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Matching a Lead to an Existing Company

If you get a "Possible Company Match" message when you save a new Lead, the company may already exist in the system.

It is worth seeing if the unqualified lead you are working on corresponds to a valid company record in your system. If it does, you can link the raw lead details to the company by matching the two together. This provides you with a valuable source of information on the company you are dealing with, which may assist in the lead qualification process.

To match a lead to an existing company:

  1. Select the Add Or Find This Company button. A list of possible company matches is displayed in a new browser window.
  2. Click on the hyperlink of the company you think is likely to match. The Company Summary page is displayed in the new browser window.
  3. You can browse further company information to verify a successful match by viewing information stored in the rest of the Company tabs.
  4. If you think you are dealing with this company, click on the Select Company button.
  1. If the Lead Person you are dealing with also already exists, you can match them in the same way. Just click on the Add Or Find This Person button.

If the company exists but not the person, you can go ahead and add a new person. You can do this now or wait until later. You are not required to do this until you have fully qualified the lead and are ready to convert it to an opportunity. Remember that the unqualified lead data is separate from your core "clean" data. If the person does not yet exist in your Person records and the lead turns into a dead end, you have added a low value contact into your core company database.

If there is a potential company and person match, priority is given to company. When you select the company to match it, the person is automatically matched to an existing person in that company. You can keep the default matched person, or you can add the unmatched person (whose details are on the Lead Contact Details) to CRM and then match them to the lead instead.

If the lead turns into a potential sale (opportunity), you are required to incorporate the Lead Company and Person into the main Company and People records. For more information, please refer to Converting a Lead to an Opportunity.

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See Also:

Creating a New Lead

Searching for an Existing Lead

Converting a Lead to an Opportunity