The 24.4.2 sprint has released a new feature that will allow for a contact to be swapped directly from a lead

To be able to use this feature a new role has been created "Allow Lead Contact Replacement". This is an account wide role and it will allow all users within the account access to the feature. By applying this role to an account it will allow for a contact on a lead to be swapped to a more suitable existing contact.

After the role has been applied to the account, there will be a new button option within the contact section in the lead detail screen

By clicking on the 'Search' button, this will open a pop up window that allows for a salesperson to pick between similar contacts the system has found. Please note that if the correct contact is not displayed below, a user will be able to either search the full account address book, or create a brand new contact by clicking the Create button - which will take the user to the Add new contact screen

By selecting a new customer the salesperson will be prompted to confirm the update

The salesperson will then be prompted if they would like to copy any of the existing customer info across to the new contact

And as a final prompt to the salesperson, they will be asked to check any relevant integrations that the account has attached - this is just as a precautionary note as the lead information may have already been sent to third party systems.