre-filled here if you have selected it previously for the campaign. |
Message |
This is the main body of the email. It can be entered and edited using the formatting toolbar. You can also insert smart fields into it using the Add Smart Field option on the toolbar. Besides the other regular fields, CORE allows you to select the custom fields listed at the bottom of the drop-down. |
Leads > Convert to Prospect > |
|
Opportunity Name |
Name of the opportunity expected from a prospect. |
Type |
The type (e.g., new business, existing business, renewal, etc.) of opportunity can be selected from the drop-down list. You can create various opportunity types in the CRM lists. |
Target Date |
The realistic close date by which you want to win the opportunity. It represents a deadline for an opportunity. It is set as one month later by default, but can be changed as needed. |
Stage |
The current stage of an opportunity in terms of sales, e.g., ongoing, won or lost. In this case, the stage defaults to 'New'. |
Description |
Description or other information about the opportunity, say additional subscriptions or orders. |
Assigned To |
This is the sales person to whom the opportunity is assigned. It gets auto assigned to your self. |
Probability % |
Current possibility of winning the opportunity. This value is in percentage, say 50%. By default, it is set to 25%, but you can change it. |
Opportunity Value |
Monetary value or worth of an opportunity. |
Forecast |
Forecast refers to the revenue that you expect from the opportunity. It represents the monetary value of an opportunity. |
Leads > Follow-Ups > Add & Modify Follow-Ups > |
|
Description |
Name or description of the follow-up. |
Follow Up Date |
Date of the follow-up deadline. This is the date by which the follow-up needs to be done. |
Follow-Up Type |
Type or category of follow-up in CORE CRM, say email follow-up or phone call follow-up with a lead. |
Assigned To |
Person to whom the follow-up is assigned. You can assign a follow-up to a sales person. |
Priority |
Indicates the priority of the follow-up, whether high, low or medium. |
Status |
Indicates whether a follow-up is active, on hold, inactive, completed, etc. It gives the status of the follow-up. |
Leads > Import Leads from CSV > |
|
CSV (UTF-8) |
UTF stands for Unicode Transformation Format. It is character encoding format that can be as compact as ASCII (if the file is plain English text), but can contain unicode characters as well. It uses 8-bit blocks to represent each character that is encoded. UTF supports many languages and can accommodate pages and forms in any of those languages. |
Create New Leads
To create a new lead in the CRM, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- Click Create Lead on the top-right.
- On the Create Lead screen, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Lead Type
- Name
- Company Name
- Display As
- Enter other information about the lead, if needed. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Lead Status
- Assigned To
- Address
- Contact Methods
- Industry
- Region
- Lead Source
- Lead Cost
- Lead Score
- Click Save & Done.
The lead record is created in CORE. It takes you to the detail view where you can add more information.
Assign Groups
This option allows you to quickly assign leads to a group or view whether the selected lead is a member of any existing group.
To assign a lead to a group, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click to select View Details.
- In the detail view, go to the General > Details tab and click Assign Groups.
- On the Assign Groups dialog, select the desired group for the lead. By default, the All group is assigned and set as the default group for all leads.
- Click Update.
- You can create new groups or manage them by clicking Manage Groups.
You can also check the detailed video on creating and managing groups in CORE.
Add Custom Fields
Using custom fields, you can track extra characteristics and attributes of your leads. You can even customize these fields in the Custom Labels screen. If you add the same custom field (Add Existing) to both the lead and prospect record, the value is passed on from Leads to Prospects, if converted.
To add a custom field, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click to select View Details.
- In the detail view, go to the General > Custom Fields tab.
- Click Add Custom Field and select the type of field you want depending on its purpose, say Text Box.
- On the Add Text Box dialog, enter the required information:
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- Name
- Type
- # of characters
- Check Show in List View if you want this field to appear under the Show/Hide Columns list and show up on the grid.
- Click Save.
Note: You can display a maximum of three custom fields on the list view per screen.
You can also check the detailed video on managing custom fields in CORE.
Add Campaigns
To add a campaign to a lead, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click to select View Details.
- In the detail view, go to the Campaigns tab and click Add Campaign.
- On the Add Campaign dialog, add a new campaign or select an existing one from the list.
- Click Done. The campaign is added to the lead record.
