A deal runs through four stages. Whichever one applies helps decide what shows up in the forecast and what counts as a result on Home ↗.
Contents
- The four stages
- Changing the stage
- What you are asked for when switching
- What happens at the close
- Offer sent is a date of its own
- Taking a stage back
- Next
The four stages
| Stage | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Send offer | The deal exists, the offer is being prepared or is out. |
| Closing | The commitment is there, the close is not yet formally done. |
| Won | The business is done. |
| Lost | Nothing will come of it. |
Send offer and Closing count as open. Only those two appear in Open deals ↗ and feed the Open volume and the forecast.
Changing the stage
Two ways, same result:
- On the detail page: click the stage you want in the bar inside the Pipeline & status block.
- In Kanban: drag the card into the target column.
What you are asked for when switching
Depending on the target stage, a window opens with the matching fields. Everything is optional - the window says All fields optional.
- To Closing: Follow-up date, Confidence, Next step, Deal value and Offer sent. This is the point where the numbers should become reliable, which is why inDeal asks here.
- To Lost: Select reason.
- To Send offer and to Won: no extra fields. The stage switches immediately.
Always fill in the Lost reason. It is the only place that later shows why a deal fell through.
What happens at the close
Once a deal sits on Won:
- It leaves Open deals and the forecast.
- Its value counts on Home under Closed won for the current month.
- It counts towards New customers and Total customers.
- The time from creating the lead to this point feeds the Sales cycle.
With Lost it also leaves the forecast, but appears under All deals ↗ and in the Kanban column Lost - limited there to the last 30 days.
Offer sent is a date of its own
The Offer sent field is not set automatically when you change the stage. Fill it in as soon as the offer is actually out. It is the basis of the Deal conversion analysis on Home, which measures Offer → closed won.
Taking a stage back
You can change any stage again at any time, including back from Won or Lost. The deal then reappears in Open deals and the monthly figures on Home change accordingly. That is the right way to correct a mistaken classification.