Create a new lead. In the Lead Center toolbar, click New Lead. In the Add Lead dialog box, name the lead. This name is an identifier similar to the ones you enter for customers (Creating a New Customer). The Status field lets you classify leads as Hot, Warm, or Cold, so you know which ones to focus on first. The Company tab contains fields for info such as company name, telephone number, email address, website, and main address. (You can add other addresses if the company has several locations.) The Contacts tab lets you add contact information for people in the company. The first contact you enter is designated the Primary Contact, but you can add other contacts.

View leads. Like the Customer Center, the Lead Center lists your leads on the left side of the window. The list shows the lead’s name and status. You can filter the list by choosing an entry in the View drop-down list. For example, choose Active Leads to see all the leads you’re working on, or choose Hot to filter the list for all your most promising leads.

Search leads. If your sales team is prolific, your lead list could be quite long. You can search for specific leads by typing part of the lead’s name in the Find box and then clicking the magnifying glass icon. QuickBooks filters the list to show all the leads that contain the text you typed.

Edit a lead. After you create a lead, you can view its information and edit it. Select the lead in the Leads list on the left side of the Lead Center. The lead’s information appears on the right side of the window, similar to customer information in the Customer Center. To edit that info, click Edit Lead.

Create a note. To add notes about a lead, first select the lead in the Leads list. Next, click the Notes tab at the bottom of the Lead Center, and then click Add Notes. In the Add Notes dialog box, type the information you want to record about the lead. For example, you might specify the particular services or products that lead is interested in or her budget. When you add a note, QuickBooks automatically fills in the date for that note. To filter the notes by date, choose a time period in the Notes tab’s Date drop-down list.

Create a to-do. To add a to-do for a lead, select the lead in the Leads list. Next, click the To Do List tab at the bottom of the Lead Center, and then click Add To Do. See Tracking To-Dos to learn how to create different types of to-dos. The To Do List tab shows info about the to-dos for that lead, including the type of to-do, its priority, when it’s due, and whether it’s complete.

Convert a lead to a customer. When you turn a lead into a customer in real life, you can do the same in QuickBooks. Select the lead in the Leads list. Then, on the right side of the Lead Center, click Convert to a Customer. QuickBooks asks you to confirm this action, because you can’t undo it. When you click OK, the lead disappears from the Active Leads list. You can see the leads you’ve converted to customers by choosing Converted Leads in the View drop-down list. Although you can still view these converted leads in the Lead Center, you can no longer edit them there. They appear as customers in the Customer Center, and you can edit them there as you do other customers (Modifying Customer and Job Information).

Import multiple leads. To import information about several leads, in the Lead Center toolbar, click Import Multiple Leads. The Import Leads dialog box that appears lets you type values into a table, but you can also copy and paste information from an Excel spreadsheet like you do in the Add/Edit Multiple List Entries window (Adding and Editing Multiple Records).