Object Relations (example)

• Lifecycle Stages (Contacts): Contacts represent individuals at different stages of their journey with your business, progressing from prospects to customers.
• Lead Stages (Extension of Contacts): Leads are contacts that show potential for sales, helping sales teams prioritize their efforts.
• Deal Pipelines (Deals): Deals track sales opportunities associated with contacts or leads, moving through stages from negotiation to closing, helping manage and forecast revenue.

Step 1: Understand Object Relations in HubSpot

• Contacts: A person entering the database
• Companies: Represent organizations associated with contacts.
• Deals: A project that is linked to a company and a contact.
• Leads: A separate object dedicated to prospecting activities.

👉 Key Principle:

• A lead always ends as Qualified or Disqualified.
• A deal always ends as Closed Won or Closed Lost.

Step 2: Lifecycle Stages vs. Lead Stages

Lifecycle Stages (Contact Level)

• Lead → Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) → Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) → Opportunity → Customer
• Represents the maximum point of progress in the buyer’s journey.
• These do not need to be updated manually.

Lead Stages (Lead Object Level)

• New → Attempting → Connected → Qualified → Disqualified
  • Stages new, attempting and connecting = automatic (manual override possible)
  • Stages Qualified or Disqualified = manual
• Tracks the prospecting process while sales is working the lead.
• A lead is associated to a contact and/or company.

👉 Rule: Once a lead is Qualified, create a deal and continue in the pipeline. A lead is qualified once a project has been identified. Create the deal by setting the lead to ‘qualified’.

Step 3: Sales Workspace & Productivity

Watch this video on how to use the Sales Workspace: Introducing Sales Workspace | HubSpot Spotlight

The Sales Workspace brings everything into one view:

• Tasks and daily to-do’s
• Sequences in progress
• Calendar & meetings
• Activity feed (opens, clicks, replies, calls)
• Lead and deal overview

HubSpot also suggests next best actions (e.g., “This lead re-engaged after 6 months, create a new lead”).

How to process leads?

Watch our video training: How to handle SQLs in Hubspot (with real examples)-20250909_110333-Meeting Recording.mp4

What is a lead?

A lead is created when a contact wants to be contacted by sales (inbound). They may have:

• Asked to speak to someone of sales
• Requested project info, demos, or pricing
• Shown clear buying interest

Important: This is different from an MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead), which is still being nurtured by Marketing and not ready yet to be handed over to sales.

Lead examples include:

• Filled out a digital form (via website, campaign, webinar, etc.)
• Warm lead from trade shows like ISE or InfoComm
• ....

You can also manually create leads by adding a ‘lead’ to a contact. You will add a lead to a contact when you decide to chase them. (outbound)

How to process leads?

How to find leads?

• Navigate to sales -> sales workspace and click on 'leads'. You will see an overview of all your leads by lead stage.

• The workspace will display a filtered list of your open leads (qualified/disqualified leads are hidden by default).
• Use the Last Activity and Next Activity columns to prioritize follow-ups.

⚠️ You will also be notified by email when a new lead is assigned to you. We expect you to follow-up or disqualify leads within 5 business days. A task will also be created and associated to you providing more details.

Understanding lead stages

Processing leads

Step 1: Review a Lead Record

• In the sales workspace: click on a lead in the list to open its record.
• When looking at at a contact: use the lead card in the right-hand sidebar to see current status, associated contact/company, and past attempts.
• From here, you can email, call, disqualify or book meetings directly.

Step 2: Engage and Move Through Lead Stages

• HubSpot automatically updates lead stages:
  • New → Attempting when you log an email, call, or task.
  • Attempting → Connected when the lead replies or books a meeting.
• Continue outreach until you determine whether the lead should be Qualified (=project identified by you or the distributor) or Disqualified (=no project, no reply, spam lead,..). This needs to be updated manually.

In HubSpot, every lead must eventually be marked as either Qualified or Disqualified to ensure clean, accurate data. Leaving leads open causes clutter, skews reports, and distracts sales reps. If a prospect is unresponsive, disqualify them with a reason; if there’s real interest, qualify the lead and create a deal. This keeps the pipeline focused and sales efforts effective.

