How to Configure Pipelines and Stages in CrmLeaf
All editions. Core feature - no add-on required. Solar CRM accounts are seeded with three predefined pipelines at signup.
Availability: All editions. Core feature - no add-on required. Solar CRM accounts are seeded with three predefined pipelines at signup.
Overview
A pipeline is the sequence of stages a deal passes through from first conversation to closure. CrmLeaf does not use a fixed set of deal statuses: deal progression is driven entirely by the stages your company defines, so terms such as "Won", "Lost" or "Negotiation" are whatever you configure. Configuring pipelines correctly is the single most important CRM setup task, because the first stage of a pipeline receives every new deal, including deals created by the public web-to-lead form.
How It Works
You create a pipeline, define its stages in order, and control which stages are visible. Deals then move between those stages by drag on the lead board or by selecting a new stage on the deal.
Create pipeline → Add stages → Order stages → Set visibility → Publish to the team
- Pipelines and stages are fully configurable per pipeline. You can create a pipeline, duplicate an existing one, toggle stage visibility and reorder stages.
- The first stage receives new deals. Any deal created manually without a stage selected, imported, or submitted through the public web-to-lead form lands there.
- Stage order defines the board column order and the sequence your team is expected to follow.
- Each stage shows a per-stage total on the lead board, so stage design directly shapes your pipeline reporting.
- A new company account is seeded with pipelines at creation, so you are normally adjusting an existing pipeline rather than starting from nothing.
Who Can Use This Feature?
Administrator
- Create, duplicate and edit pipelines.
- Add, rename, reorder and hide stages.
- Decide which pipeline the public web-to-lead form points to.
This functionality is available only to Administrators.
Prerequisites
- Administrator access to the account.
- An agreed sales process, written down as an ordered list of stages, before you start configuring.
- The correct organisation workspace selected, if your account uses more than one.
For Administrators
Step 1: Open the pipeline configuration
What to do: Review the pipelines that already exist in the account. Decide whether to adapt a seeded pipeline or create a new one for a distinct sales process.
What to verify: You can see every pipeline the account uses, including any created for a specific product line or region.
Step 2: Create or duplicate the pipeline
What to do: Select Add to create a new pipeline, or duplicate an existing pipeline when the new process is a variation of one you already run. Duplicating carries the stage structure across, so you only adjust the differences.
What to verify: The new pipeline appears in the pipeline list and can be selected when creating a deal.
Step 3: Define the stages in sequence
What to do: Add each stage in the order a deal should progress. Keep the number of stages small enough that every stage has a clear exit criterion, and include stages for your closed outcomes, because CrmLeaf has no built-in won or lost status.
What to verify: Open the lead board for the pipeline and confirm the columns appear in the intended order.
Step 4: Set the first stage deliberately
What to do: Confirm which stage sits first, because that is where new deals arrive. Make it a genuine intake stage such as an unqualified or new enquiry stage, not a stage that implies work has already been done.
What to verify: Submit a test entry through the public web-to-lead form for this pipeline and confirm the deal appears in the first stage.
Step 5: Reorder or hide stages as the process changes
What to do: Reorder stages when the sequence changes. Toggle a stage's visibility to retire it without disturbing deals already recorded against it, rather than deleting a stage that carries history.
What to verify: The hidden stage no longer appears as a destination on the board, and existing reports still reconcile.
Step 6: Tell the team before you change a live pipeline
What to do: Announce stage changes to the sales team. Stage names and order drive per-stage totals and pipeline reporting, so a mid-quarter change alters how the same data reads.
What to verify: Deal reports for the pipeline produce the totals your sales manager expects.
Expected Result
The pipeline is saved with its stages in the intended order. New deals, including submissions from the public web-to-lead form, arrive at the first stage, and the lead board shows one column per visible stage with its own total.
Why This Matters for Service Organisations
A service organisation does not qualify an opportunity only on budget. It also has to decide whether the work is a fit for the practice and whether the firm can staff it. That means the stages a services pipeline needs — a scoping call, a written approach, a proposal issued, a resourcing check — look different from a product sales cycle, and a fixed stage list would not fit them.
