🤝 Pipeline CRM

Pipeline CRM Training Guide

Everything a sales rep needs to run a deal from first contact to closed-won in Pipeline CRM — in about 20 minutes.

What you will learn: navigate the Pipeline workspace, triage open deals, advance deals through stages, keep company and contact records clean, and read the pipeline-by-stage summary.

1. Getting Started

  1. Open Pipeline CRM. The Pipeline page is the app home — it is your daily workspace.
  2. The worklist shows every open deal (Lead through Negotiation) sorted by amount, largest first. Won and Lost deals never clutter this list.
  3. The header shows the live totals: 7 open deals · $501,050 open value (your numbers will differ as you work).
  4. The right rail, Pipeline by stage, summarizes how much value sits in each stage.
Header: title · Refresh · New Deal Open deals worklist (click a row to open the deal) Company · Contact · Stage · Close date · Amount Pipeline by stage Count + value per stage

2. Daily Workflow

Triage your pipeline

  1. Open the Pipeline page each morning.
  2. Use the stage filter (top right of the worklist) to focus on one stage — for example, everything in Proposal that needs a follow-up today.
  3. Work largest-first: the list is sorted by amount, so the deals at the top deserve attention first.

Open and update a deal

  1. Click any row (or focus it with Tab and press Enter) — the deal record opens natively.
  2. Update the Stage, adjust Amount or Close Date, and add a note about the last conversation.
  3. Save. The worklist and stage summary refresh from the Refresh button.

Create a deal

  1. Click New Deal.
  2. Pick the Company and Contact from the linked records, enter an Amount, set Stage = Lead, and give it a realistic Close Date.
  3. New open deals appear in the worklist immediately after refresh.

Use the Pipeline Board

Prefer a visual view? Open Sales → Open Deals → Pipeline Board in the sidebar. It is a kanban board with one column per open stage — drag a card between columns to change its stage.

Habit to build: every deal should move stage at least every two weeks. If nothing moved, either advance it or mark it Lost — a stale pipeline lies to you.

3. Pipeline Stages

StageMeaningExit criteria
LeadInitial interest, not yet verifiedDiscovery call booked, budget confirmed → Qualified
QualifiedReal need, budget, and timeline identifiedDemo delivered, decision process mapped → Proposal
ProposalWritten proposal sentVerbal yes, terms under discussion → Negotiation
NegotiationFinal terms and pricingSignature → Won; dead end → Lost
WonClosed — start onboarding—
LostClosed — log the reason in Notes—

The Pipeline page and Pipeline Board only show the four open stages, so your daily view stays honest.

4. Data Model

Three tables, two links, one rollup. Keep records clean and every report stays trustworthy.

Companies Industry · Website · Phone City · Total Pipeline (rollup) Contacts Email · Phone · Title Deals Amount · Stage · Close Date has many owns deals primary contact
  • Company is the account. Its Total Pipeline column automatically sums the amount of every linked deal.
  • Contact is a person at a company. Every contact links to exactly one company.
  • Deal always points to one Company and one primary Contact. A deal without a company breaks the rollup — never leave it empty.

5. Knowledge Check

Answer, then reveal. Get all five and you are ready to run your pipeline.

1. Which deals appear on the Pipeline page?

Only open deals — Lead, Qualified, Proposal, and Negotiation. Won and Lost are excluded.

2. A deal is signed. What do you set the stage to?

Won. It then disappears from the open worklist but still counts in the company's Total Pipeline history.

3. What does the Total Pipeline column on a Company show?

The automatic sum of the Amount of every deal linked to that company. It updates itself — never type over it.

4. You create a deal but skip the Company field. What breaks?

The company rollup and any company-level reporting. Always link the Company (and the primary Contact) before saving.

5. Where can you drag deals between stages visually?

The Pipeline Board — the kanban view over the Open Deals view, one column per open stage.

6. Troubleshooting

SymptomCauseFix
A new deal is missing from the worklistIts stage is Won/Lost, or the page was loaded before you savedCheck the stage; click Refresh
Company shows a dash in the worklistThe deal has no Company linkedOpen the deal and link the Company
Total Pipeline looks wrongA deal amount is empty or a deal is unlinkedOpen the company's deals and fill in amounts
Stage summary shows a stage with $0Normal — no open value in that stage right nowNothing to fix

7. Glossary

Open deal
A deal in Lead, Qualified, Proposal, or Negotiation.
Stage
Where the deal sits between first contact and closed.
Rollup
A column that automatically aggregates linked child records, like Total Pipeline.
Worklist
The sortable deal queue on the Pipeline page.
Pipeline Board
Kanban view of open deals grouped by stage.
Close date
The expected signature date — keep it in the future or move the stage.

Open the Pipeline workspace →