Understanding Pipeline Stages

Learn how pipeline stages work and how to customise them.

What this does

Pipeline stages define the steps a deal goes through from first contact to close. Each stage represents a milestone in your sales process.

When to use it

Review your pipeline stages when you first set up CRM, and adjust them as your sales process evolves.

Default stages by industry

  • Generic: New Lead, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, Won, Lost
  • Software: Trial, Demo, Proposal, Negotiation, Onboarding, Live, Churned
  • Estate Agent: Enquiry, Viewing, Offer, Referencing, Contract, Complete, Withdrawn

Customising stages

  1. Go to Settings in the main menu
  2. Open the Pipeline tab
  3. To add a stage, click + Add Stage
  4. To reorder stages, drag them into position
  5. To rename a stage, click its name and type the new name
  6. To remove a stage, click the delete icon (deals in that stage will need reassigning)
  7. Click Save

Tips

  • Keep your pipeline to 5–7 stages for clarity
  • Won and Lost are system stages that cannot be removed
  • Each stage can have a win probability percentage for forecasting