My partner and I are paralyzed by indecision. We make a software product, and offer both a free version and a paid version. The goal is to get them hooked on the free version, then sell them the paid one.
I argue that anyone who uses the free version is a Lead. Per the docs, a lead is someone who expressed interest, but you don’t know if they have a budget, etc.
She believes that these free users are opportunities. An Opportunity is a qualified Sales prospect with a likely chance that they will be able to do business with your company. You have established that they have buying power and have entered into the buying cycle. This module allows you to track your Opportunities throughout the Sales Pipeline until the deal is 'Closed Lost or 'Closed Won
Neither of us has experience building out a CRM, and from everything we’ve read we need to get this right from the start.
So what do you think - should we enter these as leads or opportunities?
*Not from a sales background
Hi @GrumbleShark, (Love the name 
, Just a slightly annoyed shark 
)
I would assume that leads would be your best option. When the user downloads the free software a lead would be added to the system (You could use the built in-person form integrated into your sales site) and would lay dormant until the user makes contact and in some ways shows “actual interest”, for example; Calls in, submit a contact me, etc…
At this point, you would convert the single record lead which saved space also is now converted into an account, contact and opportunity at which point you can pursue with sales
This anyway is how I believe the CRM is best set up for out of the box
Not so much as getting it right from the start as everything can be done and redone but for your own sanity and to keep project length and cost to a minimum you should try to fully plan out your processes and goals your CRM should achieve.
Hope this helps at all and I’m sure you’re fine more help on the forums as you need it!
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Thank you for replying - that makes sense. I did have a question.
When you talk about converting the lead into an account, contact and opportunity, is that generally a button click or workflow in SuiteCRM, or would most people close out / delete the lead, then hand copy that information over to an account / contract, and opportunity? My goal would be to automate as much as possible, but if it’s normally a manual process that’s ok too.
Thanks again.
Hi @GrumbleShark,
Yes, when in leads in the action menu there is a button that allows you to turn your lead into many a different records. I do believe you could trigger this via a logic-hook if you wanted more automation tho.