Unassign Campaigns
To unassign a lead from a campaign:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click to select View Details.
- In the detail view, go to the Campaigns tab and select the campaigns on the grid to be unassigned.
- Click Actions > Unassign. All the selected campaigns are no longer assigned to the lead.
- Alternatively, you can unassign campaigns to the lead individually by clicking on the row and selecting Unassign.
Add To-Dos
You can create and view to-dos for your leads on this screen. These to-dos can be tasks or action items for the leads. CORE allows you to add to-dos from the detail view as well as list view (row-action menu). The Type is pre-filled based on the screen where you are adding the to-do. The ID is pre-filled based on the record to which you are adding the to-do. CORE allows you to create time entries from your to-dos.
To add a new to-do task for a lead, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click to select View Details. (Alternatively, you can select Add To-Do instead and quickly add a task from the dialog.)
- In the detail view, go to the To-Dos tab and click Add.
- Enter the required information in the top row of the grid:
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Description
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Start/End Date
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Assigned To
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Priority: level ranging from low to high
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Click Done.
The to-do is added to the grid. You can also check the detailed video on managing to-dos in CORE.
Note: You can create time entries from the selected to-dos by clicking Actions > Create Time Entry. CORE also prompts you to create time entries when you update the to-do status to Complete or mark % Complete to 100%.
Add Documents
To add a document to a lead record:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click to select View Details.
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In the detail view, go to the Documents tab and click Add.
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On the Add Documents dialog, select the relevant tab, depending on the type of attachment.
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Computer: To attach files stored on your computer, enter its Description and drag your file or click to browse to that location.
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Hyperlink: To attach an external link, enter its Description and then insert the hyperlink.
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Dropbox: To link files stored in your Dropbox account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
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Google Drive: To link files stored in your Google Drive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
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OneDrive: To link files stored in your Microsoft OneDrive account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
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Box: To link files stored in your Box account, enter its Description and then browse for it.
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Resource Library: To link company resources, select the resource from the library.
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Click Add.
CORE pre-fills some of the information about the attached documents in the grid. You can send the documents to your clients, employees, or other contacts for getting their digital or electronic signatures (eSignature via DocuSign) using the eSign option from the row-action menu. CORE automatically adds the signed documents to the Documents folder of the entity (record) as separate attachments. It displays the status of the document, whether it has been delivered via DocuSign, viewed by the recipients, declined or completed by the recipients, etc. This column does not show up if you are not connected via the DocuSign integration. You can also check the detailed video on managing documents in CORE.
Add Notes
You can add, review and edit notes for your leads from the detail view. CORE auto generates a note for any automated touch-points like when emailing the leads, when follow-ups and to-dos are completed, when leads are converted to prospects, etc. CORE also allows you to quickly add and modify notes from the list view. It also displays a badge for the number of notes attached to the lead. You can quickly preview the notes by hovering over the Notes link.
To add a new note for a lead, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, select a lead on the grid and click Notes on that row for quick access.
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On the Add & Modify Notes dialog, enter or edit your notes.
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Click Done. You can check out its details by clicking Detail on its row.
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Alternatively, click on the lead row to select View Details.
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In the detail view, go to the Notes tab and click Add.
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Enter the required information in the top row of the grid:
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Category: These are CRM-specific note categories.
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Description
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Status
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Click Done.
You can also check the detailed video on managing notes in CORE.
Email Leads
Email tracking is essential in any CRM system. CORE allows you to view, send and track emails from the Leads screen. The Emails tab lists and tracks all the emails that are sent from CORE CRM. You can email leads using the powerful email templates that support advanced preview. The CORE-Office 365 integration extends to the CRM emails for leads and prospects. You can sync email communications with your CRM contacts directly to CORE and also use your Office 365 account to send out emails from CORE. If your leads have multiple email IDs, CORE considers all of them while getting the email conversations from your Office 365 email account.
Note: Provided you have set up your Office 365 integration, as a regular CRM user, you can use the read-only feature to sync emails from your inbox into CORE CRM, even if the setting to allow employees to use Office 365 as outgoing email is turned off in Settings > Company > Email Settings. If that option is turned on, you can send emails as well as respond to the incoming emails from within CORE.
To email leads, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, select a lead on the grid to be emailed and click to select View Details.
- In the detail view, go to the Emails tab and click Compose Email.
