Sales funnel
Why the chase and the work are two different things
Every CRM has a “won” column and goes quiet after it. Won work carries the baggage of a deal that is over, and a deal being chased takes the shape of an engagement that does not exist yet. Separating them was a decision about data, not about a page.
6 min read
One row, twice
Until September, in this very product, one row held both the chase and the work. Stages one to four were sales and five to nine delivery, on one counter. It looked simple and in practice each half carried the other's baggage: an engagement mid-delivery still had a “win probability”, and an opportunity that had not yet proposed anything had a data room built for a contract that did not exist.
The worst effect was on the numbers. An opportunity's estimated fee and an engagement's signed contract value sat in one column, and the sum of that column was a figure nobody could defend in the partner meeting.
What changed
The opportunity got its own table
Four stages, and only what sales needs
Identified, qualified, presented, proposed. An estimated fee, a probability a person types, contacts with buying roles. None of it means anything on an engagement, and none of it is there any more.
Winning creates the engagement
Winning is not a stage move; it creates an engagement and leaves the opportunity standing as it was. The record of where the work came from stays put, with its documents, conversation and team.
Two blocks of money
The funnel's estimates in one block and the contract values in another, each per currency and never added. The number you give the partners now has a known origin.
Each stage has its own playbook
Sales writes the playbook for its stages and delivery writes its own. Once, in the catalogue, and every open deal reads the same live list.
Why moving between stages is free
It is tempting to lock each stage until its condition is met. We did exactly that once and reversed it the same day. The reason is simple: the product does not decide on the firm's behalf. The server says what on the playbook is undone and which document has not been sent, on the stage and on the card, but it does not block the move.
What is not free is still not free: moving back asks for a reason and records it, and a closed opportunity does not change until it is reopened. The difference between those two and a hard lock is the difference between recording and deciding.
Delivery has one exception
On the delivery side, two stages can ask for checklist lines the firm itself marked with the “contract” or “deliverable” kind; until those lines have arrived, entering that stage is refused.
And the sentence carries its own point: “the firm itself marked”. A firm that declared nothing has no gate at all.
Questions that come up
What happened to the old opportunities?
Engagements that were at stages one to four became opportunities with the same team and history; those at five and above stayed engagements, and an opportunity was created as their record. No figure was lost and none was guessed.What if a deal was not really won?
Until the engagement holds any work, the win can be undone: the engagement is removed and the opportunity returns to its pre-win stage. If the engagement holds work, the server says what stands in the way.
Open your first opportunity
Open one and see what each stage asks of you.