PipelineOS Sales system setup Sales System Setup · USD 149
Your pipeline says USD 840,000. About USD 260,000 of it is real.
Stages, qualification rules and a follow-up cadence, built on top of a CRM that had not been cleaned since March.
The system is now in place: five stages with exit criteria, a qualification rule, a follow-up cadence and a weekly rhythm. Applying it to your existing 61 open deals is what produced the number in the title, and that number is the reason the setup was worth doing before any new activity.
Thirty four of 61 open deals have had no contact in over 45 days and 19 have no next action at all. Applying the new exit criteria moves USD 580,000 out of the forecast and into a nurture list, which is uncomfortable and is the first honest number you have had this year.
The system
Five stages, with exit criteria
Your CRM had seven stages, three of which nobody could define and two of which meant the same thing. These five have exit criteria, which is what makes a stage mean something.
| Stage | A deal is here when | It leaves when | Max age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Qualified lead | A named person at a target account has replied | A discovery call is booked | 14 days |
| 2 Discovery | Discovery call held, need confirmed | Budget, authority and a timeline are known | 21 days |
| 3 Proposal | Written proposal sent | Customer has responded to the proposal | 14 days |
| 4 Negotiation | Terms are being discussed | Verbal agreement or written decision | 30 days |
| 5 Closing | Contract issued | Signed, or lost | 21 days |
| Nurture | Real but not now | A trigger event occurs | No limit |
The max age column is the part that will be resisted. A deal older than its stage limit is not dead, it is in the wrong stage, and moving it to nurture is not giving up on it. It is refusing to forecast it.
Cleanup
What the 61 deals actually are
| Deals | Value | Verdict | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 4 and 5, defensible | 9 | USD 184,000 | Forecast these |
| Stage 3, proposal live | 6 | USD 76,000 | Forecast at weighted value |
| Stage 1 and 2, early | 12 | USD 148,000 | Do not forecast yet |
| Moved to nurture | 21 | USD 312,000 | Real, not now |
| Closed as lost | 13 | USD 120,000 | Three already bought elsewhere |
Three of the thirteen closed-lost deals have publicly announced a competitor in the last four months. They were still in your forecast at full value, which is how USD 840,000 was arrived at.
Cadence
The follow-up rules
| Trigger | Action | Owner | By when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery call held | Summary and next step in writing | Whoever held it | Same day |
| Proposal sent | Diarised follow-up | Deal owner | Day 3, then day 8 |
| No reply after two follow-ups | One break-up message, then nurture | Deal owner | Day 15 |
| Deal exceeds stage max age | Flagged in the weekly review | Automatic | Weekly |
| Verbal agreement given | Contract out | Founder | 48 hours |
| Deal closed, won or lost | Reason recorded from a fixed list | Deal owner | Same day |
| Any promise made on a call | Logged as a commitment with a date | Whoever promised | Same day |
The last row is the one that changes outcomes. Twenty two of your 61 deals contain a promise in the notes that was never kept, mostly small: send the case study, introduce them to a customer, confirm a price. Those are the follow-ups that lose deals quietly.
Rhythm
Thirty minutes a week
- Monday, 30 min
Pipeline review, three questions only
What moved, what is over its stage age, and what are the five deals that matter this week. Not a tour of all 61. Three questions.
- Daily
Every deal has a next action with a date
This is the whole discipline. A deal without a dated next action is not in the pipeline, it is a hope with a value attached.
- Friday
Commitments check
Every promise made this week, kept or carried. Five minutes.
- Monthly
Closed-lost review
Read the reasons. Three months of honest loss reasons is more useful than any market research you could buy.
- Five stages configured with exit criteria
- Twenty one deals moved to nurture
- Thirteen closed as lost with reasons
- Nineteen deals given a next action and a date
- Twenty two outstanding commitments listed and assigned
- Monday review booked as a recurring 30 minutes