CRM pipeline stages: set up your sales funnel and client alerts

An online school sees that there are few payments but doesn't know where requests get lost: on the call, at the trial lesson or at the invoice. It means the CRM pipeline stages don't match the client's real path, and managers move leads around at random. Then it's unclear what to fix, and the school buys more ads instead of closing the gap in sales.

A funnel stage is a step of the sale. Stages follow your client's path, for example: “New lead” → “Reached” → “Meeting” → “Invoice” → “Payment”. Based on these stages, sales funnel analytics calculates conversion — the share of leads that reached the next stage. And stage notifications message the client on their own when a lead moves to the right stage.

Watch the two-minute video, and below you'll find the step-by-step setup.

Why a business needs a sales pipeline

• The head of sales sees at which stage clients drop off and fixes exactly that one: the call script, the meeting or the invoice.
• Clinic or salon: a day before the visit, an autofunnel based on the “Stage date” reminds the client by SMS or a voice bot call. There are fewer no-shows.
• Online school: at the “Invoice sent” stage, the client gets an email reminding them to pay, with no manager involved.
• Sales department: stages can be turned on separately for leads and for deals. Each list shows only the stages it needs.
• The head of sales can forbid a manager to move leads to certain stages. This is set in the employee's access rights.

How funnel stages work

The “Sales funnel” screen is a table of stages with tabs:

• “Funnel stages” — the main funnel;
• “Archived stages” — appears when there is at least one stage in the archive;
• “System stages” — service stages: “Repeat lead”, “Rejected”, “Call back”, AI call stages. They can't be renamed, deleted or archived, but you can change their order, color and notifications.

“New lead” is always first, and “Deal closed” is always last. Stages are shared by leads and deals, and the “in leads” and “in deals” checkboxes decide where a stage is available. The stage color is visible in the kanban, in the stage menu and on labels.

How to set up a sales pipeline in CRM

1. 1
   Open the funnel

   The “Leads” → “Funnel stages” menu. In the CRM list, the “Set up” button above the list leads there too.
2. 2
   Add a stage

   On the “Funnel stages” tab, click “Add stage” at the bottom of the table.
3. 3
   Name it and pick a color

   Enter a name, click the colored circle and choose a color.
4. 4
   Mark where to show it

   “in leads”, “in deals” or both.
5. 5
   Put it in place

   Drag the stage by the “⇅” handle.
6. 6
   Save

   Click “Save” on the bar at the bottom.

Before saving, a new stage sits after “Deal closed”. After saving, it moves in front of it.

How to send an SMS or email to a client when the stage changes

1. In the “Client notification” column, choose “SMS”, “E-mail” or “SMS + E-mail”.
2. Expand the stage with the “⌄” arrow.
3. Enter the text in the “SMS template for the client” or in the email template. You can insert data into the text: {name} — client name, {step_name} — stage name, {time} — next stage date, {manager} — manager name, {site} — website.
4. If the message should be tied to the moment a stage date is set for the lead, tick “Notify the client after the date is set”.
5. Click “Save”.

An SMS costs from $0.0748 depending on the carrier; Beeline and MegaFon have their own rates.

Archiving and deleting stages

It's easier to move an unneeded stage to the archive: the “List” column → “Move to archive” → “Save”. To bring it back: the “Archived stages” tab → “List” → “Funnel stages” → “Save”.

You can only delete stages you created. Before deletion, the system checks where the stage is used: in autofunnels, voice and chat bots, the inbound call scheme. If it is used, choose a replacement in “Replace with”. Then type the phrase “delete these items”. Cards from the deleted stage will move to “Unsorted”.

Read also: CRM for small business: how to never lose a single lead, Sales funnel conversion rate: at which stage you lose clients, How to set up Telegram lead notifications and SMS to clients, Win back lost customers