Build a sales pipeline and its stages

A sales pipeline is the set of stages a deal moves through on its way to a close — from a first qualified conversation to won or lost. The stages should mirror how your team actually sells, because everything downstream (the forecast, win-rate, the board reps work) is built on them.

In KudosCRM you build a pipeline in Settings → Pipelines, with full control over the stages, their probabilities, and the rules that govern how deals move. You can run more than one pipeline — for example new business, renewals, and partners — each with its own stages.

Who this is for

Admins and sales-ops leaders setting up the pipeline for the first time, or reshaping stages that no longer match how the team sells.

Before you start

• A KudosCRM account with permission to manage pipelines.
• Your real sales stages written down (the steps a deal genuinely passes through).
• Your win and lost reasons, so the close step is captured consistently.

What you can configure
Each stage carries a win probability, color, optional SLA (days before a deal is flagged stale), exit criteria, and required fields. Exactly one stage is the won stage and one is the lost stage. Pipeline rules can restrict stage-skipping or backward moves and lock stages to admins. All of this is live today.

Build your pipeline, step by step

1. Open Pipelines
   Go to Settings → Pipelines. You'll see your existing pipelines on the left. Add a new one with a name (e.g. 'New business'), description, and icon — or edit the default that ships with your workspace.
2. Lay out your stages
   Add the stages a deal passes through, left to right (e.g. Discovery → Demo → Proposal → Negotiation → Won / Lost). Drag to reorder. Keep it to the steps that genuinely change how you'd forecast a deal — five to seven is typical.
3. Set a win probability per stage
   Give each stage a default win probability (0–100). This drives the weighted forecast: a deal counts at its value × its stage probability. Reps can override the probability on an individual deal when one is unusual.
4. Add color, SLA, and exit criteria
   Pick a color for the kanban column, optionally set an SLA (the number of days after which an untouched deal is flagged stale), and note the exit criteria — what has to be true to advance.
5. Mark the won and lost stages
   Set exactly one terminal Won stage and one Lost stage. Winning promotes the linked contact to customer automatically; losing requires a reason (next step).
6. Require the fields that matter
   On any stage, mark fields as required so a deal can't advance until they're filled — for example a lost reason on the Lost stage, or a budget field before Proposal. The move is blocked (with a prompt) until they're provided.
7. Set the rules that keep the funnel honest
   Optionally restrict stage-skipping, prevent backward moves, lock specific stages to admins, or force new deals into the first stage. These keep your stage reporting trustworthy across the team.
8. Save and start working it
   Save the pipeline. It's immediately available as a kanban board (plus list, forecast, and timeline views). Add your win and lost reason lists too, so every close is captured consistently.

What you get

• A pipeline whose stages mirror how your team actually sells — the basis for a forecast you can trust.
• Per-stage probabilities that drive a weighted forecast automatically.
• Required fields and rules that keep the funnel honest and stage reporting meaningful.
• Won/lost stages wired to lifecycle promotion and reason capture.

Frequently asked questions

Can I run more than one pipeline?

Yes. You can run multiple pipelines — for example new business, renewals, and partners — each with its own stages, probabilities, and rules. You can move a deal from one pipeline to another when the motion changes, and the probability recalculates from the target pipeline's stage.

How many stages should a pipeline have?

Enough to reflect the real decision points, and no more — usually five to seven. A good test: each stage should change how confidently you'd forecast the deal. If two stages forecast the same, merge them.

What does the stage win probability do?

It powers the weighted forecast. Each open deal counts at its value times its stage's win probability, so your forecast reflects where deals actually are. A rep can override the probability on an individual deal when it's an exception.

Can I require fields before a deal advances?

Yes. Mark fields as required on a stage and a deal can't move into (or past) that stage until they're filled — the move is blocked with a prompt to complete them. It's the cleanest way to enforce data quality at the gates that matter.

What happens to history if I rename or archive a stage?

History is preserved. Stage transitions snapshot the stage name at the time of the move, so renaming a stage later doesn't rewrite the past. Archiving a stage hides it from the board without disturbing the deals or history attached to it.

Learn more

• Sales pipeline (feature) — Everything the visual pipeline does, on the feature page.
• Sales & Pipeline overview — The full journey stage — see the customer, move the deal, trust the number.