The original 7-stage design
Our first pipeline mockup had 7 stages: New, Contacted, Qualified, Quoted, Negotiating, Won, Lost. It felt thorough. It was too thorough. In user testing, nobody knew what Qualified meant versus Contacted, and Negotiating had an 8% usage rate after 3 months.
Negotiating is where pipeline hygiene goes to die. Deals sit there for weeks because nobody wants to admit they are lost.
The 5-stage model
We cut to: New, Contacted, Quoted, Won, Lost. Qualified merged into Contacted. Negotiating got removed entirely — a deal is either Quoted (you sent a price) or Won (they accepted it). There is no middle state worth tracking separately.
- New: lead arrived, not yet replied to
- Contacted: you have had at least one exchange
- Quoted: a price is on the table
- Won: money received or job confirmed
- Lost: they went elsewhere, or you chose not to pursue
Every pipeline stage should trigger a specific action. If you cannot name what you do when a lead enters a stage, the stage should not exist.