Losing $2.79M Pipeline? Use Odoo 18's 6 Lead Generation Methods

Sales pipeline empty. Zero leads this month. Sales team: "Where are the prospects?" Marketing: "We ran Facebook ads!" Results: 847 clicks, 0 leads captured. Why? No contact form on landing page. Visitors land, read, leave. No way to capture them. Next attempt: Email alias "info@company.com" set up. Sounds good. Reality: 127 emails weekly to that inbox. Sales checks it... never. Buried under spam. Lost 23 hot leads who emailed asking for quotes. They went to competitors. Revenue lost: $287,400 (those 23 deals).

Your lead generation disaster: Website gets 2,847 visitors monthly. Leads captured: 12 (0.4% conversion). Competitors: 8-12% conversion. Why? No live chat (visitors have questions, no one answers). Contact form broken (submits to nowhere). Email alias configured but no one monitors it. Lead enrichment disabled (got email "john@techcorp.com" but no company info, can't qualify). Sales team manually Googles every lead = 23 minutes per lead = can't scale. Lost opportunities: Website visitor from Fortune 500 company browsed 8 pages, left, never heard from again.

Cost: 2,847 monthly visitors × 8% target conversion × $12,400 average deal = $2,827,680 potential annual pipeline. Actual: 12 leads × 25% close × $12,400 = $37,200. Gap: $2,790,480 lost opportunity. Sales team wastes 23 min/lead on manual research × 12 leads × $50/hour = $2,760/month wasted time. Live chat missing: Competitors respond in 47 seconds, you respond never = lose deals. Lead mining could find 500 qualified prospects/month, you find 12 random ones instead.

Odoo 18 Lead Generation fixes this: Email-to-lead automation (every email = automatic lead created), website contact forms (capture visitors instantly), live chat integration (respond in real-time, qualify on the spot), lead mining (find 500 pre-qualified prospects monthly), lead enrichment (auto-fill company data from email address), visit-to-lead conversion (track anonymous visitors, convert to leads). Here's how to configure all 6 lead generation methods so you stop losing $2.79M in pipeline opportunity.

6 Lead Generation Methods in Odoo 18

Method 1: Email to Lead Automation

Every email to specific address automatically creates lead in CRM.

Step 1: Enable Leads in CRM

1. Go to CRM → Configuration → Settings
2. Enable Leads checkbox
3. Click Save

Step 2: Configure Email Alias

1. Go to CRM → Configuration → Sales Teams
2. Select your sales team (or create new one)
3. In team settings:
   • Email Alias: leads@ (creates leads@yourcompany.odoo.com)
   • Accept Emails From: Everyone (or Authenticated Partners for security)
   • Create Leads: ✓ Enabled
4. Click Save

Step 3: Test Email to Lead

1. Send test email to: leads@yourcompany.odoo.com
2. Subject: "Interested in your services"
3. Body: "I need quote for 500 units"
4. Go to Settings → Technical → Email → Incoming Mail Servers
5. Click Fetch Now
6. Check CRM → Leads
7. New lead created:
   • Title: Email subject
   • Contact Email: Sender's email
   • Description: Email body in notes
   • Assigned Team: The team with alias

Use Case: Support Emails as Leads

Method 2: Website Contact Forms

Visitors fill contact form → instant lead/opportunity in CRM.

Step 1: Create/Edit Contact Page

1. Go to Website → Site → Pages
2. Open Contact Us page (or create new)
3. Click Edit
4. Drag Form block onto page

Step 2: Configure Form Action

1. Click form block to select it
2. In right sidebar:
   • Form Action: Create an Opportunity
   • (If Leads enabled: Creates Lead instead)
   • Sales Team: Select team
   • Success Message: "Thanks! We'll contact you within 24 hours"
   • Or Redirect to URL: /thank-you page

Step 3: Customize Form Fields

1. Add/remove fields by clicking form
2. Common fields:
   • Name: Text input, Required ✓
   • Email: Email input, Required ✓
   • Phone: Telephone input, Optional
   • Company: Text input, Optional
   • Subject: Text input, Required ✓
   • Message: Textarea, Required ✓
3. Click Save

Step 4: Test Form Submission

1. Visit your Contact Us page
2. Fill form with test data
3. Submit
4. Check CRM → Pipeline (or Leads if enabled)
5. New opportunity created with all form data

Method 3: Live Chat to Leads

Real-time chat with visitors → qualify on the spot → convert to lead with command.

