Pipeline by Stage
Open amount and deal count at each stage, weighted and unweighted, by owner and territory in the reporting currency, with the movement since last week and the deals whose close date slipped between the two weekly snapshots.
Lead to deal
From a lead arriving to a signed contract handed to customer success: routing, qualification, acceptance, proposal, negotiation, the bookings check and the handover, with the gates where a person decides.
6 stages · 3 approvals
Roles and responsibilities
-
Step 1Lead
SubjectTypeAccountContactMeeting
-
Step 2Qualify
SubjectTypeAccountContactMeeting
-
Step 3Proposal
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
-
Step 4Negotiate
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
-
Step 5Bookings check
Quote NumberOpportunityAccountTotal
-
Step 6Handover
SubjectTypeAccountContactMeeting
Process steps
Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.
Lead
A lead arrives from a web form, an event, a partner or prospecting, with its source and campaign. A lead that matches an account with an owner goes to that owner; otherwise the territory rules set the territory and owner. The sales development rep works it, logs every touch as an activity on the lead, and records need, budget and timing.
Approval required
Qualify
Account Executive accepts or rejects the qualified lead using the evidence prepared by Sales Development Rep, retaining AcceptedBy, AcceptedDate and AcceptanceNotes. Acceptance matches or creates the account and contact and links the lead's activities to them. An opportunity opens when Account Executive confirms the deal; rejection recycles the lead with the reason.
Proposal
The account executive builds the buying committee with a role and stance per person, logs discovery and demos, adds products, and moves the deal through the stages as the exit criteria are met. A quote is built from the account's price book and submitted. Inside the rep's authority it is approved on submit; outside it, the steps route up the reporting line or to the deal desk.
Approval required
Negotiate
Sales Manager approves the negotiated position after any required quote approvals. NegotiationApprovedBy, NegotiationApprovedDate and NegotiationNotes record the decision on Opportunities. Concessions create a new quote version and clear that sign-off, requiring another review. The deal owner cannot approve their own negotiation.
Approval required
Bookings check
Account Executive records AcceptedDate and AcceptanceDocument on the current quote and submits the deal as PendingClose. Deal Desk checks the primary version, tax-exclusive opportunity value and signed acceptance evidence, confirms the close date, then records ValidatedBy and ValidatedDate before the deal becomes Won. Failed checks return the deal to its owner with a comment.
Handover
The accepted quote becomes a contract with start and end dates, the notice deadline and the renewal lead time. The account becomes a customer, a customer success manager joins the account team, and a handover activity records what was promised.
Approvals and exception handling
3 approvals required in this process
-
Qualify
Account Executive signs · proposal waits
Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Activities, Opportunities -
Negotiate
Sales Manager signs · bookings check waits
Opportunities, Quotes, QuoteApprovals -
Bookings check
Deal Desk signs · handover waits
Opportunities, Quotes, StageHistory
When the process needs attention
-
exception
Leads that sit
A lead nobody picked up is visible in Leads to Work with its created date, and Lead Conversion Funnel shows time to first touch by source.
-
exception
The single-threaded deal
Exit criteria can require an economic buyer and a champion before a deal leaves discovery, so a single-contact deal at proposal is visible in the review.
-
exception
The stage that lies
Every deal has a next step and a date. When the date passes the deal is in Stale Deals, whatever its stage. Stage history shows deals that moved backwards; the weekly forecast lines show close dates that slipped.
-
exception
The win that was not one
A deal counts as won only after the deal desk has matched it to the accepted quote and the signed paperwork.
Records and postings
| Stage | Records | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Lead | LeadsActivities | territory and owner assigned |
| 2 Qualify | LeadsAccountsContactsActivitiesOpportunities | opportunity opened at first stage |
| 3 Proposal | OpportunityContactsOpportunityProductsStageHistoryQuotesQuoteLinesQuoteApprovals | values set from the primary quote |
| 4 Negotiate | OpportunitiesQuotesQuoteApprovals | Sales Manager sign-off recorded for the current quote |
| 5 Bookings check | OpportunitiesQuotesStageHistory | closed amount counted toward quota |
| 6 Handover | ContractsContractLinesAccountTeamMembersAccountsActivities | customer success assigned and handover recorded |
Process reports
All reportsPipeline Created
New opportunities and amount added per week by owner, source, campaign, partner and type.
Renewal Book
Contracts by notice deadline month with owner, annual value, renewal risk and the status of the renewal opportunity, and the value not renewed with its churn reason.
Territory Coverage
Accounts, contacts, open pipeline and closed revenue by territory and sub-territory, with unowned accounts flagged, and the before and after of a modelled realignment.
Lead Conversion Funnel
Leads by source, channel and campaign through working, qualified, accepted and converted, with time to first touch and time to convert.
Win and Loss Analysis
Deals won and lost in a period by loss reason, competitor, source, campaign, deal size band and industry, including lost renewals by churn reason.
Sales Velocity
Days spent in each stage and total cycle length by deal size band and type, from stage history.
Activity Summary
Calls, meetings, emails and demos per rep per week, and the accounts and open deals with no touch in the last thirty days.
Discount Analysis
Blended discount by rep, product family and deal size, with the approvals requested, how each was decided and the quotes that expired unanswered.
Forecast vs Quota
Closed, commit and best case against quota per rep, with open pipeline as coverage of the quota remaining, rolled up through manager to region at the period rate, with the manager adjustment shown separately.
Run by an agent
Agent support
The configured workflows must keep lead acceptance with Account Executive, negotiation approval with Sales Manager and bookings validation with Deal Desk. An agent can prepare evidence and drafts for those decisions. Forecast review, quote approval and realignment approval also remain human actions. Rehearsal must verify refusal of unauthorised actions and attribution of every permitted write before the agent is enabled.
# Example after configuration
$ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent
› lead to deal · lead on Leads, Activities
✓ A lead arrives from a web form, an event, a partner or prospecting, with its source and campaign.
› lead to deal · qualify on Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Activities, Opportunities
⏸ approval · waiting for the account executive
# 4 more stages after approval: proposal, negotiate, bookings check, handover
Other processes
4 moreQuote approval
How a priced proposal gets from a rep's draft to the customer's inbox: the rules that decide who must approve, the steps in sequence, and what happens on rejection, revision and expiry.
6 stages · 1 approval
Forecast cycle
The weekly rhythm: reps categorise every open deal and submit, managers review and adjust on the record, and the period locks so the forecast can be checked against what closed.
6 stages · 2 approvals
Renewal
From a contract's notice deadline to the next contract signed: the opportunity the system opens, the risk call, the renewal quote and approval, and what happens when the customer says no.
6 stages · 2 approvals
Territory realignment
Changing who owns which accounts without losing deals in flight: modelling the new rules, approving the moves, applying them in bulk, handing over open deals, and checking nothing was orphaned.
6 stages · 2 approvals