Lead Qualification
New leads need to be qualified. This is when the sales organization evaluates whether the lead represents a good opportunity to make a sale. In some organizations, an inside sales team performs this qualification. This team is often responsible only for determining each lead's willingness and ability to purchase. This team may also determine whether your products or services are applicable to the needs of the lead's company. Then, each qualified lead is assigned to a sales representative or team, who continues the sales process.
You can use the fields on the Qualification subtab on a lead record to aid in this process. These fields include Sales Readiness, Buying Time Frame, and Buying Reason. You can edit these fields inline and through mass update. For information about these editing options, see Using Inline Editing and Performing a Mass Update on Customer Statuses.
Administrators can configure these fields at Setup > Sales > Setup Tasks > CRM Lists > New.