ChartMogul CRM provides two default pipelines to manage sales: New Business for prospective customers and Renewals for existing subscribers.
Each contains several stages through which opportunities progress. Setting clear entry and exit criteria for each stage ensures a consistent sales process across the team. In this article, we outline when to use each stage.
Learn more about managing sales in ChartMogul on our blog.
To review the default pipelines, navigate to Settings & Data > Manage > Sales Pipelines. If the default pipelines don’t suit your needs, create your own.
New Business pipeline
The New Business pipeline allows you to manage prospective customers. It includes the following stages:
Should you add an opportunity when researching a lead?
Leads are potential customers, and prospecting happens when sales reps research and contact leads. Creating opportunities while prospecting can inflate the sales pipeline with unqualified or disengaged leads. Therefore, it’s recommended to add an opportunity when a lead is qualified and has communicated with a sales rep that they’re interested in learning more about your product/service.
Renewals pipeline
The Renewals pipeline helps you manage the renewal process of existing subscriptions. It includes the following stages:
Default stages
Below, we explain each stage of ChartMogul’s default pipelines.
Discovery
Discovery is the first stage in the New Business pipeline. Sales reps use this stage when a Qualified Lead has responded with interest to their initial outreach.
During this stage, sales reps ask questions to assess whether your product/service is a good fit for the prospective customer. To keep the sales process consistent, use a sales team discovery framework. Learn more.
Move a deal to the next stage when all the relevant information has been collected from the sales framework. Add this information as a note to the customer’s record.
Evaluation
Evaluation is the second stage in the New Business pipeline. Sales reps use this stage when a Qualified Lead has expressed an interest in learning more about how the company’s product/service fits their needs.
During this stage, sales reps work with the prospective customer to demonstrate how the product/service fits their needs and solves their problem. Prospects in this stage may be using a trial of the product, and sales reps can assist with setup and answer any technical questions.
Move a deal to the next stage when the prospective customer is ready to discuss the contract and billing.
Negotiation
Negotiation is the third stage in the New Business pipeline and the first stage in the Renewals pipeline.
In this stage, sales reps finalize pricing and billing to ensure new or existing customers feel confident about signing.
Advance a deal to Closed Won once the customer signs the contract or provides their billing details.
Verbal Commit
Verbal Commit is the second stage in the Renewals pipeline. Sales reps use this stage when an existing subscriber has communicated intent to renew their contract.
In this stage, sales reps reconfirm the renewal terms and address any last-minute concerns.
Advance a deal to Closed Won once the terms are finalized and the customer signs the contract or confirms their billing details.
Closed Won or Closed Lost
Closed Won or Closed Lost is the final stage in the New Business and Renewals pipelines, where no further sales work is needed.
Closed Won means the customer has agreed to buy your product/service or renew their subscription, and you have all the necessary documents to bill them. In this stage, sales reps finalize paperwork and organize a handoff to the onboarding or customer relationship management team.
Closed Lost means the deal didn’t go through. In this stage, sales reps document the reason for losing the deal, such as an excessive price or a missing feature. This helps analyze trends and improve for the future. Add this information as a note to the customer’s record.
Learn more about the closed stages.