Lead
An unqualified prospect record in Dynamics 365 Sales — typically created from inbound inquiries, before becoming a Contact and Opportunity.
A lead in Dynamics 365 Sales (and the wider CRM-side Dynamics 365 stack) represents a prospect who has shown interest but hasn't yet been qualified as a real sales opportunity. Leads come from inbound channels — website forms, marketing campaigns, events, purchased lists, business cards, partner referrals — and live in a separate table from Contacts and Accounts deliberately, so unqualified noise doesn't pollute the CRM's relationship records. A lead has minimal mandatory fields (name, contact info, company, source); through qualification, the lead converts to a Contact (and optionally an Account) plus an Opportunity. Disqualified leads are retained for audit and pattern analysis. Some organisations skip leads entirely and qualify directly on Contacts; the choice is per business process.