Best Practices for Lead Status Governance

Overview
A clear, enforced status strategy ensures every lead is handled consistently—from first contact to close or disqualification.

Recommendations

1. Limit Your Status List: Aim for 5–7 meaningful statuses.

2. Define Each Status: Document what criteria move a lead from one status to the next.

3. Train Your Team: Run regular refreshers so everyone applies statuses correctly.

4. Enforce via Automation: Use workflows to prevent skipping critical statuses (e.g., “Don’t allow New → Proposal Sent directly”).

5. Audit Monthly: Review a sample of closed‑won and closed‑lost leads to verify they were correctly categorized.

Tips

• Post your status definitions and process map in your team wiki for quick reference.

• Use dashboards to monitor adherence and highlight out‑of‑sequence moves.

• Update your status model annually to reflect changes in your sales process.