Step 1: Install Live Chat

1. Go to Apps
2. Search: "Live Chat"
3. Click Install

Step 2: Create Chat Channel

1. Go to Live Chat → Channels
2. Click New
3. Configure channel:
   • Name: Sales Support
   • Operators tab: Add team members who will chat
   • Options tab:
     • Button text: "Chat with us!"
     • Button color: Your brand color
     • Welcome message: "Hi! How can we help?"
     • Chat input placeholder: "Ask a question..."
   • Channel Rules tab:
     • Show when: URL contains /pricing
     • Or: After 30 seconds on page
     • Or: Based on country
4. Click Save

Step 3: Add Chat to Website

1. Go to Website → Configuration → Settings
2. Enable Live Chat
3. Select your channel
4. Click Save
5. Chat widget now appears on all pages

Step 4: Convert Chat to Lead

Visitor: "Do you offer enterprise pricing?"
Operator: "Yes! We have custom plans for 50+ users."
Visitor: "We need 200 licenses."
Operator: "Perfect! Let me create a quote."

# Convert chat to lead - type this command:
/lead

# Odoo creates lead:
- Contact: Visitor's name (if provided)
- Email: From chat session
- Title: "Live chat: [date/time]"
- Notes: Full chat transcript
- Team: Assigned to operator's team

Method 4: Lead Mining (Enterprise)

AI-powered prospecting: Find companies matching your ideal customer profile.

Step 1: Enable Lead Mining

1. Go to CRM → Configuration → Settings
2. Under Lead Generation:
3. Enable Lead Mining
4. Click Save

Step 2: Configure Search Criteria

1. Go to CRM → Configuration → Lead Mining Requests
2. Click New
3. Set filters:
   • Target: Companies only (or Companies + Contacts)
   • Countries: United States, United Kingdom
   • States: California, New York, Texas
   • Industries: Technology, SaaS, eCommerce
   • Company Size: 50-200 employees
   • Assign to: Sales Team, Salesperson
   • Tags: Lead Mining, Q1 2025
4. Click Generate Leads

Step 3: Review Generated Leads

1. Odoo generates leads (uses IAP credits)
2. Go to CRM → Leads
3. Filter by tag "Lead Mining"
4. Each lead contains:
   • Company name
   • Industry
   • Employee count
   • Country/State
   • Technologies used (in notes)
   • Website URL

Method 5: Lead Enrichment

Auto-fill company data from email address → better lead qualification.

Step 1: Enable Lead Enrichment

1. Go to CRM → Configuration → Settings
2. Enable Lead Enrichment
3. Choose mode:
   • Automatic: Runs hourly on new leads
   • On Demand: Manual enrichment only
4. Click Save

Step 2: Enrich Individual Lead

1. Open lead with email address
2. Click Enrich button (top right)
3. Odoo pulls data from email domain
4. Updates lead with:
   • Company name
   • Company logo
   • Industry
   • Employee count
   • Annual revenue
   • Phone number
   • Address

Step 3: Bulk Enrichment

1. Go to CRM → Leads (list view)
2. Select multiple leads (checkboxes)
3. Click Action → Enrich
4. All selected leads enriched

Method 6: Visit to Lead Conversion

Track website visitors → convert anonymous traffic to leads based on behavior.

Enable Visit Tracking

1. Go to CRM → Configuration → Settings
2. Enable Visits to Leads
3. Set conversion rules (e.g., visitor views 3+ pages)
4. Purchase IAP credits for conversions
5. Click Save

Real-World Impact: Full Lead Gen Strategy

Example: SaaS Company Implementation

Common Mistakes

Quick Implementation Checklist