You can manually fill in the Lead details gathered from various external sources, e.g. trade shows, exhibitions, colleagues, business cards, etc. You can gather data through various sources, e.g. purchasing a leads' database, leads from different business units, etc. and import the CSV and XLS files into Zoho CRM. You can create web forms and allow website visitors to submit their contact details or questions directly through forms. These details submitted in the website are captured directly in the Leads module.

You can create leads manually by entering the details in the lead form. For instance: While traveling you met a person who showed some interest in your product or service. You exchanged business cards and assured them you would contact him or her again with more details about the product/service. The next day, you create a lead manually with the available details and contact the person. In such cases, it is easy to manually enter in the available details and create a lead record instantly.

2.1.1 Creating Leads

You can create leads individually by using the following:

• Filling in the details in the lead creation form by clicking on the + button as shown in the screenshot. 
  

• You can see some fields highlighted with Red color which means they are mandatory fields that should be filled otherwise we cannot save a lead record.
  

• The Enquiry Type in this layout is a multi select field where you can choose more than one pick list value. This is because in an NFP Organization someone wants to become a member of the organization and also can choose to volunteer for an event. Hence, they can enquire for more than one service.
  

2.1.2 Qualify Leads

After collecting the lead details in your CRM account, the next stage is lead qualification. With further negotiations or follow up, the lead can be qualified into a business opportunity. In this stage the focus is on evaluating leads based on their interest and readiness to be promoted to sales.

Following are some of the methods for leads qualification:

• Phone Call: A direct and quick follow up method after the lead generation to initiate further discussion on the sales process.
  

• Direct Mail: A traditional approach of delivering materials such as advertising circulars, brochures, catalogs and other commercial materials through postal mail.
  

• Email: Send email communications to enhance business relationships if the email addresses are captured during the lead generation process. This enables a quicker method to send specific or mass mailings to qualifying leads.
  

• Meeting: A one-to-one personal meeting or a scheduled online meeting provides a good approach for further development towards the next stage.
  

• Documents: The process of exchanging documents to understand the prospective business, enabling clarity of expectation and understanding to provide business solutions.
  

• Notes: Notes in the form of remarks or comments included during the follow up sessions that act as a record of the previous follow ups during the qualifying stage. 
  

e. Lead nurturing process and status

In the qualification process you can tag the lead status so you can filter to see where each lead is sitting at and also have some workflow rules setup to follow them periodically so you can nurture better. 

2.1.3 Associate Leads with Other Records

As qualification of leads is the focus, associating various records with the leads is the next step. You may need to associate leads with other records, until the lead reaches a certain stage where it can be converted to  Deals as per your organization's sales process.

In the Lead Details page, you can associate the following:

• Open Activities: To add tasks and events (meetings and calls).
  

• Closed Activities: To archive the closed activities.
  

• Attachments & Notes: To attach documents and notes.
  

• Mails: To send e-mail messages to the selected lead.
  

• Campaigns: To associate many campaigns to a single lead.
  

• Social Interactions - To view the Twitter and Facebook interactions associated to the lead and send messages, like posts, retweet, etc.
  

2.1.4 Access Leads Related Lists

1. Click the Leads module.
   
2. ​Click the desired record.
   

3. In the Lead's details page, under Related List section, click on the required related list name to navigate to the corresponding section.