Prospects (Potential Customers)
A Prospect is the record of a company or person you don't do business with yet, but that you're evaluating as a future customer. It uses the same card as a Customer (name, phone, email, tax ID, addresses, contacts), but without the credit and pricing fields that only make sense once you actually invoice them. Once you decide to do business with them, you convert them into a Customer with one click, without losing any of their history.
What is it and what is it for?
Before you bill anyone, you usually go through an outreach stage: you get their name, their phone or email, maybe a contact inside the company. Registering that information as a Prospect lets you start following up (activities, emails, opportunities) without having to fill in fields that don't apply yet, such as their credit limit, discount or payment terms.
Internally, a Prospect is the very same table and record as a Customer; it just carries a "Prospect" flag. That's why converting it into a Customer doesn't create a new record or lose its code, contacts, addresses or activities: the flag is simply removed and it becomes available to bill.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | The Prospect list is served from the same Customers screen, in "Prospects" mode: the same filters and customizable columns, but showing only the records flagged as Prospect. The only difference is the name search, which here searches prospects instead of customers. |
| Create / Edit | The record's form, with the same fields as a Customer except for credit and pricing, which don't apply here yet. Includes address, subsidiary and file-attachment tabs. |
| Details | The record in read-only mode, with its contacts, addresses, subsidiaries, a location map (if your plan includes Maps) and the button to convert it into a Customer. |
| Dashboard | A summary view with the contact data, its open Opportunities with their probability and projection, and direct links to its quotes and sales orders. |
| Grid Inline Editing | An alternate grid (/Prospects/InlineEditing) to fix Code, Phone, Email, Tax ID and Customer Class directly on the list, row by row, without opening each record. |
How to create a prospect step by step
- Click New from the Customers list in Prospects mode, or go straight to /Prospects/Create. You need the "add" level of the "Prospects" permission.
- Enter the Name of the company or person (it's the only field required to save), and optionally its Phone, Email and Tax ID.
- Add addresses (warehouses, offices, delivery points) on the Addresses section, with latitude and longitude if you want to see them on the map.
- If your company has subsidiaries enabled, indicate which subsidiaries this prospect belongs to.
- Attach related files (proposals, external quotes, draft contracts) on the Files section, respecting your plan's limit.
- Save. If automatic numbering for Customers and Vendors is turned on, the system assigns a Code automatically.
AI autofill: if your company has the SmartPaste feature enabled, you can paste loose text (for example, an email signature or the information from a business card), or a copied image (a screenshot or a photo of the card) whose text is read automatically, and let AI automatically distribute the data into the form's fields. Before anything is written, a window opens with the recognized fields: there you can correct any value, uncheck the ones you do not want and then click Place in the form, or cancel to leave the screen untouched. If your browser does not allow reading the clipboard, you will be asked to paste the text by hand with Ctrl+V and the rest of the process stays the same.
Contacts, activities and opportunities
From the Details record or from the Dashboard you can:
- Add a quick contact (first name, last name, position, email and phone) with the quick-add button, without leaving the screen.
- Create an Opportunity directly linked to the prospect, to follow up on a possible sale before a formal quote exists.
- Review its open Opportunities on the Dashboard, with their stage, currency, estimated amount, probability, projection and estimated closing date.
- Review its already-generated Quotes and Sales Orders from the related-records links.
Converting a prospect into a customer
Once you're going to do business with them, open their Details record and click Convert to Customer. The system simply removes the Prospect flag; the record, its code, contacts, addresses and activities stay unchanged, and from that point on you can bill them normally.
If your country uses fiscal documents (for example, the NCF in the Dominican Republic) and that feature is enabled for your company, you must first assign a Sales Fiscal Sequence Type to the record; if it doesn't have one, the conversion is blocked with a warning.
Key fields
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the prospect; it's the only field required to save. |
| Code | Assigned automatically if Customer and Vendor numbering is turned on; otherwise you type it yourself. |
| Phone / Email / Tax ID | Basic contact data; if another record already has the same Tax ID, the system warns you but still lets you save. |
| Customer Class | Classifies the prospect the same way as a Customer, useful for filtering it later in reports and promotions. |
| Sales Rep | Who is following up on this prospect. |
| Allow Access to AdmCloud | If enabled for one of the prospect's contacts, that contact needs a valid email to access the Customer Portal. |
| Addresses | The prospect's locations, each with its own contact, city, country and coordinates for the map. |
| Subsidiaries | If your company has subsidiaries enabled, which ones this prospect belongs to. |
| Files | Documents attached to the prospect, up to the maximum allowed by your plan. |
| Is Vendor | Flags this same record as also being a Vendor; you can only turn it on if you have the "add" level of the "Vendors" permission, otherwise the field appears locked. |
You won't see Credit Limit, Discount or Payment Terms fields: those only become available once the record is converted into a Customer.
Validations when saving
- Name is required. Without it, the system won't let you save the record.
- If you enable "Allow Access to AdmCloud" on a contact, that contact needs an Email.
- The Tax ID isn't unique: if another record already has the same value, the system shows you a warning with its name, but still lets you save.
- The "Is Vendor" field is locked if you don't have the "add" level of the "Vendors" permission.
- An address's coordinates (latitude and longitude) must fall within a valid geographic range if you enter them.
Availability and permissions
- This feature requires the Premium Plus CRM plan, or the Enterprise plan with the CRM module active.
- Access is controlled with the "Prospects" permission of your user group, with separate levels to browse, add, edit and delete.
- Converting a prospect into a Customer additionally requires the "edit" level of the "Customers" permission.
- Flagging a prospect as also being a Vendor requires the "add" level of the "Vendors" permission.
Tips and common mistakes
Prospect or Lead? They're not the same thing. A Prospect is the record of a company or person (like a Customer's card) that hasn't bought from you yet. A Lead is an entry in your sales funnel tied to a possible deal, with its own stage inside the pipeline. Check the Leads & Opportunities page for that sales follow-up.
Don't duplicate the record when you win the deal. Never create a new Customer for a prospect you already had registered; convert it with the Convert to Customer button to keep its contact, activity and opportunity history.
If your company bills with fiscal documents, assign the Sales Fiscal Sequence Type before trying to convert the prospect into a Customer; otherwise the conversion stops with an error message.