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KrawlsKrawls 

Custom Object for Leads that would also transfer (convert) with Contacts/Accounts

Hello-

Is there a way to create a custom object that would show up on the leads tab, and then when the lead is converted the information would transfer over to the Account/Contact record?

We track a substantial amount of marketing information pertained to each lead/contact account ranging from resource material, referal program, book purchases etc.  We currently are tracking this stuff in Activity/History, but this information is so specific and crticial to our organization that I would like to pull it out of the mass of information tracked in Activity/History and have a specific area where marketing activies are tracked.  My thought was to create a custom object for this type of material but have noticed that a related list custom object is not available in the Lead Page Format View.

If this isnt possible, does anyone have any suggestions for tracking this type of information some where else other than Acitivy History?

Thanks,
JvalleeJvallee
I need to do the exact same thing, have you found a sollution or a workaround?
KrawlsKrawls

 Hey -

 

No i havent.  no one responded. I am sorry.  If I figure out how to do it or another solution, i will let you know. 
aalbertaalbert

Could you add custom fields to the Leads object to track this additional information per Lead? Then you can easily map those new custom fields to the proper Account or Contact fields. Would that work?

 
JvalleeJvallee
That's pobably what I will need to do, but this limits us to only on instance of the data.  If it could be done with related lists, we could include how ever many children we wanted.
KrawlsKrawls
I have done that on some of the information, it just has made the contact record complicated.  Also if it is something that may happen more than one time, it is hard to track that by a field. I feel it would be better if it was in the related list, but it doesnt move over on the contact view.  It does however does stay alive under that specifc tab, but it is not listed underneath the contact.
aalbertaalbert

Gotcha. If you are using related lists to store this additional information, then you will need to use Visualforce/Apex to customize the Convert lead process and you can then move that data over and re-associate it to the Account/Contact objects. 

 

Here is a great blog posting on invoking Apex from a custom button: http://blog.sforce.com/sforce/2009/01/calling-apex-code-from-a-custom-button-using-a-visualforce-page.html

 

Here is documentation on the convertLead method in Apex: http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/apexcode/index_Left.htm#StartTopic=Content/apex_methods_system_database.htm

 

I hope this helps. 

KrawlsKrawls
Thanks - code goes over my head. But thank you for the suggestion :)
KrawlsKrawls
Hey! Were you ever able to figure anything out with the blog that was suggested? I reviewed it, but it was so technical with code, I couldnt understand what to do.
gamer632gamer632

I will check out the link you provided as well. However, the workaround I've been using (as we have this Lead Related list but it doesn't populate a lot of data) is monthly I have an exceptions dashboard and check it from time to time. It shows '(Related list name) that have Leads info but no Contact Info' and 'Lead converted equals TRUE'  So if anyone converts the lead I at least know where to find it and move it into the Contact.

 

This isn't scalable obviously, but can at least move the data until we figure out the coding part.
DevNVDevNV

Hi there. 

 

I've done this before with a trigger.  If you have an object with a lookup field to Leads (say Marketing Material) then also add a lookup to the Contact object.  Create a trigger on the Lead object (after update) and check to see if the Lead was just converted.  If it was, cycle through any Marketing Material records linked to that Lead and update the Contact lookup field with the Lead's new Converted Contact Id.  This should move the Marketing Material records from Lead over to Contact during the Conversion.  You could do this same thing if your custom object needs to transfer to an Account or Opportunity, although you can't be guaranteed that an Opportunity is created each time a Lead is converted.

 

Hope that helps,

Niki

Vankerk Solutions
ChadMeyerChadMeyer

This free solution may help:

 

http://sites.force.com/appexchange/listingDetail?listingId=a0N30000003GuisEAC