Lead Status values and Lead Processes for financial services pipelines
Key Takeaway
A lead process can only offer values that already exist on the Lead Status field, so add any missing value to the field first. To give different teams different values, give each team its own lead process on its own lead record type, and enable that record type for the team's profile.
Lead Status is the picklist field on the Lead object that shows where a prospect is in the sales pipeline. A lead process controls which of those status values users can choose. In Agentforce Financial Services, you set up a standard group of statuses so users can track prospects from first contact until they become clients.
The field and the lead process
Status setup has two layers. First, each value must exist on the Lead Status field itself. Second, a lead process picks which of those values users can use. Think of the field as the master list and the lead process as a menu drawn from it.
A lead process picks from the field's values, so it can't offer a value that isn't on the field. When a value is missing, add it to the Lead Status field in Object Manager first. Then select it in the lead process.
Adding a value to the field isn't the whole job, though. The value must also move from "Available Values" to "Selected Values" in the lead process. So a design review should check both the field and the lead process.
Suppose the Lead Status field at a brokerage holds six values: the five financial services values and an older value, Cold Call. The lead process selects only the five financial services values. Users who work with that lead process see five choices when they set a lead's status. Cold Call still exists on the field, but those users can't pick it.