Leads and Contacts
The Ailian CRM keeps two kinds of person records:
- A Lead is someone who is still being qualified: they came in through a form, an import, or manual entry, and may or may not become a customer.
- A Contact is a person the company already has a relationship with. A Contact can be linked to a company and take part in deals.
A Lead only becomes a Contact when someone on the team explicitly converts it. Importing a spreadsheet, building an audience, or running a campaign never converts a Lead into a Contact automatically.
You can also create a Contact directly, without going through a Lead, with the Create contact button.
The Contacts list
In the CRM, the Contacts area lists every Contact in the instance. In the list you can:
- search by name and other record details
- filter by a field
- sort by the available columns
- move between pages
- select Contacts to export
Your search, filter, sorting, and page stay as they were when you open and close a record.
Opening a record
Whenever a Contact name is shown with the ↗ arrow, it is a shortcut to the record. This works in the Contacts list and on other screens, such as deals, the Kanban board, and campaigns.
The record opens on top of the screen you are on, so you do not lose your place. It shows the Contact details, job title, social profiles, the linked company, and the deals the Contact takes part in. The company and the deals also have the ↗ arrow to open their own records.
Editing a Contact
The record opens in view mode. To change details:
Click Edit
The fields become editable in the same panel.
Make your changes
You can fill in the job title and social profiles (pick the network, such as LinkedIn or Instagram, and enter the full profile address). Leads also have job title and social profile fields.
Save or cancel
The Save and Cancel buttons always stay visible at the bottom.
If you try to close the record, open another Contact, leave the page, or switch instances with unsaved changes, the CRM asks whether you want to discard them.
Custom fields
Each instance can have its own Contact fields, separate from Lead fields. People allowed to configure the CRM will find the Fields button at the bottom of the record. There you can:
- create fields (text, number, date, option list, yes or no, and other types)
- rename fields and options
- make a field required
- arrange fields into sections of the record
A field's type cannot change after it is created. If you need a different type, create a new field.