Linking Leads to Contacts: Overview of Methods
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Using the group of methods crm.lead.contact.*, you can establish, retrieve, or remove the connection between contacts and leads. A lead retains a list of linked contacts, and the primary contact from that list is additionally written to the lead field CONTACT_ID.
Quick navigation: all methods
User documentation: The "Client" field in the CRM detail form
How to Link a Lead to Contacts
- Find the required contacts with the crm.contact.list method and note their identifiers.
- Attach a single contact with the crm.lead.contact.add method, or the whole list at once with the crm.lead.contact.items.set method.
- Check the result with the crm.lead.contact.items.get method — it returns the connections with their sort order and the primary connection indicator.
- Detach an unnecessary contact with the crm.lead.contact.delete method, or clear the entire list with the crm.lead.contact.items.delete method.
Connection Fields
The connection between a lead and a contact is a separate record with its own set of fields. Their composition is returned by the crm.lead.contact.fields method.
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Field |
Description |
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Contact identifier. A required field of the connection |
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Position of the contact in the list. The lower the value, the higher the contact appears in the lead detail form |
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Primary connection indicator, |
A connection becomes primary if you pass IS_PRIMARY: Y, or if the lead does not yet have a primary contact.
Connections and the Repeat Lead Indicator
A repeat lead is a request from a client who is already in the company's customer database. Repeat leads have hidden contact information fields: "Phone", "Email", "Address", "Details". A repeat lead can only be converted into a deal. When a known client makes a new request, a repeat lead will automatically be created, linked to the client’s detail form, if repeat sales mode is enabled in CRM.
Warning
The crm.lead.contact.* methods do not change the repeat lead indicator IS_RETURN_CUSTOMER. They fill in the lead field CONTACT_ID, but the lead itself remains a simple one.
The IS_RETURN_CUSTOMER indicator is recalculated only when the lead itself is saved. To make a lead a repeat one, pass the contact through the lead methods:
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Call |
List of Linked Contacts |
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Updated |
Not changed |
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crm.lead.add, crm.lead.update with the |
Updated |
Set to |
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crm.item.update with |
Updated |
Set to |
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Cleared |
Not changed |
IS_RETURN_CUSTOMER cannot be passed directly: the system recalculates the value from the CONTACT_ID and COMPANY_ID fields.
User Documentation
Benefits of Linking Leads and Contacts
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The lead detail form displays information about linked contacts: name, phone number, email, position.
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You can call or send an email directly from the lead detail form without navigating to the contact detail form.
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Communication with the client: emails, calls, and chats from open channels will be stored in both the contact detail form and the lead detail form. Communications are not attached to closed leads.
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CoPilot in CRM processes client calls from the lead detail form: it transcribes recordings, summarizes conversations, and fills in fields in the CRM detail form.
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When generating documents from a template, you can use symbolic codes that automatically insert data from linked contacts into the document.
User Documentation
Overview of Methods
Scope:
crmWho can perform the method: any user
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Method |
Description |
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Adds a contact link to the specified lead |
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Removes a contact link from the specified lead |
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Retrieves a list of contacts linked to the lead |
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Attaches a list of contacts to the specified lead |
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Removes a list of contacts from the lead |
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Retrieves the description of fields for the lead-contact link used by the methods in the |