---
title: "How does the lead pipeline work"
category: leads
slug: how-does-the-lead-pipeline-work
canonical_url: https://lemaudit.com/help/leads/how-does-the-lead-pipeline-work
last_reviewed: 2026-05-04
source: LemAudit Help Center
---
# How does the lead pipeline work?

Open **Leads** in the sidebar. Every captured lead lives in 1 of 4 stages: New, Contacted, Qualified, Converted. You move a lead between stages from its detail page; the Dashboard funnel updates within 30 seconds.

## What the pipeline is

The pipeline is a simple 4-column kanban that mirrors how an agency actually works a list: capture, reach out, get a reply, close. Each stage exists because a different next-action lives there. New = audit and send mail. Contacted = wait or follow up. Qualified = book a call. Converted = stop selling, start delivering.

Think of it like a 4-bucket inbox. Email goes from Inbox to Replied to Booked to Done.

## How LemAudit tracks stage moves

Stage lives in the leads.stage column. Every move writes a row into lead_events with the timestamp and the user who made the change. The [dashboard funnel chart](/help/getting-started/what-does-the-dashboard-show) groups by current stage; the [conversion funnel analytics](/help/leads/how-do-i-identify-the-best-leads) reads the events table to show drop-off rates between stages over time.

The [outreach email generator](/help/outreach/how-do-ai-outreach-emails-work) reads stage when picking which template variant to use, so a Qualified lead gets a different draft than a New one.

## Worked example

An agency captured 40 leads in week 1: 40 New. By Friday they had emailed 28, moving them to Contacted. 6 replied, moving to Qualified. 2 booked calls and signed, moving to Converted. The funnel chart on the Dashboard read 12 / 22 / 4 / 2. The 22% New→Contacted gap told them their bottleneck was outreach speed, not reply rate.

## When this isn't right

The pipeline is a sales tool, not a project tracker. Once a lead is Converted, manage delivery in your project management app of choice (Notion, ClickUp, Asana). For complex multi-step deals (legal, RFPs), a dedicated CRM like HubSpot maps better to your stages — pipe LemAudit leads in via the [webhook integration](/help/integrations/how-do-webhook-notifications-work).

*Category: Leads & Pipeline*

## Related
- [How do I get my first lead](https://lemaudit.com/help/getting-started/how-do-i-get-my-first-lead)
- [How do I identify the best leads](https://lemaudit.com/help/leads/how-do-i-identify-the-best-leads)
- [How do AI outreach emails work](https://lemaudit.com/help/outreach/how-do-ai-outreach-emails-work)

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For the interactive version visit https://lemaudit.com/help/leads/how-does-the-lead-pipeline-work