Lead Status field and the common queries which may bother you!!

Lead Status field the common pitfalls / concerns

Lead represents a Prospect or potential Opportunity.The field named "LeadStatus" (API name) indicates the state of the lead in the pre-sales process of turning a lead into an opportunity. Some default values for the Lead Status field include Open, Contacted, and Qualified.

Some of the things which need to be taken care of w.r.t. leads and Lead Status field in particular:-

I. Do we need to assign at least one picklist value in status field as Converted ? Yes , at least one of the picklist values in this field has to be marked as "Converted". 

One may ask you -How are converted lead status values setup?

How to set converted leads status values?

To set the values available for the "converted status" field on the convert page layout do the following:

1. Click on:

Setup | App Setup | Customize | Leads | Fields | Lead Status2. Click "Edit" next to a value3. Select the "converted" checkbox if you would like it to be an available value during lead conversion (NOTE: you can have more than one converted status value)

II. Can we have more than one picklist value as "converted"? 

Yes more than one field can be related to / or assigned as "Converted" picklist value.

III. Many times a user may find the presence of the picklist value confusing? 

They may ask the picklist value to be re-christened or renamed. Yes you can remove , rename picklist values assigned as "Converted" , only catch is atleast one picklist value has to be there which assigned as "Converted"

IV. How to remove converted status off lead status value?

In order to make a value no longer have a converted status you should click edit beside the value and uncheck the converted checkbox

V.  Many times while converting a Lead we come across errors , what causes them?

More often these error are caused due to presence of Mandatory fields on objects whose records are created as a result of conversion like Account, Contact, Opportunity, Task, etc. In case say you have created a custom mandatory field on Account, then lead conversion will give error if you do not map a mandatory field from lead onto the newly created mandatory field on account. 

VI. If we have multiple values corresponding to "Converted Status" how  is converted status values derived when a lead is converted?

If record types are not being used in Leads, all of the existing converted status values will be displayed on the lead convert page.  But , if record types are being utilized, the values displayed on the lead convert page are taken from the values available on the default record type of the profile assigned to the user who is triggering the lead conversion, and not from the converted status values that are setup on a lead record type / lead process that is assigned to the lead being converted.

Lead  is accorded special attributes and status like Opportunity and Task because of many native or in-built salesforce features / functionality running off them, hence lot of caution and thinking should be invested while customizing or changing the basic characteristics of this functionality.