Identifying and Automating Inactive Leads in Dynamics 365 CRM

In this article, the second in the series of articles devoted to Everyday Power Automate Solutions for Dynamics 365, we will look at a simple Power Automate solution that automatically identifies old cold leads and closes them on a regular schedule. So, you can identify and automate inactive leads. This approach helps keep the lead database clean without requiring users to manually review hundreds of records every month.

Andrei is a highly skilled Project Manager who leads a team with expertise in technologies such as Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Azure, Copilot, and more, delivering tailored solutions to meet each client's unique needs. He also brings extensive experience in implementing the Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing modules.

Over time, every CRM system accumulates records that are no longer relevant to the business. Leads are no exception. While sales teams are usually focused on active opportunities, older leads often remain in the system long after they have become useless. In many cases, these records are never reviewed again, but they continue to appear in views, dashboards, and reports alongside leads that still require attention.

Keeping outdated leads active can make it more difficult to understand the true state of the sales pipeline. Reports may show inflated numbers, users may spend time reviewing records that no longer have value, and managers may struggle to identify where the team should focus on their efforts. Regularly cleaning up inactive leads helps keep the data more accurate and ensures that everyone is working with information that reflects the current business reality.

We will look at a common request that often comes from sales managers after they have been using Dynamics 365 for some time.

During a review of the lead pipeline, a manager notices that a large number of old cold leads were still marked as active. Most of these records have been created several months earlier and have not been updated for weeks. The team has already determined that these leads are unlikely to convert. But because nobody has been responsible for regularly cleaning them up, they have remained in the system and continued to appear in reports and views.

To address this issue, the manager asks for a simple automated process. The requirement is to run a cleanup once per week and automatically deactivate all open leads that meet the following criteria: the lead is marked as “cold”, was created more than three months ago, and has not been modified for at least four weeks. This will help keep the active lead list up to date while removing records that no longer require the sales team's attention.

Let us assume you already know how to access Power Automate and select the correct environment and skip the basics and jump straight into the solution.

1. In the environment where you want to create the automation, start by creating a new “Scheduled cloud flow” (1).

   

2. Give the flow a meaningful name (2), configure the start date, time, and recurrence interval (3), then click on the “Create” (4).

   

3. Before adding any actions, it is worth checking that the Recurrence trigger still contains the schedule configured in the previous step. Once that is confirmed, add a new "List rows” action. Since we are working with leads, select the “Leads” table in the “Table name” field (5).

   There is no need to retrieve every lead in the system, so let us narrow down the results. The “Filter rows” field allows us to return only the records that match our requirements. First, we only want active leads, so add the condition “statecode eq 0”. Next, because the requirement specifically targets cold leads, add “leadqualitycode eq 3”. Finally, we need to identify the leads that were created more than three months ago and have not been updated for at least four weeks. To achieve this, add two additional conditions: one based on the “Created On” field and another based on the “Modified On” field. Combine all the conditions using the “and” operator so that only the records meeting every requirement are returned (6).

   

4. Once the filtering is in place, the only thing left is to deactivate the matching leads. Add an “Update a row” action and keep the “Table name” set to the “Leads”. For the “Row ID” field, select the “Lead” value from the previous step (7).

   As soon as you add the “Lead”, Power Automate will automatically place the “Update a row" action inside an "Apply to each" container. This is expected behavior. Since the “List rows" action can return multiple leads, Power Automate needs to process each record individually and apply the update to every lead that matches the criteria.

   

5. In the same "Update a row" action, scroll down to the "Status" and "Status Reason" fields and select the values that should be assigned when the lead is deactivated.

   

   Thus, save the flow, run a quick test if needed, and then let it do the work for you. From this point on, the cleanup process will run automatically according to the schedule you configured, helping keep your lead database tidy and up-to-date.

! Note. In one of our previous articles, we looked at a solution for sending automatic follow-up reminders about forgotten leads, Managing Forgotten Leads in Dynamics 365 CRM. If your business is comfortable using the same schedule for both processes, you could combine the two automations into a single flow. One part of the flow could notify managers about inactive leads, while another part could automatically deactivate the records that have exceeded the agreed inactivity period.

UDS blog articles:

• Managing Forgotten Leads in Dynamics 365 CRM

• Power Automate Solution: Instant Teams Notifications for New Contact Registrations

• Lead Generation with Dynamics 365 Sales

• Lead Generation in the IT Industry: Strategies for Success