Pipeline

Work with the right context

Qualify leads with a recorded decision before turning them into active deals. Capture the prospect source and the reason behind its score so the team can distinguish interest from readiness to buy. A score helps prioritize attention; the qualification conversation supplies the context.

Keep the next action clear

Keep stages aligned with the team’s actual selling process. When the next step, amount or expected close date changes, update the opportunity through the same controlled workflow. A probability exception should be visible to the manager rather than silently changing the forecast.

Coordinate the workflow

Capture lead. Capture source, owner and contact context. Each scoring signal has one EventKey; retries cannot add points again. Score is a bounded, explainable total and does not establish contact permission. Resolve duplicates before creating new account records.

Qualify lead. Sales Rep submits qualification evidence with Status: Working → Submitted. Sales Manager independently approves the same Revision and records QualifiedBy and QualifiedAt, or returns the lead to Working with a reason. A repeated conversion command reuses the original account, contact and opportunity references. Submission records QualificationSubmittedBy; QualifiedBy must differ. Successful conversion atomically changes Qualified to Converted and retains its resulting references.

Develop opportunity. Advance an open opportunity through permitted stages with an expected revision. Record each transition in StageChanges. Use contacts from the accessible account and maintain one primary buying contact. Amount is the sum of product lines in the opportunity currency; a stage change preserves its history.

Deal stages. A rep moves an own open deal and sees the dated history. Reject a cross-team move or stale Revision.

Lead scoring. A new allowed signal updates the visible score with its reason. Replaying a signal or changing an archived contribution cannot inflate points.

Win probability. An approved override updates the weighted amount once. Reject direct probability edits that bypass the reviewed request.

Review a deal that has stopped moving

A proposal may remain open because the customer has not agreed on scope, even when several meetings have taken place. Update the opportunity’s next step and expected close date to reflect that uncertainty. The activity history explains the work performed; the stage history explains the commercial progress. Completing another call does not automatically move the deal forward.

During a pipeline review, compare the stage, amount and expected close date with the evidence behind them. If the rep believes the deal deserves a probability outside the usual stage guidance, submit the exception for a manager’s decision. Keep the requested value and its reason together so an approved exception remains understandable in the next forecast discussion.

Keep movement explainable

A manager should be able to distinguish a newly qualified deal from an old opportunity moved back for further discovery. Both can appear in the same working stage, but their dated transitions tell different stories. Preserve those transitions when correcting a stage or reopening a deal. A useful pipeline shows the current selling position while retaining the reasons that brought the opportunity there.

Review lost outcomes with the same care. Record the reason and retain the preceding proposal and activity context. That gives the team a basis for comparing sources and sales cycles without counting an abandoned opportunity as a current commitment.