---
sidebar_label: Track a Lead
sidebar_position: 3
description: Keep prospects and active buyers who are not under contract yet as contacts with the Lead type, without creating a deal.
---

<!-- Canonical: https://help.docjacket.com/docs/contacts/track-a-lead-before-theres-a-contract -->
<!-- Source: docs/contacts/track-a-lead-before-theres-a-contract.md -->

# Track a lead before there's a contract

Use this page when you want a spot to enter leads even if you don't have a contract yet, or to add active buyers who are not yet under contract.

Keep these people as **contacts** with the **Lead** contact type. Do not create a deal in a lead status such as **New Lead** just to hold them. Every deal uses one of your plan's deal slots (on the Free plan, deals count toward a lifetime limit) and triggers deal automations. A contact does neither.

## Add a lead

1. Open **Contacts** and click **Leads** (next to **All** and **Past clients**).
2. Click **New Lead**. The form opens titled **New Lead**, with **Contact Type** already set to **Lead**.
3. Enter the name, email, phone, and anything else you know.
4. Save the contact.

You can also click **New Contact** from any Contacts view and set **Contact Type** to **Lead** yourself.

**Lead** is one of the contact types every organization starts with. You can add tags and notes on the same form, for example a tag for the lead source or "pre-approved buyer".

Leads also arrive on their own from some places: Follow Up Boss contacts whose stage is Lead come in with the Lead type, a CSV import can map a column to it, and a visitor who fills in a Front Door form with an email becomes a contact with the Lead type. See [Leads and CTAs](../front-door/leads-and-ctas.md).

## Find your leads

On the **Contacts** page, click **Leads** (next to **All** and **Past clients**). The list shows only contacts with the Lead type, and you can combine it with search, tags, and **Active only**. You can bookmark this view: its address ends in `?view=leads`. If your organization has turned off the Lead contact type, the **Leads** view doesn't appear.

## When there's a contract

When a lead goes under contract, create the deal then and add the lead's contact to it. Change the contact's type if it no longer fits Lead (for example, to a buyer or seller client type). See [Managing contacts](./managing-contacts.mdx) for editing a contact.