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How to Leverage Deal Stages in HubSpot Sales

You know that feeling when you stumble upon a solution to a gnarly problem? Picture this: it's past midnight, lit only by the glow from our laptops. I was huddled with Terry in an office—swimming in what felt like an endless sea of data. We were knee-deep in client leads, struggling to track where each was in our chaotic pipeline. Then suddenly, it hit us: the solution all along was hiding in the deal stages in HubSpot Sales. Like a lighthouse cutting through the fog, it guided us to clarity and calm.

Understanding the Basics​

Remember that time our good friend Anna fixed the rattling car engine with just a twist of a wrench? Instead of calling a mechanic, she trusted her instincts and solved the puzzle herself. Similarly, understanding HubSpot's deal stages is like peering under the hood of your sales pipeline. Each stage is more than just a checkbox—it's a critical component in your sales journey, reflecting the progress of deals from initiation to closing.

In HubSpot, deal stages represent sequential steps that give order to chaos. Crafting your stages thoughtfully, informed by the unique rhythm of our business, allows us to design a pipeline that feels like a finely tuned orchestra rather than a cacophony of unvisited tabs.

Setting Up a Deal Stage​

It was a crisp autumn morning, full of promise and coffee aromas. Sarah sat us down, her enthusiasm contagious, ready to navigate the setup of our first deal stage. We began by accessing Settings, found nestled in the upper right corner—right next to the search bar waiting to reveal its hidden treasures.

  • Starting with the Sales tab, we drilled down to the Properties section.
  • There, we discovered the Deal Pipelines and Stages menu, where magic truly begins.
  • Click on Create Pipeline —or edit an existing one— to unveil the stage options.
  • We added stages, aptly naming them to reflect the relationship progression with our clients: Prospecting, Qualification, Proposal, and finally, Closing.

Editing the probability for each stage was like setting our sail amid a vast ocean: they decide how likely it is the deal will come through. It was here that Sarah made an insightful quip about percentages, “It’s art dressed as science.”

Customizing Deal Stages​

Much like Kevin's impromptu description of our favorite films—where words flowed with unexpected precision and brightness—customizing deal stages in HubSpot invites creativity. It gifts us the power to mold stages to mirror our exact processes.

Here's how we went about it:

  • With stages freshly named, we tinkered within each, adjusting criteria like a renaissance sculptor fine-tuning a masterpiece.
  • By accessing the Manage option of the necessary pipeline, we dove into specifics: renaming, shuffling the order of stages, even changing which team member should tackle which part.
  • Toggling on automating tasks within a stage —sending an email or updating a property—allowed us to streamline operations without as much as lifting a finger.

An Unexpected Conclusion​

When we closed that crucial deal—Terry leapt sky-high, Sarah performed a little dance—we realized leveraging deal stages had not only brought business growth but transformed our workflow's mere survival into a nimble ballet. The process of setting up and customizing was an unexpected journey of joy and discovery, much like rediscovering a childhood toy hidden in an attic box.

Together, with stages aligned to our goals, it's like we're conducting a script, precise yet full of heart, pirouetting through each interaction with purpose. The sea of data turned into a symphony, all through the genuine simplicity of deal stages in HubSpot Sales. And as Sarah wisely said one misty morning, “Every stage tells a story. Let’s just keep writing ours.”