Lead Management Guide

Learn how to effectively manage leads in LeadMachine, from creation to conversion.

Understanding Leads

A lead in LeadMachine represents a potential customer or business contact. Each lead contains:

• Basic Information: First name, last name, company
• Contact Details: Email addresses, phone numbers, websites
• Status: Current position in your sales pipeline
• Source: How the lead was acquired (WordPress, manual entry, etc.)
• Notes: Internal comments and interaction history
• Metadata: Custom fields and enrichment data

Dashboard: My Recent Leads

When you log in, the dashboard shows "My Recent Leads" - a personalized view of leads relevant to you:

What's Displayed:

• Leads assigned to you (where you're the owner)
• Leads you've recently viewed (automatically tracked when you open lead details)

Visual Indicators:

• Blue avatar with "Assigned" badge = Lead is assigned to you
• Gray avatar with "Viewed" badge = Lead you've accessed but isn't assigned to you
• Sorted by most recent interaction (view date or update date)

Why This Matters:

• Quick access to leads you're actively working on
• See your assigned leads at a glance
• Resume work on leads you were reviewing
• Focused view instead of company-wide leads

Empty State: If no leads appear, it means you haven't been assigned any leads yet and haven't viewed any lead details. Leads you interact with will automatically appear here.

Click "My Leads" to see your full list of assigned leads.

Viewing Your Leads

Lead List View

1. Navigate to Leads from the main menu
2. You'll see a table with all your leads showing:

1. Use the search bar to find specific leads
2. Filter by status, source, or date range

Lead Detail View

Click any lead to view complete details:

• Full contact information
• All email addresses, phone numbers, websites
• Lead notes and history
• Enrichment data (if available)
• Custom metadata

Creating a New Lead

Quick Lead Creation (Dashboard)

The fastest way to add a lead is from the dashboard header:

1. Click the New Lead button in the header
2. A quick-entry panel slides down with fields for:

1. Fill in what you know
2. Click Create Lead
3. You're taken directly to the new lead's detail page

With Ledo Lookup

Don't know much about the person? Use Lookup to research them:

1. Click New Lead in the header
2. Enter at least First Name and Last Name
3. Optionally add Company for better results
4. Click the Lookup button
5. Ledo researches the person using AI-powered web search
6. Review the found information:

1. Click Create Lead with Data to create the lead with all enriched information

The lead is created with the researched data pre-filled, and you're taken to their detail page where an AI summary is automatically generated.

Full Lead Creation (Leads Page)

For more detailed lead entry:

1. Navigate to Leads
2. Click + New Lead button
3. Fill out the form:

1. Click Create Lead

Automatic Lead Creation

Leads are automatically created when:

• Someone submits a form on your WordPress site (with plugin installed)
• A form is submitted on your LeadMachine landing pages
• You import leads from a CSV file
• A lead is synced from MailChimp integration

Editing Lead Information

Basic Information

1. Open the lead detail page
2. Click the Edit button
3. Update any fields
4. Click Save Changes

Contact Information

Contact details (email, phone, website) can be:

• Added: Click "+ Add Contact" and select type
• Edited: Click the edit icon next to any contact
• Deleted: Click the trash icon (confirmation required)
• Labeled: Tag contacts as "work", "personal", "mobile", etc.

Tip: You can add multiple emails, phone numbers, or websites per lead. Mark the primary contact for each type.

Lead Statuses

Statuses represent stages in your sales pipeline.

Default Statuses

• New: Fresh leads that haven't been contacted
• Contacted: Initial outreach completed
• Qualified: Lead meets your criteria
• Proposal: Quote or proposal sent
• Won: Successfully converted to customer
• Lost: Did not convert

Changing Lead Status

1. Open the lead detail page
2. Click the Status dropdown
3. Select new status
4. Optionally add a note about why the status changed
5. Status changes are automatically logged in the lead history

Custom Statuses

Admins can create custom statuses:

1. Navigate to Settings → Company → Lead Statuses
2. Click + Add Status
3. Enter status name and choose a color
4. Drag to reorder statuses in your pipeline
5. Click Save

See Lead Statuses Guide for details.

Lead Sources

Track where your leads come from:

• WordPress: Form submissions from WordPress plugin
• Manual Entry: Leads you create directly
• Import: CSV file imports
• MailChimp: Synced from MailChimp lists
• WordPress Plugin: Downloaded your WordPress plugin
• Referral: Referred by existing customer or team member

Tip: When selecting Referral as the source, you can choose a specific team member as the referral source. This makes it easy to track which reps are generating referrals and attribute credit appropriately.

• Website: Your LeadMachine website forms

Why sources matter: Understanding which sources generate the best leads helps you focus your marketing efforts.

Lead Notes

Add internal notes to track interactions:

1. Open the lead detail page
2. Scroll to the Notes section
3. Click + Add Note
4. Write your note (supports basic formatting)
5. Click Save

Notes are timestamped and show which user created them.

Best Practices:

• Record all phone calls and meetings
• Note any objections or concerns
• Track follow-up tasks and deadlines
• Document what was promised

Lead Enrichment

LeadMachine can automatically enhance lead data using AI.

What is Enrichment?

