A lead in Zoho CRM can be converted to an Account, Contact or Deal.
A lead may show interest in your products or services and there could be a chance of further negotiations with this lead. At this stage, you can convert the lead into an Account, Contact and Deal. While converting this lead, all the lead details will be transferred to the Account, Contact and Deal. See Also Lead Conversion Table
Account refers to a company or department within the company you plan or have business dealings with. On lead conversion, the lead's Company Name will be converted to Account Name.
Contact refers to the people in an organization (Account) you communicate with in pursuit of a business opportunity. There can be many contacts associated to a single account.
Deal refers to the business deals with organizations or people that generate real revenue for your organization. While converting a lead, you have an option to not create a deal upon conversion.