- On the Compose Email screen, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
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- To
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Subject
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Template
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Message: You can also insert smart fields into it using the Add Smart Field option on the toolbar.
- To attach files, click Add Attachments at the bottom. You can also drag-and-drop any file into the Compose Email window from your desktop or email program.
- Click Preview Email if you want to view the email before sending it.
- When you have finished, click Send Message.
- Alternatively, you can select multiple leads in the list view and click Actions > Email to send emails to the leads in a batch mode.
- Back on the Emails tab, you can preview the email details by clicking to select View Details. If you have integrated with Office 365, you can see the email thread details by clicking on an email in the list view. CORE automatically refreshes the emails if the last refresh was done more than 60 minutes ago. The date and time stamp reflects the time zone from your calendar settings (local time).
If the email is sent to an address that is no longer working, there is a bounce-back email sent to let you know about this. You can check the Status in the Emails list view to know if they were read by the recipients. Check Field Descriptions above for details. You can also check the detailed video on emailing in CORE.
Note: You cannot remove the default or system attachments. Only user-defined attachments can be added or removed. CORE restricts the file size of the attachments to 10 MB and sends the attachments as a single zipped file.
Convert Leads to Prospects
If your leads are qualified to move to the next stage in the CRM, you can convert their profiles to the prospect profiles. For example, if leads respond to an advertising campaign and are interested in your offerings, they can be converted to prospects. CORE allows you to convert the leads into prospects individually as well as in a batch mode. When the leads are converted into prospects, their attributes are also inherited such as emails, to-dos, notes, documents, campaigns and tags.
To convert a lead into a prospect, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, select a lead on the grid that you want to convert to a prospect and click on the row to select Convert to Prospect. You can also access this option in the detail view under the Actions menu or as a batch action in the list view.
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On the Convert to Prospect dialog, select the attributes that you want to copy from the source lead to the converted prospect.
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You can choose to create an opportunity also that is linked to this new prospect. Select Create Opportunity for that.
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Enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
- Opportunity Name
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Type: of opportunity
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Target Date
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Stage
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Enter other information, as needed. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
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Description
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Assigned To
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Probability %: Current possibility of winning the opportunity.
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Opportunity Value
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Forecast: revenue that you expect from the opportunity
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Click Done.
The lead gets converted to a prospect (status changes to Qualified) along with its source and also an opportunity is assigned to it. This record then displays in the Prospects screen.
Note: You can also select multiple leads in the list view and click Actions > Convert to Prospect to convert leads into prospects in a batch mode. However, in this case you cannot create opportunities on the go for the converted leads.
Clone Leads
If you have many similar leads, it saves time to create a new one from an existing lead. In other words, you can duplicate a lead record to create new ones and then edit that for any changes. The basic properties and attributes of the leads are cloned to the new records, such as campaigns, notes, and to-dos.
To clone a lead:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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Select the lead on the grid that you want to clone and click to select Clone.
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On the Lead Clone dialog, enter the required information:
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Clone From
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Clone To
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Click Clone.
The newly cloned lead is displayed on the grid. You can go into its detail to edit it, if needed. You can also check the detailed video on cloning records in CORE.
Add Follow-Ups
CORE allows you to follow up on your leads. CORE also allows you to create time entries from your follow-ups.
To add a follow-up for a lead, watch this video or follow these steps:
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Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, select a lead on the grid that you want to follow up on and click Follow-Ups on that row.
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On the Add & Modify Follow-Ups dialog, enter the required information. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
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Description
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Follow Up Date
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Follow-Up Type
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Assigned To
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Priority
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Status
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Click Done. The follow-up is saved to this lead now.
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You can click Detail to view the details of the follow-up. CORE lets you track all of them on the main Follow-Ups screen and receive notifications on them.
Note: CORE prompts you to create time entries when you update the follow-up status to Complete.
You can also check the detailed video on managing follow-ups in CORE CRM.
Batch Update Leads
Making batch changes to the leads is an irreversible process. Batch update also allows you to reset the values to none if the field is not required.
To batch update leads, watch this video or follow these steps:
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Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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Select the lead records on the grid that you want to change and click Actions > Batch Update.
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On the Batch Update screen, select the relevant fields and enter new values for them.
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Check the disclaimer at the bottom and click Update.
