Define sales stages around real decisions

Start with the buying process

Write down what changes between an enquiry and an agreed engagement. An enquiry may need qualification, a scoped proposal, and a decision before work can begin. Do not copy another company's stages unless they reflect your process. Separate the customer's state from internal tasks such as drafting a document, which can live as activities inside a stage.

Define evidence for movement

For each boundary, list evidence that another person could verify: a scope confirmed, proposal delivered, or agreement accepted. Make exceptions explicit when work starts under unusual circumstances. Decide whether missing information prevents movement or creates a visible follow-up task. Otherwise stage changes become personal interpretations and the same report means different things to different people.

Give stalled work an owned next step

Use a next action and review date to distinguish a live conversation from a record nobody has touched. Decide how to handle no response, a postponed decision, and a confirmed loss. Review a sample together and adjust definitions where people disagree. More stages are useful only if they lead to different actions or decisions.

WORKED EXAMPLE / ILLUSTRATIVE

A fictional service firm's proposal stage

The proposal stage begins when a scoped offer reaches the buyer, not when someone starts writing it. That distinction makes delivery problems visible instead of counting unfinished drafts as active proposals.

Before you put it to work

• Use observable evidence.
• Keep internal activities separate from buyer state.
• Include a stalled-work review.
• Test definitions with multiple team members.

Stage labels do not establish close probabilities. Avoid adding numerical forecasts until you have suitable historical evidence and a clear calculation method.