Not every enquiry is a sales opportunity. If you want to qualify leads, you decide early and traceably which prospects deserve your time and which are fine with a friendly standard reply. That protects you from two mistakes: good enquiries get left lying because the mailbox is full, and you invest hours in quotes that never lead to an order. This guide shows what a lead is, which questions you use to check it, how a simple points system works and which legal points to bear in mind when scoring and writing to leads.
What a lead is – and what it is not
A lead is a prospect for whom it is still open whether a sales opportunity will result. It comes via the contact form, by email, by telephone, through a referral or from a trade fair. The lead is the first stage before the contact and before the deal (the sales opportunity with a value, stage and closing date). This separation is useful: a lot may sit in the lead inbox, but in the pipeline only what you are really working on. Leads and contacts are separate lists: the contact base is your foundation, the lead inbox the queue in front of it.
Qualification: four questions
A widespread framework in practice asks about four things. It is a working aid, not a standard:
- Need: what problem does the person want to solve, and does our offering fit?
- Means: is there a budget, or at least an order of magnitude?
- Decision: is the person speaking for themselves, or does someone else decide? Who has to sign?
- Timing: by when should the solution be in place?
You do not have to answer all four at the first contact. A short follow-up question or a five-minute call usually clarifies enough. What matters more is that the result is recorded: qualified or not, with one sentence of reasoning. That way a colleague still understands after a month why the case went as it did.
The decision “does not fit” also deserves a good ending. Close the lead with a reason (for example “outside our area” or “no need”) and reply politely. A clear, polite refusal saves both sides waiting time.
A simple points system
A points system (scoring) ranks incoming leads by likelihood. It makes sense when many enquiries arrive and you know what distinguishes good from less good ones. Keep the rules simple and traceable:
- Choose a few characteristics that are already known on arrival: origin, estimated value, whether a telephone number was given, whether the enquiry comes from a free email address.
- Award positive and negative points. A very small order value may cost points.
- Set thresholds: from how many points do you call at once, when do you check, when do you reply with a standard email?
- Review the rules against reality after a few months. Did leads with high scores actually turn into orders? If not, the points are wrong.
A score is an aid for the order of work, not a judgement of the person. A human being should still decide.
Law: data, scoring and advertising
Sales is not a law-free zone. Three points are particularly important.
Personal data. The Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG) protects information about natural persons (Art. 5 lit. a). A lead with name, email and telephone number is therefore covered. The data may be obtained only for a specific and recognisable purpose and processed only in a way compatible with that purpose (Art. 6, para. 3 DSG). A request for a quote allows you to answer it, not automatically to send newsletters. If you did not obtain addresses from the person themselves, for example from research, you must inform them of the identity, the purpose and the categories of data processed, at the latest one month after receipt (Art. 19, paras. 1, 2, 3 and 5 DSG). The law provides exceptions, for example where providing the information would require disproportionate effort (Art. 20, para. 2 lit. b DSG).
Scoring. A points system that evaluates personal data automatically can count as profiling: the law means by this any automated processing of personal data that evaluates personal aspects of a person, such as interests, behaviour or economic situation (Art. 5 lit. f DSG). High-risk profiling exists where linking data allows an assessment of essential aspects of a person’s personality (Art. 5 lit. g DSG); if consent is required for it, it must be express (Art. 6, para. 7 lit. b DSG). For rules based on origin, order size or details about the company, this is not obvious; that is an assessment, not advice on an individual case. Do not score personal characteristics that have nothing to do with the business. The duty to inform in the case of an automated individual decision (Art. 21 DSG) concerns decisions made exclusively by automated means that have a legal consequence for the person or significantly affect them. If a person decides in the end whether to qualify or close, that is not the case.
Advertising. An enquiry is not consent to advertising. Mass advertising sent by telecommunications (for example by email) in principle requires prior consent, correct identification of the sender and a reference to a simple, free way of refusing (Art. 3, para. 1 lit. o UWG). The exception for existing customers requires that the contact details were obtained in the sale of goods or services and that the option of refusing was pointed out at that time; it applies only to advertising for your own similar goods or services (Art. 3, para. 1 lit. o UWG). The FDPIC gives a sale or a service provided as the condition. A mere enquiry therefore does not meet it. For advertising calls, Art. 3, para. 1 lit. u and v UWG also apply. The note in the telephone directory that someone does not wish to receive advertising from persons with whom they have no business relationship (the asterisk entry) must be respected; anyone not listed in the directory at all is protected in the same way (lit. u); advertising calls require a displayed number that is entered in the telephone directory and that you may use (lit. v).