How It Supports Professional Services
- Pipelines and stages are fully configurable per pipeline, so a firm can model its own qualification-to-proposal sequence rather than adapting to someone else's.
- Because CrmLeaf ships no fixed won or lost status, a services firm defines its own closed stages — which is also what makes won engagement value reportable at all.
- Distinct service lines can run distinct pipelines: an IT services firm might separate a long implementation cycle from a managed-services renewal cycle, and a marketing agency a retainer pursuit from a single-campaign brief.
- Duplicating a pipeline carries the stage structure across, which keeps stage naming consistent between practices so pipeline reporting still aggregates.
- Per-stage totals on the lead board show how much value is sitting at each step, which is the input a partner group uses in a weekly pursuit review.
Typical Service Workflow
Lead → Deal → Client → Project → Delivery → Billing
Pipeline configuration governs the Deal step and therefore everything reported from it. Movement between stages is an action a user takes, and the onward steps to a Client record and a delivery project are operated by the organisation rather than triggered by reaching a closing stage.
Other Product-Type Use Cases
Configurable stages serve equally well outside services: a manufacturer can model an enquiry-to-sample-to-order cycle, and a solar or construction business a survey-and-assessment sequence, using the same mechanism.
Related PSA Capabilities
- How to Use the Lead Board — renders the stages you configure as working columns.
- How to Create and Work Deals — the records that move through these stages.
- How to Embed a Web-to-Lead Form — each form points at one pipeline, so service-line routing starts here.
- How to Use Lead and Deal Reports — reads the stage structure you defined.
Important Notes
- Menu names and their position can differ between product editions and can be customised for your account, so your sidebar may not match these paths exactly. Use Search or your Quick Access items if you cannot find a screen.
- CrmLeaf does not ship a fixed won, lost or open status for deals. If you want to report on closed business, you must configure closed stages yourself.
- Prefer hiding a retired stage over deleting it, so the deals recorded against it keep their history.
- Solar CRM accounts are seeded with three predefined pipelines. Review them before adding more, to avoid overlapping processes.
- Each public web-to-lead form points at one specific pipeline, so plan your pipelines before publishing forms.
Common Scenarios
Example: two products, two sales cycles. A company sells a short self-service subscription and a long enterprise implementation. The Administrator creates two pipelines so short-cycle deals are not judged against enterprise stage timings, and points the website form for each product at the matching pipeline.
Example: retiring a stage. A team removes a separate legal review step. Rather than deleting the stage, the Administrator toggles its visibility off, so historic deals still show where they once sat while no new deal can be placed there.
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Possible Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| New deals appear in an unexpected column. | The stage you expect is not first in the pipeline order. | Reorder the stages so the intended intake stage is first. |
| A stage is missing from the lead board. | Its visibility is toggled off. | Toggle the stage's visibility back on. |
| Form submissions land in the wrong pipeline. | The published form URL references a different pipeline. | Regenerate the form for the intended pipeline and replace the embedded link on your website. |
| You cannot open the pipeline configuration. | You are not signed in as an Administrator. | Ask an Administrator to make the change. |
| Pipeline totals do not match last month's report. | Stages were renamed or reordered mid-period. | Compare against the stage structure in force at the time, and avoid changing stages mid-period. |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pipelines should we have?
Create one pipeline per genuinely different sales process. Duplicate an existing pipeline when the difference is small, so stage naming stays consistent for reporting.
Are there default stage names in CrmLeaf?
Pipelines are seeded when a company account is created, and Solar CRM accounts receive three predefined pipelines, but the stage names are configurable and should be reviewed for your process.
Can a User change stages?
Configuring pipelines and stages is an Administrator task. A User with the appropriate Deal permission can move a deal between existing stages.
What happens to deals in a stage I hide?
They keep their recorded stage. Hiding removes the stage as a destination on the board rather than reassigning deals.
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