CRM: Lead, Prospect & Client

Understanding Contact Roles

Within Unificus, every contact fits into one of three categories that represent their position in your sales process.

LEAD: A Lead is someone you’ve connected with and exchanged information with, but you don’t yet have active business discussions happening. Leads cannot access your Unificus portal.

PROSPECT: A Prospect is the next level in your sales journey. These are Leads who now have portal access so you can share confidential pricing, promotional offers, messages, Estimates, Proposals, and similar materials suited to this stage of engagement.

CLIENT: Once a Prospect commits to working with you, elevate them to Client status. Clients can receive Invoices and be assigned to Projects within Unificus.

Moving Contacts Forward

The progression Lead → Prospect → Client mirrors a typical sales funnel and represents the only direction roles can move. You cannot reverse a contact’s role (for example, downgrading a Client to Prospect). This restriction exists because permissions expand as contacts advance, and removing them from attached items like Invoices or Projects would be problematic.

One additional note: while you can set initial roles during a bulk import, any subsequent role changes must be made manually or through No-Code Automation—the import feature cannot modify existing contact roles.

Changing a Contact’s Role

To upgrade a Lead:

Once a Lead shows potential or confirms they’re ready to engage, visit CRM > Contacts.

Select the contact and use the Options menu to convert them to either Prospect or Client.

To upgrade a Prospect:

When a Prospect is prepared to begin business with you, access their record via CRM > Contacts and use the Options menu to convert them to Client.

Remember: role changes only move contacts forward through the funnel. You cannot demote a Client to Prospect, or a Prospect to Lead.