The six stages
A deal moves through:
Prospecting → Qualified → Proposal → Negotiation → Closed Won or Closed Lost
The board shows deals grouped by stage, so the shape of the pipeline is visible at a glance rather than assembled from a report.
What each stage means
Agree the definitions once, as a team, and stick to them. The usual reading:
- Prospecting — there is an opportunity, but nothing is qualified yet
- Qualified — they have a need, a budget and the authority to buy
- Proposal — a specific offer is with them
- Negotiation — they want it; terms are being settled
- Closed Won / Closed Lost — decided
Without agreed definitions, two salespeople's boards mean different things and the total is meaningless.
Move deals as reality changes
A board that is updated weekly describes last week. The value of the view is that it is current.
Reading it honestly
A pipeline full of deals at Negotiation that have not moved in a month is not a strong pipeline — it is a stalled one. Stage plus how long something has sat there tells you far more than stage alone.
Closing
Mark deals Closed Lost as readily as Closed Won. A pipeline that only grows cannot forecast anything, and knowing why deals are lost is worth more than the tidiness of a full board.