Easily manage lead status in the HubSpot Salesforce integration
A CRM is only as good as the data inside it.
Yet most teams still can’t pull a clean, reliable list of customers without wrestling with exports and filters. The issue is rarely with the CRM itself but with how properties are set up and maintained.
One of the easiest wins is cleaning up lead status in your HubSpot–Salesforce integration.
And if you want a few more easy fixes, we put together 4 quick tricks to keep your integration healthy.
What lead status actually does
Lead Status tracks activity inside the sales cycle after a contact becomes a Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). It’s essentially a mini-pipeline - a way to capture what’s happening between SQL and Opportunity.
If you want the bigger-picture difference between Lead Status and Lifecycle Stage, we’ve broken that down in detail here.
For now, let’s stay focused on how to make Lead Status work correctly across HubSpot and Salesforce.
Step 1: align your values
HubSpot ships with default Lead Status values:
- New
- Open
- In progress
- Open deal
- Unqualified
- Attempted to contact
- Connected
- Bad timing
These are fine as a starting point. But most sales teams want to customize - adding steps like “First meeting booked” or “Prospecting.” That’s perfectly fine, as long as the list matches across both systems.
In practice, start by adding or editing the values in HubSpot’s Lead Status property.
Then make sure those same values exist in Salesforce’s Lead Status picklist so the two systems stay aligned.
Finally, document each status clearly so your sales team knows exactly what it means and when to use it.
Step 2: fix the duplicate property
When you install the HubSpot–Salesforce integration, HubSpot automatically creates a new “Lead Status” property mapped to Salesforce.
Meanwhile, your sales automation may still point to the original HubSpot Lead Status field. That’s where sync issues start.
Here’s the cleanup process:
- Make sure the original HubSpot Lead Status property has the correct values.
- Map it directly to the Salesforce Lead Status field as a two-way sync.
- Change the default mapping from the new duplicate property to don’t sync.
- Archive the duplicate HubSpot property so it doesn’t confuse your team.
If you already have data spread across both HubSpot fields, use workflows or bulk edits to push the correct statuses into the original property before archiving.
Step 3: keep fields in sync
Lead Status is a picklist. Any time a value changes in one system, it has to change in the other.
- If you add a value in Salesforce, go to HubSpot’s integration field mappings and click refresh. That pulls in any new picklist values.
- If you add a value in HubSpot, log into Salesforce and add the same value manually.
Skipping this step is the fastest way to create sync errors, and once those pile up, reps stop trusting the CRM.
Step 4: automate progression
A well-defined Lead Status doesn’t mean much if reps have to update it manually every time.
Use automation to make progression automatic:
- If a new lead is assigned → set Lead Status = New.
- If a rep sends an email or makes a call → set Lead Status = Attempted to contact.
- If a meeting is booked → set Lead Status = In progress.
- If the meeting outcome is completed → set Lead Status = Connected.
- If a new Opportunity is created → set Lead Status = Open deal.
You can do this in HubSpot Workflows if you’re running sales enablement out of HubSpot, or in Salesforce Flows if you’re using Salesforce with Outreach, Salesloft, or another sales engagement tool.
Step 5: set up monitoring
Even with automation, things drift over time.
Build a simple dashboard to flag when:
- Records have no Lead Status.
- Records are stuck in the same status for too long.
- Picklist values don’t match across systems.
This helps you catch problems before they snowball.
Retrospective
Lead Status may feel like a small property, but it’s the bridge between marketing-qualified leads and revenue. If it’s not mapped correctly, your sync breaks, your reports lose credibility, and your sales team stops updating the CRM.
Clean it up once, keep it aligned, and automate progression — and suddenly you’ve got reliable reporting, stronger automation, and fewer arguments about “where this lead really is.”
Bring in HubSpot-Salesforce experts
Most teams only notice Lead Status is broken once deals slip through the cracks or reports stop adding up. You don’t have to wait for that.
If you’re running into issues with your HubSpot–Salesforce integration, let’s talk. We’ll dig into what’s happening and show you what it would take to get things working the way they should.