Step 3: Qualify a Lead

• When a project has been identified, select Qualified in the lead pipeline.
• HubSpot will prompt you to create a deal immediately.
• Complete any required fields and save.

Step 4: Disqualify a Lead

• If the lead is not a fit, select Disqualified.
• Choose a reason from the dropdown (e.g., Bad Timing, No Budget).
• Add free-text notes for context.
• This keeps reporting clean and supports future re-engagement.

Practical Scenario: From a New Lead to an Active Deal

This example follows the entire journey of a fictional prospect, Sarah Johnson from Innovate Inc.

Step 1: Lead Creation (Inbound)

• Sarah Johnson visits your company's website and downloads a pricing guide for your "Pro Tier" service.
• By filling out the form, a Contact record for sarah.johnson@innovate.com is automatically created in HubSpot.
• Simultaneously, because she requested pricing information (showing clear buying interest), a Lead object is created and assigned to you.
• The Lifecycle Stage of the contact "Sarah Johnson" automatically updates to Sales Qualified Lead
• The Lead Stage for this new lead is New. You receive an email notification about this new assignment.

Step 2: Initial Engagement

• You navigate to your Sales Workspace and see Sarah's lead in the "New" column.
• You open her record, review her activity (downloaded the pricing guide), and check out the associated Company record for "Innovate Inc." to understand their business.
• You send Sarah a personalized email using a HubSpot template and enroll her in a 3-step sequence.
• Automation in Action: The moment you send the email, HubSpot automatically moves the Lead Stage from New to Attempting.

Step 3: Making a Connection

• Two days later, Sarah replies to your email and agrees to a 15-minute introductory call.
• Automation in Action: Because Sarah replied, HubSpot automatically updates the Lead Stage from Attempting to Connected.
• You hold the call with Sarah. You learn she is the project manager for a new initiative and they have a budget allocated. This is a real sales opportunity.

Step 4: Qualifying the Lead and Creating a Deal

• Immediately after the call, you update the lead. You change the Lead Stage from Connected to Qualified.
• HubSpot's Prompt: A pop-up window appears, prompting you to create a Deal. Certain information will be pre-filled.
  • You name the deal: "Innovate Inc. - Pro Tier Implementation".
  • You associate the Deal with both the Contact (Sarah Johnson) and the Company (Innovate Inc.). This is crucial for a complete overview.
  • You enter an estimated value ($15,000) and an estimated close date.
  • You place it in the first stage of your Deal Pipeline, such as "Appointment Scheduled" or "Qualified to Buy".
• The Lifecycle Stage of the contact Sarah Johnson (and the company Innovate Inc.) automatically updates to Opportunity.

Step 5: Working the Deal

• The original Lead object is now considered "Closed" and disappears from your main lead view. Your focus shifts entirely to the newly created Deal.
• From this point on, you manage all activities (follow-up calls, meetings, sending a proposal) within the Deal record. You will move the deal through the pipeline stages (e.g., Presentation Scheduled, Proposal Sent, Negotiation) until it is either Closed Won or Closed Lost.

How to process Deals (WIP)?

Once a lead has been qualified by changing the lead status manually to ‘Qualified’, you are prompted to create a deal. A deal can also be created on the deals overview page if no lead was involved (e.g. existing client). You are asked to complete the following:

After creating the deal: verify associations

After creating the deal, verify the associations in the top-right panel of the deal record.

1. Click “Add” or edit the existing company association.
2. If there is an integrator, distributor, etc.:
   1. This company should be set as the Primary company on the deal.
3. The End User should also be associated to the deal
   1. Add the End User as an additional company
   2. Apply the association label “End User” (do not set them as primary)
   3. If there is no third party involved but we are working with the end user directly, they can be both the primary company and carry the end user label.

Progressing the deal

A deal progresses through multiple stages with different probabilities before reaching either a closed won or closed lost stage. Please refer to this document for:

• The meaning of each stage
• Required activities
• Entry/exit criteria
• Probability guidelines

Forecasting

For accurate forecasting:

• Always keep your Amount and Close Date up to date.
• Update them when the size or timing of the deal changes.
• Move the deal to the correct stage as soon as it progresses.