6 stages to start with
- Lead: a person or company who might buy. Nobody has spoken yet.
- Qualified: they have the problem you solve, a budget, and someone who can say yes. You've checked, not assumed.
- Meeting: a call or demo has happened, and they've told you what they need.
- Proposal: a price or written proposal is with them.
- Negotiation: they've come back on terms, price or timing. This is a good sign: people don't negotiate deals they won't sign.
- Won or Lost: signed, or a clear no. Both close the deal.
A small team can merge stages: craaft's sales pipeline template starts with Lead, Contacted, Proposal, Won and Lost, and you can add Qualified or Negotiation when you need them.
When a deal moves on
Write down what must be true for a deal to enter each stage. For example:
- To Qualified: you've confirmed budget, need and who decides.
- To Meeting: the meeting happened. Booked isn't enough.
- To Proposal: the proposal was sent and they agreed to review it.
- To Won: it's signed or paid. A verbal yes stays in Negotiation.
Rules like these stop optimism from moving cards, and make the pipeline mean the same thing to everyone reading it.
How many stages you need
Usually 5 to 7. Fewer, and a stage holds deals in very different states. More, and people skip stages or argue about which one a deal is in. Add a stage only when deals keep waiting at the same step, such as legal review or a trial.
What to watch
- How many deals reach each stage. Where most deals stop is where to focus.
- How long deals sit in each stage. A deal that hasn't moved in a month is probably lost; say so.
- Why deals are lost. A one-line reason on every lost deal shows patterns after a quarter.
Keeping a pipeline honest
- Close dead deals. A pipeline full of deals nobody believes in hides the ones that matter.
- One owner per deal. Shared deals tend to be nobody's.
- Always a next step. Every open deal should have a dated next action. If it doesn't, it isn't moving.
On a kanban board
A pipeline is a kanban board turned towards customers: stages are columns and deals are cards. In craaft:
- Put the next follow-up date on each card as its due date. Focus lists what's due today and this week.
- Mark both Won and Lost as done columns, so closed deals leave the open counts.
- Log calls and the reason a deal was lost as comments.
- Write the stage rules in the board brief, so everyone, agents included, moves cards by the same rules.
Questions
What are the stages of a sales pipeline?
A common set is lead, qualified, meeting, proposal, negotiation, and won or lost. Small teams often merge these into 4 or 5 stages.
How many stages should a sales pipeline have?
Usually 5 to 7. Add one only when deals keep waiting at the same step, such as legal review or a trial.
What's the difference between a sales pipeline and a sales funnel?
The pipeline is the stages your deals move through and what each needs. The funnel is how many deals make it from one stage to the next. Same stages, different question.
Do I need a CRM for a sales pipeline?
Not to start. A board with one card per deal, a next follow-up date and a short log of calls covers a small team. A CRM earns its place when you need contact records and reporting.