In this article, you'll learn how to build your own list of lead statuses. Job statuses come with a fixed core, but lead statuses are your sales pipeline, so the list can match how your office actually works a lead.

Your lead statuses are the tiles across the top of the Leads page, in the same order as this list. They're also the choices you get when you change a lead's status, and the columns on the Pipeline page if you've turned Pipeline on in Features.

To open Lead statuses:

In the menu, click the gear at the bottom (Settings).
Under Jobs & leads, click Lead statuses.

Your lead statuses, one tile per status, in pipeline order

Note: You need the Lead Settings permission to open this page, and you need to be an admin to change the list. Adding, renaming, reordering, deleting and restoring are admin-only.

Add a status

Type a name in the New lead status box.
Click Add (or press Enter).

The new status lands at the bottom of the list, so it also shows up as the last tile on the Leads page. If you type a name that already exists, nothing is duplicated.

Adding a lead status

Change the order, and the starting status

Drag a tile and drop it where you want it. The order saves as soon as you let go, and the Leads page tiles follow.

The status at the top of the list is where every new lead starts. To change what a new lead starts as, drag a different status to the top.

The same statuses as tiles across the top of the Leads page, with a count on each

Rename a status

Click Rename on the tile.
Change the name and click Save (Enter also saves, Escape cancels).

Leads already sitting on that status move to the new name with it, so nothing gets stranded.

Renaming a lead status

Delete or archive a status

Click the X at the right end of the tile.
Click Delete to confirm.

If no leads are on that status, it's deleted.
If leads still use it, the status is archived instead. You'll see a line saying how many records still use it, and the tile drops into a collapsed Archived list at the bottom of the page.

An archived status leaves the Leads page tiles and the status choices, but the leads on it keep their status text.

Note: A few statuses are core columns of the sales pipeline, such as New lead, Estimate sent, In Progress, No response and your lost column. You can rename them, but if you try to delete one you'll see a message saying it can't be deleted or archived.

Restore an archived status

Click Archived at the bottom of the page to open the list.
Click Restore next to the status.

It comes back into the live list and onto the Leads page.

On the phone app

The phone app has the same screen. Open the menu, tap the gear at the bottom, then under Jobs & leads tap Lead statuses. You land on the Lead statuses tab of the Settings screen, with the same New lead status box, Rename, X and Archived list with Restore.

Reordering works a little differently on a phone: tap the ⠿ handle on the tile you want to move (it turns blue), then tap the tile you want it to sit in front of. The web CRM on a phone works the same way.

Good to know

Lead statuses don't have sub-statuses. That's a job status thing only.

Tip: The CRM moves leads forward by itself when something real happens to them. Put a date on a lead and it moves to your scheduled column. Send an estimate for it and it moves to your estimate-sent column. When that estimate is approved it moves to your approved column. Each column's rule lives in its gear on the Pipeline page, so a renamed column keeps its rule. A company without the Pipeline page gets the same moves by name, to statuses called Scheduled, Estimated and Approved.

Automatic moves only ever go forward in your list, never back. A lead on a lost, won or no-response column is treated as finished and won't move anywhere on its own.

Note: Lost leads sit outside the pipeline on the web Leads page. Leads on your lost or No response column aren't counted in the All tile.

Creating custom lead statuses