Leads and CRM
Pipeline
The stages a lead moves through on the way to becoming a customer, laid out left to right: new, contacted, quoted, won or lost. Each stage holds the deals currently sitting in it.
Why it matters for your business
A pipeline shows you where deals stall. If twenty leads are stuck at "quoted", the problem is the quote or the follow up, not marketing. It also gives you a rough forecast: deals in late stages are likely to close soon.
In practice
A cabinetry shop's pipeline runs New, Measured, Quoted, Deposit, Installed. The owner checks the Quoted column every Friday and calls anyone sitting there more than a week.
Related terms
Customer relationship managementLeadLead scoring and qualificationDashboardKey performance indicator
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