The lead status picklist in Salesforce is critical for two reasons:

1. It helps your sales organization maintain a structure for selling, while modelling out the various stages of your business.

2. It allows sales reps to stay organized by mapping out the sales process. When they come in to work each morning, they can easily sort through their lead queue, segmenting out all the leads that have been marked with “dead” lead statuses, and know who to call – and who not to call – instantly.

You already know that a well-defined lead status in Salesforce can result in a more streamlined selling process, leading to more productive and efficient sales reps. Having these statuses allows you to design your flow, producing a lead funnel like the one below, which shows you how many leads are progressing from one status and stage to the next, converting to opportunities and eventually deals.

Now, let’s find out what happens in the grey areas, where leads are not willing to go through your sales process and are deemed “dead” or “idle”. What dead lead statuses should you have in Salesforce, and how should you handle these presumed-dead leads?

What dead lead statuses should I have in Salesforce?

The cop-out answer is, “Well, it depends on your business and your sales process.” While that might seem like a throwaway response, it is actually incredibly relevant. The important thing to keep in mind here is identifying the right exit criteria for your business.

At each stage of the sales funnel, in order for a lead to be dismissed as “dead,” it should have met certain exit criteria to drop off from that stage. Consider when a lead is progressing through the funnel the other way toward closed-won – you would never advance a lead to the next stage in the process until they have met certain BANT (or CHAMP) requirements. You would only move them to the next stage if they have been properly qualified. It stands to reason, then, that if they were disqualified, they would be moved to a dead lead status. Think about it; what are the various reasons that you’d want to revisit a set of leads? That thinking should inform the lead statuses you create.

Some dead or idle lead statuses you should have in your Salesforce picklist include:

• Poor fit – your interests as sellers and buyers are not aligned

• No need – the lead has no pressing need for your product

• Bad lead – the lead doesn’t fit your ideal customer profile, should have been disqualified earlier

• Timing – now is not a good time for the lead to buy, might be worth revisiting in the future

• Competitor – the lead has decided to go with your competitor

• Feature – the lead is looking for a specific product feature that you haven’t built yet

• Price – your product is simply too expensive for the lead to purchase

How often should I revisit my “dead” leads?

Again, this is entirely dependent on your business, the sales process you have in place, how long your sales cycle is and other considerations. Deciding when to re-visit a dead lead also depends on that “dead” reason they have given – which is one reason why having a picklist of dead lead statuses in Salesforce is so important.

For example, if the dead lead status on this specific lead says that there is a poor fit – due to company size or industry, for instance – chances are that this dead lead will not be worth revisiting anytime soon, unless something drastic happens.

However, what if the dead lead status is competitor, with an added note that said competitor had a feature that your product did not have. Well, 6 months later, now that your product has added this feature, it might be worth revisiting this lead to tout your newly added features.

More specifically, think about all the things you can do when you know more about the “dead” lead. Let’s say that the lead demonstrated some interest in your product, but the timing wasn’t right for them. That’s fine. Mark the lead with the lead status “Dead – Timing,” and then send that to marketing. Marketing can then begin a nurturing campaign – sending out more content in a “drip” format, reaching out with interesting and relevant stories on social media, etc – in a subtle effort to keep working on these leads, without tying up your sales reps’ valuable time.

 
Your sales reps depend on the “dead” lead status. Without it, they wouldn’t know which leads they have already called and disqualified, leading to a lot of wasted time. Additionally, having a series of “dead” lead statuses allows you to better handle follow-up where it is necessary, instead of treating all “dead” lead statuses with blanket actions. Don’t wait another day – start instituting these dead lead statuses in your Salesforce instance, immediately!