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Sales pipelines & deals

Build pipelines from templates, set stages, exit rules and automations, then create deals and move them across a kanban board or list until won or lost.

9 min read · Last updated 2026-10-21

A deal is an opportunity tied to one contact, and it moves through the stages of a pipeline on the board at Sales → Deals. One contact can carry several deals. Where a lead's status is a fixed five-step lifecycle, pipelines are yours to shape: your own stages, rules a deal must meet before it moves on, outcomes that close it, and automations that run on the way.

Set up a pipeline

1. Open pipelines. Go to Workflows → Sales Pipeline (pipelines are managed here, not under Sales) — or click Manage pipelines on the Deals page. A strip at the top counts Live pipelines, Open deals, Deals won (with your win rate) and Drafts; the tabs All, Live and Drafts and a search box narrow the cards below.
2. Start from a template. Click New pipeline, or Use template on a card under Start from a template. Every pipeline starts from one: Core Sales Pipeline (Discovery → Qualification → Negotiation, ending in Closed Won / Closed Lost), Post-Sale Onboarding, Service Request Pipeline, or Blank Guided Pipeline for a near-empty start. Give it a Name and click Create pipeline — stages, exit rules and guidance come pre-filled, and you can change all of it.
3. Shape the stages. The new pipeline starts as a Draft; click Edit stages to open the full-screen stage editor (details below).
4. Go live. Click Go live on the card. Only live pipelines appear on the Deals board and in the new-deal form.

Plan limit: How many pipelines you can create depends on your plan. At the limit, New pipeline shows an upgrade prompt instead of the form.

The stage editor

Working stages run top to bottom — drag the handle to reorder, or use a stage's menu (Move up, Move down, Add stage after, Delete stage). Under Ends in sit the outcomes where deals close. Pick any stage to edit it on the right, then Save (⌘S / Ctrl S):

• Stage name and Active switch — an inactive stage can't receive deals and its column leaves the board. At least one stage has to stay active.
• Stage type — Working stage or Outcome. An outcome is Won, Lost or Neutral; once it's won or lost it can switch between the two but can't go back to neutral. A stage that holds deals can't change type until you move them out.
• Exit rules — conditions that must all hold on the lead before a deal can leave the stage, for example Budget range *is filled* or Lead score *is at least* 60. Pick from contact, location, qualification and deal fields, or your own custom lead fields. Outcomes have no exit rules — deals don't leave them.
• Guidance — what should be true before a deal moves on, saved for your team. It's a note, not a check.
• Automations — Add automation creates a workflow that runs When a deal enters or When a deal leaves the stage, then opens the workflow builder to add its steps (Create & build). Only on-entry automations make sense on an outcome.

Draft, live and archived

Create a deal

1. Click New deal. On Sales → Deals, on the Contacts page (New Deal), or with New on the Sales tab of a lead's sidebar (the contact is filled in for you). The New deal panel opens.
2. Pick the contact. Search contacts by name, email or phone and choose one; the contact's source is copied onto the deal. No match? Create a new contact opens the lead form, and the new contact is picked for you when you save it.
3. Describe the deal. Enter a Title (required), a Value with its Currency (USD by default), and the Pipeline — live ones only. Under Starts in you can drop the deal into a later stage instead of the first. Optional: Owner (you, by default), Expected close, Source, Source reference and Description.
4. Create. Click Create deal (or press ⌘ + Enter). The deal lands on the board in the stage you picked.

Work the board

Sales → Deals has two views — Board and List — and remembers which one you used and which pipeline you last looked at. A summary strip sits on top: on the board it's Open deals, Open value, Won and Win rate for the chosen pipeline; in the list it's Deals, Total value, Pipelines and New this month across every pipeline. Search deals, filter by source, or switch Everyone / Mine to see only deals you own.

• Board — pick a pipeline, then drag cards between stage columns. Each column header shows its deal count and total value. Each card shows the title, company, deal number, value, source, owner and age; its … menu offers Open deal, Open contact, Move to (the way to move cards by keyboard or on a phone) and Delete deal.
• List — every deal from every pipeline in one table: Deal, Company, Pipeline, Stage, Value, Owner, Source and Created. Edit the title, value and owner right in the row, filter any column, and Export CSV downloads the rows shown.

The deal drawer

Click a deal to open it. The stage rail across the top moves the deal with one click. Details holds the Deal value, currency and Expected close, then Company, Owner, Source, Source ID and Description — every value saves as you change it — plus the linked contact and a timeline (created, last updated, created by). Automations lists the workflow runs for the deal's current stage. Click the contact's name to open their lead sidebar.

Winning and losing

Closing is a stage move: drag the deal into an outcome — Closed Won or Closed Lost in the Core Sales Pipeline. Reaching a Won outcome sets the lead's status to Converted; any other outcome sets it to Lost. Closed deals can be reopened later: on the board use the card's Reopen in menu, or in the drawer click a working stage on the stage rail (“Closed — pick a stage to reopen”).

Access

Deals and pipelines are governed by the Sales Pipeline permission in your role: viewing shows the board and lets you export, creating adds deals and pipelines, updating moves and edits them, and deleting removes them. Without view access the Deals page says “You don't have access to deals” — ask a workspace admin.

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