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To edit a single lead, select the lead on the grid and click to select View Details.
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In the detail view, enter more details or make your changes.
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Click Save & Done.
You can also check the detailed video on batch updating records in CORE.
Show/Hide Columns in Grid
You can configure the fields or columns that appear on the grid in the list view. You can hide or show columns, and sort the order of columns according to your requirements.
To do so, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, click More > Show/Hide Columns on the action bar.
- Select or un-select the column names in the drop-down list, say Region.
- Next, click the column you want to sort, say Assigned To.
- Click once for ascending order (A-Z) and twice for descending order (Z-A).
Note: You can resize the column widths on the grid and then reset them, if needed (More > Reset Column Widths).
You can also check the detailed video on navigation and customizing grids in CORE.
Export Leads
In CORE, you can export leads to the Comma Separated Values file format. CORE exports data from all available columns and not just the columns visible in the grid.
To export lead records to a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:
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Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, click More > Export as CSV.
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A .csv export file is created and saved on your system at the default download location, say your desktop. Click to open the spreadsheet.
You can also check the detailed video on exporting data in CORE.
Import Leads from CSV
In CORE, you can import leads from a Comma Separated Values (.csv) file format. CORE imports data from the selected fields from the supported spreadsheets. You can map the relevant fields between CORE and the CSV file and save those mappings for the future.
The csv file being imported must contain the following:
- Company Name for the company-type leads: If any of the two names (First Name and Last Name) are missing or the records have a company name, then the leads are imported as of type Company with Display As name being the Company Name.
- First Name and Last Name for the individual leads: If the records have a First Name and Last Name present, the leads are imported as of type individual with Display As name being FName + LName.
Note: You can download a sample import file to see how your import file should be and what kind of data it should include.
To import lead records from a .CSV file, watch this video or follow these steps:
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Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, click More > Import from CSV.
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On the Import Leads from CSV dialog, choose the CSV (UTF-8 encoded) file to be imported. You can drag-and-drop the file or click to browse to its location. Check Field Descriptions above for details.
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Click Upload.
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On the Map Your Lead Fields dialog, you can match the relevant CORE Fields with the CSV Headers for each lead. Each record requires a company and first or last name to be mapped. Also, you can map a CORE field only once, not multiple times.
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You can select a Saved Mappings from the drop-down, if you have one from a previous import.
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You can also choose the Override duplicate records upon import option. This overwrites the existing records if the First Name, Last Name, Display As and Company fields match the imported records.
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If needed, you can add more fields to the mapped list by clicking Add Field at the bottom of the list. Click Continue. The imported leads pre-fill the grid.
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On the Review Mapping dialog, review the selected records and their mappings. Un-check the records that you do not want to import.
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Click the relevant Import option:
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Import
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Import & Update Mapping: Imports the records and also updates the field mappings. This option is only available when you have selected a saved mapping previously.
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Import & Save As New Mapping: Imports the records and also saves the mapping for the future.
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The records are imported and displayed on the grid. You can check the imported data and make changes, as needed. You can also check the detailed video on importing data into CORE.
View Reports
To view a report:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
- In the list view, click More > View Reports.
- Select a report from the Report List dialog. It opens in the viewer.
- Preview the report and then choose to export or print it.
You can also check the detailed video on running and managing reports in CORE.
Apply Filters
To view selective data on the grid, watch this video or follow these steps:
- Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, click on the right.
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On the Filters panel, select a filter from the drop-down and specify individual records or range.
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Click Add Filters to specify more filters.
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When you have finished, click Apply Filter. You can see selective data now.
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In the list view, you can remove the individual filters by clicking on each. To disable applied filters temporarily or remove all filters, click next to the Filters icon and select Disable Filters or Clear All, respectively.
You can also check the detailed video on applying filters in CORE.
Mark Screen as Favorite
You can mark or flag the most-often used and important screens in CORE as your favorites up to a maximum of ten. These favorite screens then display separately on the side menu under the Favorites list. You can manage all your favorite screens in CORE from User Settings.
To mark this screen as your favorite, watch this video or follow these steps:
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Open the Leads screen from the side menu > CRM > Marketing.
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In the list view, click on the top-right.
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You can access this screen from the side menu under Favorites.
You can also check the detailed video on marking screens as favorite in CORE.