A lead only moves with a promise of its next call
A lead with no open follow-up date no longer moves to another open column without one. On the pipeline the move asks you for the date there and then; on the customer file the move is refused until a date is set. Won and lost are exempt.
Product update 2 min read
What changed
A lead with no next follow-up date is a lead on its way to being lost. Until this change a card could drift from column to column with no promise attached — it felt like progress, but only the card's position had changed, and nobody had committed to calling anybody.
The rule is now simple: a lead moves only with a promised next call. Drag the card of a lead with no open follow-up to another column on the pipeline and Set the next follow-up date opens; give it a date and the move happens in the same step.
How to use it
- In the sidebar, under Customers and sales, open Sales pipeline.
- Drag the lead's card to its new column. If it holds an open follow-up, it simply moves.
- If not, pick the Next follow-up date in the window that opens and press Set the date and move it. Cancel leaves the card where it was.
- On the customer file, choosing another open stage for a lead with no open follow-up is refused with: "This lead has no next follow-up date. Set one on its file, then move it."
- On the same file, in Follow-ups, write what to do in Remind me to, pick the time and press Remind me. Then choose the new stage again — this time it moves.
Good to know
- The closing columns, won and lost, move freely: a won lead is nobody left to call, and a lost one is a story that is over.
- The rule reads the same answer as the pipeline's No next follow-up date filter: whatever that filter shows is exactly what needs a date to move.
- When two businesses work the same person, a follow-up set by the other business is that business's promise, not this one's.
- The rule came from a suggestion through Suggest a feature: make the next follow-up date mandatory, so no lead quietly disappears.