A Lead Process in Salesforce is a metadata definition that controls which Status picklist values are available for a Lead. It’s the Lead-side equivalent of the Sales Process (for Opportunity stages) and the Support Process (for Case status). Different Record Types can use different Lead Processes — giving you per-business-unit or per-channel status workflows.
Why Lead Processes exist
The Lead Status field is a single picklist with all possible values. But different teams in the same org may need different qualification workflows:
- Inside Sales might use: New → Working → Qualified → Disqualified
- Field Sales might use: New → Contacted → Demo Scheduled → SQL → Disqualified
- Trade Show Leads might use: New → Followed Up → Qualified / Nurture / Junk
You can’t show different picklist values per team using only Record Types on a regular picklist. Lead Process is the abstraction that connects Record Type → Status-value-set.
The pieces
The Lead Process model has these moving parts:
- The
Statuspicklist on Lead — the master list of all possible values (defined in Object Manager → Lead → Fields → Status). - One or more Lead Processes — each is a named subset of the master Status values, defined in Setup → Lead Processes.
- Lead Record Types — each Record Type references one Lead Process.
- Profiles / Permission Sets — assign Record Types to users.
When a user creates a Lead, the Record Type they pick determines which Lead Process applies, which determines which Status values appear in the picklist.
Step-by-step setup
1. Add Status values to the master picklist
Object Manager → Lead → Fields & Relationships → Status → New. Add every value any team might use (active or inactive).
2. Create a Lead Process
Setup → Lead Processes → New Lead Process. Give it a name. Select which Status values are part of this process. Save.
3. Create a Record Type that uses the Process
Object Manager → Lead → Record Types → New. Pick the Lead Process. Configure page layout assignments and Status filtering. Save.
4. Assign the Record Type to profiles
Per profile, decide which Record Types are available. Users without access to a Record Type can’t create Leads of that flavor.
What happens at runtime
When a user creates a new Lead:
- If only one Record Type is available, it’s auto-applied and the Lead Process kicks in immediately.
- If multiple are available, the user picks one — at that point the Status picklist becomes filtered by the chosen Process.
- Existing Leads can change Record Type if the user has permission — the Status picklist re-filters live.
Common interview gotcha
Q: “What if a value is in the master picklist but not in any Lead Process?”
A: Then no user can pick it in the UI for a normal create — the picklist won’t show it. But existing records can already have it (from data load, API, or before the value was removed from the Process). Reports still show those records with that status. To clean up, write a flow or report and reassign.
Q: “What if I add a Status value to the master picklist after creating a Lead Process?”
A: It must be added explicitly to the Lead Process — adding to the master picklist alone doesn’t add it to existing Processes. Same gotcha as Sales/Support Processes.
How it relates to Record Types
| Concept | Role |
|---|---|
| Lead Process | Defines a filtered subset of Status picklist values |
| Record Type | Determines which Lead Process applies + which page layout |
| Profile | Determines which Record Types the user can use |
This three-tier chain (Profile → Record Type → Lead Process → Status values) is the standard pattern for any process-driven picklist. It mirrors how Sales Process drives Opportunity Stages and Support Process drives Case Status.
Default Status
Each Lead Process must designate a default Status — that’s what gets pre-populated when a new Lead is created with that Record Type. Choose carefully: usually “New” or “Unworked.”
Reporting against Lead Process
There’s no field on the Lead called “Lead Process” you can report on. But you can report on Record Type (which maps 1:1 to a Lead Process), and indirectly that gives you process-level analysis.
Bottom line
A Lead Process is the rule that says “this Record Type’s Status picklist contains these specific values.” Use it to give different teams or channels their own qualification workflows on the same Lead object.
Verified against: Salesforce Help — Create Lead Processes. Last reviewed 2026-05-17.