Why Your Pipeline Stages Matter
Most CRMs hand you a generic "Lead → Qualified → Proposal → Closed" pipeline. That fits almost nobody.
When you sign up for 365clients, your pipeline starts with stages for your type of business. A plumber gets "New request → Estimate sent → Scheduled → In progress → Completed"; an insurance agent gets "New lead → Needs analysis → Quote sent → Application → Policy issued". It's a starting point. The best pipeline is the one that matches how you actually work.
The Golden Rule: Your Pipeline = Your Process
Every stage should answer one question: "What happens next?"
If deals regularly sit in one stage for days and nobody's sure why, that stage is too vague. Split it, or rename it to say what's blocking it.
How to Edit Your Stages
Owners and admins can change stages at any time:
1. Go to Pipeline and click Edit stages.
2. Rename a stage by typing over its name. Its deals come with it.
3. Reorder with the up and down arrows.
4. Add a stage at the bottom, or remove one. If the stage you're removing still has deals, you'll be asked which stage they should move to, so nothing gets lost.
5. For each stage, choose what it means: Open, Won or Lost. Reports use this for your win rate, so a final stage called "Completed" or "Policy issued" counts as a win.
6. Click Save stages.
Pipeline Examples by Industry
🏡 Real Estate Agent
Tip: if deals keep stalling after the offer, add a "Pending inspection" stage so you can see them at a glance.
❄️ HVAC / Trades
Tip: when a deal is won, Convert to job on the deal page creates the job with the customer already filled in, ready to schedule on the board.
🧹 Cleaning Service
Tip: put recurring customers on a membership so they're billed automatically each month.
🛡️ Insurance Agent
🎨 Painting Contractor
Tip: send the estimate from 365clients with two or three options ("good / better / best"). The customer picks one and signs online, and an invoice is created for you.
Make the Pipeline Work for You
Mark your Won and Lost stages
Open Edit stages and check that your final stages say Won or Lost. That's what makes Reports show a real win rate, and counts wins on the team leaderboard.
Always record why a deal was lost
When you move a deal into a Lost stage, 365clients asks why: price, went with a competitor, stopped responding, bad timing, not a fit, or your own words. It takes a second. After a few months, Reports shows your top reasons, and if "price" keeps coming up, you'll know where to look.
Watch the numbers
Reports shows how much is sitting in each stage, a 30/60/90-day revenue forecast from your deals' close dates and probabilities, deals whose close date has passed, and your win rate with the reasons deals were lost.
Automate the follow-up
Stages tell you where a deal is; Action Plans make sure someone follows up. Turn on estimate follow-up in Settings → Outreach, and every sent estimate gets a follow-up sequence that stops when the customer accepts or declines.
Common Pipeline Mistakes
❌ Too many stages. More than seven slows everything down.
✅ Five to seven clear stages that each have an obvious next step.
❌ Vague names. "In progress" doesn't say what's happening.
✅ Specific names. "Awaiting signature" tells you exactly what's blocking it.
❌ No Won or Lost stage. Deals pile up forever and Reports can't tell you anything.
✅ A clear end. Every deal ends up Won or Lost.
❌ Ignoring lost deals. Those are your cheapest lessons.
✅ Record the reason, every time.
Your Action Plan
1. Open Pipeline → Edit stages and read your stages out loud. Does each one say what happens next?
2. Rename anything vague, remove anything you never use, and add the stage where deals really get stuck.
3. Mark your final stages Won and Lost.
4. From now on, give a reason whenever a deal is lost.
5. In a month, check Reports: where is money sitting, and why are deals being lost?
Remember: your pipeline should make it obvious what to do next. If it doesn't, simplify it.
Questions about setting up your pipeline? Email us at manny.agents@gmail.com.