Leads, Prospects, Contacts, Clients and Me

Leads, Prospects, Contacts, Clients and Me

I'm trying to adapt my process to Zoho and am getting confused. Here's how I did it before. Maybe it's just terminology...?

Leads - anyone from any source that I might want as a client. Leads include people that I am sending emails or tapping in social media that have not yet expressed an interest.

Prospect - Someone that has responded to a contact and expressed interest in what I do. On a faster drip.

Client - has hired me for a job.

I interpreted Zoho to mean my Leads are still leads, my Prospects and Clients are now Contacts. Right now, I created deals for Clients so that I could differentiate between Clients and Prospects. 

Is this the best way to implement this in Zoho? My product is myself - I am a voice over talent - so lead time between touching a potential client can be long - as in years - until they have a project needing my type of voice. I'm trying to figure out how to differentiate when to contact who for what kind of VO job, etc.