Pipelines and stages
Add, rename, colour, reorder and remove stages, choose which stages mean won or lost, and add deal pipelines.
A pipeline is your sales process as a row of stages, for example New, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation, then Won or Lost. Shape it to match how you really sell, so the board shows where every deal stands.
Deals can have several pipelines, one per way of selling. Leads have one pipeline.
Open the pipeline settings
On Deals, click the Manage pipelines & stages button (the sliders icon next to the pipeline drop-down). On Leads, the same button is called Manage stages.
A window shows every pipeline with its stages in three groups:
- In progress: the stages a deal moves through while it is open.
- Success: the stages that mean won.
- Failed: the stages that mean lost.
Each stage shows how many records are in it. The default pipeline has a star.
Add a stage
- Click + Stage on a pipeline to add one at the end, or click the + on a stage to add one right after it.
- Type the name and confirm.
You can also click Add stage at the right end of the board.
Change a stage
Click the pencil on the stage. You can:
- Change the Name and click Save.
- Pick a Colour.
- Move it Earlier or Later. You can also drag stages into a new order.
- Choose what it Counts as: In progress, Won or Lost. This moves it to the matching group. You can only change it while the stage is empty, because records already in it keep the state they arrived with.
- Set a Tunnel… (see below).
- Delete stage. A stage can only be deleted when it is empty, so move its records to another stage first.
Rename a pipeline
Click the pencil next to the pipeline's name, type the new name and click the tick.
Add a deal pipeline
Click Add pipeline at the bottom of the window and give it a name. Then add its stages. The new pipeline appears in the drop-down on the Deals page.
Change the default pipeline or delete one
Next to the name of a deal pipeline that is not the default:
- Make default: new deals and the Deals page start in this pipeline, and it gets the star.
- The bin deletes the pipeline. Only an empty pipeline can be deleted; if it still holds deals, the CRM says how many, so move them to another pipeline first.
The default pipeline has neither button. Make another pipeline the default first.
Tunnels: hand records on to another stage
A tunnel moves a record straight on from one stage to a stage you choose, in the same or another pipeline. For example, a deal won in "New sales" can start again in "Onboarding".
- Edit the stage and click Tunnel….
- Pick the destination stage, or No tunnel — records stay here to remove it.
The rules on the destination stage run as if the record had arrived there normally.
More for each pipeline
- Automation rules: actions that run when a record enters a stage. See Automations.
- Access: who may reach this pipeline, role by role.