Salesforce Record Types allow you to offer different business processes, picklist values, and page layouts per record, based on criteria in the record, and can be applied to all objects (standard or custom). A common use-case of Record Types is for different types of sales on Opportunities. For example, a “New Sale” Opportunity may have a longer sales cycle, more qualifying questions, and different requirements than an “Upsell” Opportunity. By using Salesforce Record Types, you can define these unique experiences and guide your users to gather the necessary information and follow the process relevant for that specific task.

Here we see two views of Opportunities, where the Upsell Type has fewer Stage values and fields and a different page layout than the New Sale.

Another great use-case for Record Types is on Accounts, so you can differ the layout and picklist options for Prospects, Customers, or Partners for example.

Learn how to create new Page Layouts, Sales Processes and Record Types here:

Record Types are available on: EE, UE, PXE