---
title: "The first lead"
description: "A lead is a company or person that fits a buyer profile and has qualified. A signal is a match that cleared your rule, with its kind, what it is about and its evidence. Your plan limits the leads that the platform delivers, at delivery and never at acquisition. The platform counts each withheld lead, with the reason."
section: start
address: /start/the-first-lead
contract: 0476e35e6e275db5
---

# The first lead

A lead is a company or person that fits a buyer profile and has qualified. A signal is a match that cleared your rule, with its kind, what it is about and its evidence. Your plan limits the leads that the platform delivers, at delivery and never at acquisition. The platform counts each withheld lead, with the reason.

[figure: A signal that reaches the definition's target becomes a lead. Delivery checks the plan's limit, and the platform counts every lead that the plan withholds.]

A lead is a signal that reached the definition's target. The lead names the company or person, and it carries every piece of evidence and the basis of every number.

## Signal to lead

1. The monitor's signals grow until one reaches the target.
2. The platform makes the lead. The lead records the subject, the evidence, the definition with its version, and the time.
3. Delivery checks the lead limit of the plan. Acquisition continues past the limit. The platform shows each lead that the plan withholds as withheld, with its reason, and counts it.
4. The routing rule assigns the lead to a desk, or a person assigns it by hand.

## Withheld lead count

The platform counts withheld leads from the record. The plan's page shows this count beside the limit. An agent reads the same count through the API.

| route | returns or does |
|---|---|
| [`/v1/read/leads`](/reference/read/leads) | the leads in a scope, each with its evidence and its state |
| [`/v1/read/withheld`](/reference/read/withheld) | the leads that the plan withheld, with the reason and the count |
| [`/v1/act/mark_lead`](/reference/act/mark_lead) | marks a lead as qualified, not now, or do not contact |
| [`/v1/act/assign`](/reference/act/assign) | assigns a lead to a person or a desk |
| [`/v1/act/routing`](/reference/act/routing) | writes the routing rule that assigns leads automatically |

When you mark a person *do not contact*, the platform withdraws every action that sends to that person, everywhere, at once.