Practical example: Muster Küchenbau AG
Muster Küchenbau AG (fictitious) receives five enquiries in one week. It has set the following example rules. The points are freely chosen:
| Rule | Points |
|---|---|
| Origin “referral” | +30 |
| Origin “trade fair” | +20 |
| Origin “website” | +10 |
| Estimated value over CHF 20’000 | +20 |
| Estimated value under CHF 5’000 | −10 |
| Telephone number given | +10 |
| Free email address | −10 |
Thresholds: from 40 points, call back on the next working day; 20 to 39 points, check; below that, standard reply.
| Lead | Origin | Value (CHF) | Telephone | Email address | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | Referral | 38’000 | yes | Company | 30 + 20 + 10 = 60 |
| B | Website | 12’000 | yes | Company | 10 + 0 + 10 = 20 |
| C | Website | 3’500 | no | free | 10 − 10 − 10 = −10 |
| D | Trade fair | 24’000 | no | Company | 20 + 20 = 40 |
| E | Referral | 4’800 | yes | Company | 30 − 10 + 10 = 30 |
The total of all points is 140. A and D are called on the next working day. B and E are checked: the saleswoman clarifies the need by calling back. C receives a friendly standard reply with a price range and is closed with the reason “budget”. After a quarter, the company checks whether referrals really led to orders more often than trade fair contacts. If not, it adjusts the points.
From lead to sales opportunity
Qualified leads become a contact and a deal. All earlier notes, attachments and the history should go with them, so that nobody has to retell the story. Check beforehand whether the person or company already exists as a contact, otherwise a duplicate arises. Plan the next step at once, for example an appointment or the quote. How a quote should be structured is explained in the guide Write a quote.
Checklist
- Four qualification questions defined (need, means, decision, timing)
- Points rules with a few business-related characteristics and with thresholds
- Every qualification or refusal recorded with a reason
- Responsibility for new leads clear (who, by when)
- Duplicates checked before converting
- Duty to inform met for data not collected directly (Art. 19 DSG)
- Enquiry not treated as consent to advertising (Art. 3, para. 1 lit. o UWG)
- Points rules compared with reality after a few months
How KMU | base helps
In Sales | base, enquiries land in the lead inbox and are scored there before they become a contact and a deal.
1. Lead inbox. In the Sales menu, open Leads. The list is sorted by score; you see status, owner, team, score and receipt, and filter by status, owner and team (“Lead inbox with scoring”). You record new leads with “New lead”. As soon as you type an email or company, Sales warns if the lead or contact already exists, with a link to open it (“Duplicate warning on entry”).
2. Score and rules. The score is the sum of the scoring rules that apply, each rule listed individually; points can also be negative. You set the rules under “Teams and rules”: assignment rules distribute new leads to a person, to a team in rotation or to the team lead; scoring rules award points by fields such as origin, value, telephone or email domain (“Teams, assignment rules, scoring rules”).
3. Steps on the lead. On the lead you see the steps New, In review, Qualified and Converted, with a main button for the next step. You close unsuitable enquiries with a reason; the reason is mandatory (“Lead with step bar”). You record notes, attachments and planned steps such as a call-back or appointment on the lead.
4. Convert. “Convert lead to contact and deal” creates the contact and the sales opportunity in one step. Existing contacts are linked, missing ones created, and the history goes to the deal. In the deal, under Details, the origin “From lead” leads to the original enquiry.
5. Pre-qualify companies. For contacts, you mark the potential with A, B or C and a reason (“Pre-qualification A/B/C”), in the contact under the More tab. The rule is: A only with a buying signal and at least a medium fit; without a signal, B is the upper limit for a high fit, otherwise C. In the contact list, you filter by potential.
Two limits: Sales receives enquiries from your website via a signed interface (“Lead intake from web forms and external systems”). You find the key and the address in the settings; there is no ready-made form, and whoever looks after your website sets up the handover. Sales | base does not currently offer hosted forms or landing pages. And the score does not replace your judgement: call before you reject a lead merely because of its score.
The details of operation are in the Sales | base guide. If you would like to try it yourself, take a look at the Demo or open a test account. You will find the current terms under Pricing; if you have questions, we will help you via the contact page.
Sources
- Federal Act on Data Protection (DSG, SR 235.1), Art. 5 lit. a, f and g, Art. 6, paras. 3 and 7, Art. 19, paras. 1–3 and 5, Art. 20, para. 2 lit. b, Art. 21, para. 1, as at 7 July 2025: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UWG, SR 241), Art. 3, para. 1 lit. o, u and v, as at 1 January 2025: fedlex.admin.ch (German original), accessed on 27.10.2026.
- FDPIC: Advertising & marketing (page without a date), accessed on 27.10.2026.
This guide does not replace legal or tax advice. Information as at 27.10.2026.