Sometimes your sales move faster than your CRM can keep up with: a customer calls, you prepare a quote over the phone, and that same afternoon it is already an order with an invoice. Fine, of course — but there is nothing in CRM at all. If you want to follow up with that customer in six months for a repeat order, there is no lead to attach to. Fortunately, in Odoo you can also create a lead from a sales order afterwards, and automate the whole process if you wish.
Creating a lead from an order afterwards
This takes three clicks:
- Go to Sales → Orders and open the sales order in question.
- Click the Actions dropdown (the gear icon) → Create Lead.
- Odoo creates a new lead in CRM, filled with the customer and product information from this order.
Then check the pipeline stage, assign a salesperson and give the lead a recognisable tag. A concrete example: an installation company sells a central heating boiler on order in December, without any prior sales process. Afterwards, create a lead "offer maintenance contract" with a scheduled activity in six months' time — and the follow-up takes care of itself.
Automatically with an Automation Rule
Want this to happen automatically for every new customer? Activate developer mode and go to Settings → Technical → Automation Rules. Create a rule that triggers On Creation of the Contact (res.partner) model, with a filter on new contacts entered via Sales. As the action, choose Create Record: a CRM lead with the "via-sales" tag. Do mind your filter — without proper conditions, every new supplier will soon get a lead in your pipeline too, and nobody will be happy about that.
The other way round: a quote from a lead
The link also works the proper way round. Open a lead in CRM and click New Quotation. The lead is linked to the quote, and as soon as the quote is confirmed Odoo automatically sets the lead to "won". That way your expected revenue in the pipeline keeps matching what is actually sold.
A final practical tip
In CRM, create a saved filter on the "via-sales" tag and run through that list weekly. That way you see at a glance which customers came in without a prior sales process and still deserve proper follow-up. Need help setting up CRM and Sales in Odoo? Contact DAADit Group — we are happy to think along with you.
Questions about your Odoo implementation? Start the free Business Scan.
Start the Business Scan →Sales sometimes moves faster than your CRM can keep up: a customer calls, you quote over the phone, and by that afternoon it is already an order with an invoice. Great, of course — but your CRM is empty. When you want to follow up in six months for a repeat order, there is no lead to build on. Fortunately, Odoo lets you create a lead from a sales order after the fact, and even automate the whole thing.
Creating a lead after the fact
Three clicks and you are done:
- Go to Sales → Orders and open the sales order.
- Click the Actions dropdown (the gear icon) → Create Lead.
- Odoo creates a new lead in CRM, pre-filled with the customer and product information from the order.
Afterwards, quickly check the pipeline stage, assign a salesperson, and add a recognisable tag. A concrete example: an installation company sells a central heating boiler on a direct order, with no sales process beforehand. Create a lead "offer maintenance contract" with a planned activity six months out — and the follow-up takes care of itself.
Automatically, with an Automation Rule
Want this to happen for every new customer? Enable developer mode and go to Settings → Technical → Automation Rules. Create a rule that triggers On Creation of the Contact (res.partner) model, filtered to new contacts entered via Sales. As the action, choose Create Record: a CRM lead with the tag "via-sales". Do mind your filter — without proper conditions, every new supplier will get a lead in your pipeline too, and nobody enjoys cleaning that up.
The other way around: a quote from a lead
The link also works in the tidy direction. Open a lead in CRM and click New Quotation. The lead is linked to the quote, and once the quote is confirmed, Odoo automatically marks the lead as "won". That way, the expected revenue in your pipeline keeps matching what is actually being sold.
A practical tip to finish
Create a saved filter in CRM on the "via-sales" tag and run through that list once a week. You will see at a glance which customers came in without a sales process and still deserve proper follow-up. Need help setting up CRM and Sales in Odoo? Contact DAADit Group — we are happy to think along.
Questions about your Odoo implementation? Take the free Business Scan.
Start the Business Scan →