# Sales process: lead conversion, opportunities and Path

*Platform Administrator Study Guide · Sales and Marketing Applications · Last updated September 26, 2026 · https://certifyforce.com/study-guide/platform-administrator/sales-and-marketing-applications/sales-process-leads-opportunities-and-path*

How a lead becomes an account, contact and opportunity, what carries over and what doesn't, how sales and lead processes tie stage and status values to record types, and how Path coaches reps stage by stage.

- Certification: Salesforce Platform Administrator
- Exam section: Sales and Marketing Applications
- Study guide: https://certifyforce.com/study-guide/platform-administrator

**Official exam objective:**

> Given a scenario, identify the capabilities and implications of the sales process (for example: leads, opportunities, path).

## What the exam expects

- Explain what lead conversion creates and what happens to the lead, its activities and its campaign history.
- Make custom lead data survive conversion with target fields and a mapping.
- Give teams different Stage or Lead Status values with business processes on record types.
- Explain how products change Amount, and record buying roles with contact roles.
- Choose Path for per-stage key fields and coaching, with a path per record type.

## Key facts

| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Converted lead | Stays in the org as read-only; still appears in lead reports | [Conversion Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.leads_notes.htm&type=5) |
| Viewing converted leads | Needs the View and Edit Converted Leads permission | [Conversion Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.leads_notes.htm&type=5) |
| Primary Campaign Source | Most recently associated campaign on the lead fills it | [Conversion Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.leads_notes.htm&type=5) |
| Existing records | Mapped lead values fill only empty fields, never overwrite | [Conversion Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.leads_notes.htm&type=5) |
| Amount with products | Sum of the products; direct updates are ignored | [Opportunity](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_opportunity.htm) |
| Primary contact | Only one per opportunity, set on the contact role | [OpportunityContactRole](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_opportunitycontactrole.htm) |
| Path key fields | Up to five per step, plus up to 1,000 characters of guidance | [Create a Path](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.path_create.htm&type=5) |
| Paths per record type | One path per object, picklist and record type combination | [Create a Path](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.path_create.htm&type=5) |

## Check yourself

- What happens to the lead record itself after conversion? → It stays in the org as a read-only converted record that still appears in lead reports ([Conversion Considerations](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.leads_notes.htm&type=5))
- When does a custom lead field's value survive conversion? → Only when a compatible custom field exists on the target object and the lead field is mapped to it with Map Lead Fields ([Map Lead Fields](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.customize_mapleads.htm&type=5))
- Which Setup feature filters Lead Status values for one lead record type? → A lead process assigned to that lead record type ([Business Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_processes.htm&type=5))
- Why can't a rep type a new Amount on an opportunity that has products? → Amount becomes the sum of the products and direct updates are ignored, so reps edit quantity or sales price ([Opportunity](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_opportunity.htm))
- When must you create another record type before adding a path? → When every record type of the object already has a path, because each path covers one object, picklist and record type ([Create a Path](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.path_create.htm&type=5))

## Sources

- [Convert Qualified Leads](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?language=en_US&id=sf.leads_convert.htm&type=5)
- [Considerations for Converting Leads](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.leads_notes.htm&type=5)
- [Map Custom Lead Fields for Lead Conversion](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.customize_mapleads.htm&type=5)
- [Managing Multiple Business Processes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.customize_processes.htm&type=5)
- [Create a Path](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.path_create.htm&type=5)
- [Opportunity (Object Reference)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_opportunity.htm)
- [OpportunityContactRole (Object Reference)](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.object_reference.meta/object_reference/sforce_api_objects_opportunitycontactrole.htm)

## About the full unit

The "Core concepts", "Exam traps" and "Worked scenario" sections of this unit, its 10 linked practice questions, and unlimited timed mock exams are included with the Platform Administrator pack (USD $19): https://certifyforce.com/practice-exams