This answer pertains mainly to Max 9 and 9.5 as those are all that I am familiar with.
I will explain our workflow with respect to leads.
When you open up a contact (i.e. double click on it) you will see information about the selected contact. In the bottom right corner is "Individual details". If you click on "Category" you can set the “Category” as a “Lead”. Near the bottom of that grouping is an option called "Sales Lead" - this is a simple “yes” or “no”. When you click yes, a * appears next to their name in all lists in Max.
At first it seemed odd to me to have two places to designate lead status. Its actually quite useful. Here is how we use it:
1. I meet someone at a trade show or whatever. I get their business card and enter it into Maximzer and set the category to Lead. He instructs me to call him however in 6 months time, therefore he is not a lead I want on my “radar” immediately, but he is a lead none the less. I schedule a call 6 months down the road. Six months later, I call him,and he is interested, so I set the “Sales Lead” to “yes”,and therefore he shows up with a * beside his name in the list view. I can search for my leads by clicking on the “View” -> “Leads” -> “My Leads” from the “Address book” view.
2.I have an existing customer who I have done business with for some time, therefore the “Category” section is set to “Customer”. He is interested in some further product or service, so I set the “Sales lead” to “yes”, and therefore he will now show up on my “Lead” radar. That is to say he will show up when I click on the “View” -> “Leads” -> “My Leads” from the “Address book” view. This is where the dual lead tagging comes in very handy.
To summarize, I set an unqualified lead to the Category “Lead”, but I leave the “Sales Lead” as “no”. When someone is qualified as a lead that requires my attention, I then keep the “Category” set to “Lead”, but I now change the “Sales lead” to “yes”.
I hope this helps.
Ask if I have made this unclear in any way...In spite of my clumsy explanation, it really is quite simple!
Greg
