Booking Pipeline

A booking opportunity holds the customer, primary contact, owner, expected close date, amount and probability. Its stages run from Qualify through Discovery, Proposal and Negotiation to closed won or closed lost. The Booking Pipeline page provides a board over those stages with scoped value, a weighted forecast, overdue next actions and an inquiry qualification queue. Those signals help the manager ask about actual customer decisions instead of relying on a headline total.

• Use. Use the next step to state the next customer-facing action in plain language.
• Keep. Keep amount, probability and expected close date current as the offer develops.
• Record. Record a loss reason when a pursuit closes without a booking.

Agree who may move a deal to each stage and how the studio estimates probability. Decide whether a proposal stage requires a quote to be prepared and who checks the amount against the priced line items. Keep the source inquiry linked so the team can inspect how a request became a pursuit. The team should decide how long an opportunity may sit without a next action before it is reviewed.

Photographer should agree with Studio Manager when a pursuit moves from Discovery to Proposal and what probability means for that stage. Set the expected close date from the customer conversation, then review it when scope or timing changes. Give each open opportunity a next step that the owner can act on. Review the board alongside the source inquiry; a high amount with no dated customer contact needs a conversation before it belongs in a forecast discussion.

A customer requests a session and an album. The photographer qualifies the inquiry and opens the opportunity with the customer and contact linked. After discussing the scope, the photographer moves through Discovery to Proposal and records the next step as a pricing call. The manager opens the pipeline board, sees the amount, probability and expected close date, and asks why the proposal remains open after the next action is due. If the customer declines, the owner records the lost reason and close date.

After the album pricing call, Photographer updates the opportunity amount and next step. Studio Manager opens Booking Pipeline and checks the stage, scoped value and overdue actions against the customer conversation. If the customer declines, record closed lost, the actual close date and a lost reason. If the customer accepts, compare the offer with the opportunity amount before marking it closed won. Keep the source inquiry link available so another reviewer can retrace the decision.

• Booking Pipeline — Open pursuits by stage, with scoped value and overdue next actions.
• My Open Opportunities — The owner’s working list with value, close date and next step.

See the connected process and implementation for the first rehearsal.