Settings and billing
Lead stages in Leadnote: set up your pipeline
Lead stages show where each lead is in your sales process. Add, rename, reorder or delete stages, set day limits and learn what New, Won and Lost mean.
A lead stage is a step in your sales process, such as Open, Contacted or Qualified. Every lead sits in exactly one stage, and you move it forward as the conversation progresses. Stages belong to the whole account, so every list, user, filter, chart and report shows the same names and order. You edit them in Settings under Lead Stages.
The default stages
A new account starts with six stages.
| Stage | State |
|---|---|
| Open | New |
| Contacted | In progress |
| Qualified | In progress |
| Customer | Won |
| Inactive Customer | In progress |
| Deal Lost | Lost |
Every stage has a state, which tells Leadnote what the stage means.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| New | Where every new lead starts. There is exactly one. |
| In progress | Any step between first contact and the result. |
| Won | A lead or deal converted to a customer. |
| Lost | A lead or deal that was disqualified. |
Move a lead to another stage
Open a lead and click the stage chip in its header, then pick a stage in the Update Lead Stage window and click Update. Won and Lost stages are labelled in the list. You can also drag a card in the Kanban view, or change many leads at once from the bulk bar. Every move is saved in the lead's history with the old stage, the new stage and who made it. The steps are in edit a lead and lead views.
The Lead Stages page
The page shows Total Lead Stages, a coloured bar of how many leads sit in each stage, and a table with the columns Stage, State, Stage Color, Max Days in Stage (SLA), Win probability and Leads. People who can edit also see an Action column, Add New Stage and Rename and Reorder. Everyone else sees the message "You can view the pipeline stages. Only the account owner or a manager can change them."
Add a stage
- Select Add New Stage.
- Enter the Stage label, up to 60 characters.
- Choose the State: In progress, Won or Lost.
- Pick a Stage colour.
- Optionally enter Max days in stage (SLA).
- Check Win probability (%), then select Add.
New stages go to the end of the list. Names must be unique, and capital letters do not make a name different.
Rename and reorder
Select Rename and Reorder. Drag stages into the order a lead normally travels, or use the move up and move down buttons, and edit any name in the same window. Save to apply the order and the names together. Renaming a stage does not move any lead: leads keep their place and show the new name.
Edit a stage
Open the action menu on a row and choose Edit to change the label, state, colour, SLA or win probability. You can also change the colour or the SLA straight in the table and confirm with the tick button. The reset button next to a colour returns it to the default colour.
The New stage keeps its state, because every new lead starts there. A stage cannot change state if that would leave the account without a Won or a Lost stage.
Delete a stage
- Open the action menu and choose Delete.
- If leads are in the stage, choose another stage under Move leads to.
- Select Delete stage.
The delete cannot be undone. Leadnote keeps these rules:
- The New stage cannot be deleted. Its menu says Cannot be deleted.
- You must always keep at least one Won stage and one Lost stage. You can delete an extra Won or Lost stage, but not the last one of its kind.
Max days in stage (SLA)
The SLA is how many days a lead may stay in a stage before it counts as stagnant. It is a whole number from 1 to 250, or empty for no limit of its own. Leads that stay longer appear on the Stagnant Leads screen. Won and Lost stages are never counted as stagnant. A stage with no limit of its own uses the default threshold set on the Stagnant Leads screen, which starts at 14 days.
On a lead page, the Lead Stage Journey strip shows the days the lead spent in each stage and marks every stage as Within SLA, Approaching SLA (75 percent or more of the limit used), SLA exceeded or No SLA set. Read more in unattended and stagnant leads.
Win probability
Win probability (%) is a whole number from 0 to 100 that you record per stage. Until you change it, a stage shows 10 percent for New, 25 percent for In progress, 100 percent for Won and 0 percent for Lost. The value is stored with the stage and shown in the table. It does not change the reports or the dashboard funnel.
Stages and imports
When you import leads, the Lead Stage column is matched by stage name. A name Leadnote does not recognise puts the lead in the first stage of your list, normally Open, so check your spelling first. See import leads from a CSV file.
Who can change stages
| Role | Access |
|---|---|
| Account Owner | View and edit |
| Manager | View and edit by default |
| L1 User, L2 User | View only |
The account owner can change these defaults in the permission matrix, so your account may differ.
Frequently asked questions
Which stages does a new account have?
Open, Contacted, Qualified, Customer, Inactive Customer and Deal Lost. Open is the New stage, Customer is a Won stage and Deal Lost is a Lost stage. You can rename, reorder and add to them.
Why can I not delete a stage?
The New stage can never be deleted, and you must always keep at least one Won stage and one Lost stage. A stage that cannot be deleted shows Cannot be deleted in its action menu. Any other stage can be deleted.
What happens to leads when I delete a stage?
Leadnote asks you to choose another stage under Move leads to, and moves all the leads there before it deletes the stage.
Who can change the stages?
The account owner and, by default, managers. Other users can see the stages but cannot change them.
Do stage changes apply to every list?
Yes. Stages are set for the whole account and apply to every list and every user.