> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lynkacrm.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Lead Generator: find prospects inside Lynka

> Learn how Lynka LeadGen helps small businesses find prospects inside the same system used for follow-up, qualification, deals, quotes, invoices, teams, and reporting.

LeadGen is Lynka's built-in lead generation workflow. Its value is not only that it can start a prospecting run. The larger benefit is what happens after the search: the people you decide to work can continue inside the same customer and sales system instead of being exported to another CRM.

For a small business, that can remove an entire handoff between prospecting and sales.

## Where LeadGen fits

LeadGen sits **before qualification**.

A useful sequence is:

**Target market → LeadGen run → prospect review → Lynka Lead → assignment and follow-up → qualification → Deal → Quote → Invoice → Payment → reporting**

The generated prospect is not automatically a qualified opportunity. Lynka keeps discovery and qualification separate so your sales reports do not treat every search result as pipeline.

## What a LeadGen run can use

The current backend run contract supports targeting inputs that include **search terms**, **geography**, **industries**, and **enrichment options**. The exact controls presented in the UI can vary with the current run mode and feature availability, but those are the core dimensions the lead generation workflow is built around.

Use them to describe the businesses you actually want to find instead of starting with a very broad search and hoping the results are useful.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Target a useful search" href="/leadgen/search-targeting">Turn an ideal customer description into practical LeadGen inputs.</Card>
  <Card title="Run LeadGen" href="/leadgen/how-it-works">Understand what happens when a run starts, completes, returns no results, or fails.</Card>
</CardGroup>

## LeadGen has separate run access

Seeing the LeadGen area and being able to consume LeadGen capacity are related, but they are not the same check.

A user needs the required workspace capability and the `lead_gen.run` access used by the backend. The workspace also needs valid remaining run capacity from its plan allowance or another valid credit source.

The backend is authoritative. A stale counter in the browser cannot force a run after the available capacity has already been used.

## Runs can use plan capacity or bonus credits

Lynka tracks the source and cost of each run. The current data model can charge plan allowance and separate credit grants. It also tracks the amount charged, the period of the charge, and whether a refund occurred.

If a charged run is finalized as **failed**, **no results**, or **canceled**, the backend refund path restores the charged capacity according to its original source.

[LeadGen credits and allowance](/leadgen/credits) explains this without relying on hardcoded plan numbers that may change.

## Why this matters for a small team

A team can discover prospects and work them without maintaining a private spreadsheet outside the CRM. Once a prospect becomes a lead, normal ownership and access rules can take over.

For example, an owner can run the search, assign promising leads to two salespeople, let each salesperson work their own records, and still review team-level pipeline when their permissions allow it.

<Card title="LeadGen with a team" icon="users" href="/leadgen/team-workflow">
  See how prospecting, ownership, team scope, qualification, and reporting fit together.
</Card>

## What LeadGen does not decide

LeadGen does not decide whether a prospect is qualified, whether a deal is likely to close, or whether you should contact someone in a way that violates applicable law or platform rules.

The business still owns:

* its targeting criteria
* its lawful basis and outreach practices
* qualification decisions
* record ownership
* follow-up quality
* final commercial outcome

Lynka helps keep that work connected and measurable.

## Measure the full journey

Do not judge LeadGen only by the number of prospects a run returns. A smaller set that becomes qualified pipeline can be more useful than a large list nobody follows up.

The stronger questions are:

* Which generated prospects became real leads?
* How quickly did someone follow up?
* Which leads qualified?
* Which deals were won?
* Which source or target market produced useful revenue?

Use [Measure LeadGen results](/leadgen/measure-results) to connect prospecting to Sales and Reports.