Lead enrichment uses multiple AI and data sources to find additional information about leads:

• Company details and industry
• Social media profiles
• Professional background
• Company size and revenue estimates
• Technologies used
• Email address (Hunter.io → Apollo.io waterfall)
• Business address (Google Places)
• Website URL

Enriching a Lead

1. Open the lead detail page
2. Click Enrich Lead button
3. Wait a few seconds for processing
4. View enriched data in the Enrichment section

Enrichment Visual Indicators

After enrichment runs, LeadMachine highlights what was discovered:

• Leads list — A small cyan Ledo orb appears next to enriched leads
• Lead detail page — Fields populated by enrichment show a cyan highlight and "Enriched by Ledo" tooltip on hover

"Needs Outreach" Tag

If enrichment completes but no email address is found (after trying Hunter.io and Apollo.io), the lead is automatically tagged needs-outreach. Use this tag to find contacts who need an alternative first-touch — via LinkedIn, phone, or an AI-generated outreach task from Ledo.

See AI Data Enrichment for the full enrichment guide.

Lead Grade Automations

LeadMachine's AI scoring assigns every lead a grade (A/B/C/D) and automatically triggers actions when grades are assigned or change.

A-Grade: Instant Notification + Task

When a lead is first scored as Grade A (score ≥ 80), the lead owner receives an in-app notification and a follow-up task is automatically created. This ensures your hottest leads get immediate attention without waiting for the next manual review.

The notification appears in your notification bell and, if enabled, as a push notification via the PWA.

D-Grade + 30 Days Inactive: Auto-Archive

When a lead scores Grade D (score below 40) and has had no activity for 30 or more days, it is automatically archived:

• Status changes to Cold
• Tagged auto-archived
• A note is added explaining the archive reason
• Lead drops out of your active pipeline views

You can manually unarchive a lead at any time by changing its status. Auto-archiving keeps your active pipeline clean without requiring manual cleanup.

Email Engagement → Score and Deal Creation

Email interactions feed directly into lead scoring and pipeline creation in real time:

• Email click — triggers an immediate score recalculation. A click from a previously low-grade lead may push them into A or B territory, triggering the instant notification described above.
• Auto-deal on click — if the lead has no active deal when they click a campaign link, LeadMachine automatically creates a deal in your default pipeline. This ensures clicked leads enter your sales process without manual intervention.
• Open/click history — cumulative opens and clicks factor into the AI score over time, so leads who consistently engage rank higher than those who never interact.

See Email Automation for the full list of click and engagement actions.

Score-Based Call Queue

The Focus Mode "Who to Call Next" feature uses lead grades directly: only Grade B and A leads with phone numbers appear in your call queue. Lower-grade leads don't surface as call priorities.

Multi-Channel Outreach for Emailless Leads

When a lead has no email address — whether tagged needs-outreach by enrichment or added manually without an email — Ledo can generate personalized outreach tasks suggesting the best alternative contact method:

• LinkedIn direct message with a suggested opener based on their company and role
• Phone call with talking points
• Comment or engagement on their recent social post (if found via Discovery)

These tasks appear in your task list and Focus Mode queue like any other follow-up. You don't need to configure anything — Ledo generates them automatically as part of the outreach queue loop.

Deleting Leads

Remove leads you no longer need from your pipeline.

How Deletion Works

When you delete a lead:

• The lead is permanently removed from your active lists
• It will no longer appear in searches, counts, or reports
• The lead cannot be accessed through the normal interface
• This action cannot be undone - please be certain before deleting

How to Delete a Single Lead

1. Open the lead detail page
2. Click the Delete button (red trash icon)
3. Confirm by clicking "OK" when prompted "Are you sure you want to delete?"
4. The lead is permanently removed from your pipeline

Bulk Deleting Multiple Leads

1. Navigate to Leads list view
2. Check the boxes next to leads you want to delete
3. Click the Delete button in the header
4. Confirm the bulk deletion
5. All selected leads are removed at once

Who Can Delete Leads?

Before You Delete

Consider these alternatives before deleting:

• Update the status to "Lost" or "Unqualified" to keep historical data
• Add a note explaining why this lead didn't work out
• Use filters to hide leads you don't want to see regularly

Important: Once deleted, leads cannot be recovered. Make sure you no longer need the lead's information before confirming deletion.

Bulk Actions

Perform actions on multiple leads:

1. Navigate to Leads list view
2. Check the boxes next to leads you want to modify
3. Use the action buttons in the header:

Exporting Leads

Export your leads to CSV:

1. Navigate to Leads
2. Apply any filters (optional)
3. Click Export button
4. Choose fields to include
5. Click Download CSV

CSV includes all contact information and can be opened in Excel or Google Sheets.

Lead Assignment

Assign leads to specific team members:

1. Open the lead detail page
2. Click Assigned To dropdown
3. Select a user from your team
4. The assigned user receives an instant push notification (if PWA installed) or email

Fallback User: If a lead isn't assigned to anyone, notifications go to the company's fallback user (set in Company Settings).

Get Instant Notifications: Install the LeadMachine PWA to receive free push notifications when leads are assigned. See the PWA & Push Notifications Guide.

Best Practices

Response Time

• Contact new leads within 5 minutes for best results
• Install the PWA and enable push notifications to get instant alerts
• Never miss a lead with real-time notifications on your phone

Follow-Up

• Set reminders for follow-up tasks
• Add notes after every interaction
• Update status immediately after contact

Data Quality

• Always capture at least name and email
• Verify phone numbers are formatted correctly
• Use consistent labeling (work, personal, mobile)

Pipeline Management

• Move leads through statuses regularly
• Don't let leads sit in "New" for more than 24 hours
• Review "Contacted" leads weekly

Segmentation

• Use sources to understand lead quality
• Create custom statuses for your specific process
• Export and analyze conversion rates

Last Updated: March 2026