Sales Pipeline Overview
AccuArk's sales pipeline is a visual system for tracking potential revenue as it moves from an initial lead all the way through to a closed deal. Rather than guessing at future income, the pipeline gives you a structured, stage-by-stage view of every opportunity your team is working on. Because the pipeline is built directly into the Customer Form, every deal is linked to the customer it belongs to, keeping all of your sales data in one place.
This article introduces the core concepts behind the sales pipeline, explains the default stages, walks through the Deals tab on the Customer Form, and describes how weighted pipeline values help you forecast revenue.
What Is a Sales Pipeline?
A sales pipeline is a series of stages that represent the journey a potential sale takes from first contact to final outcome. Each stage reflects a milestone in your sales process. As a deal progresses, it moves from one stage to the next, giving you and your team a clear picture of where every opportunity stands at any given moment.
In AccuArk, the pipeline is fully configurable. You can rename stages, add new ones, remove stages you do not use, and adjust the probability percentages associated with each stage. This flexibility means the pipeline can match your exact sales workflow, whether you run a simple three-step process or a detailed multi-stage pipeline.
Default Pipeline Stages
When you first set up AccuArk's CRM, the system comes with six default pipeline stages. These stages represent a common sales workflow and serve as a starting point that you can customize to fit your business.
| Stage | Default Probability | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Lead | 10% | The earliest stage. You have identified a potential customer or opportunity but have not yet determined whether it is a good fit. |
| Qualified | 25% | You have spoken with the prospect, confirmed that they have a genuine need, and determined that they are a viable candidate for your product or service. |
| Proposal | 50% | You have presented a formal proposal, quote, or estimate to the prospect. They are reviewing your offer. |
| Negotiation | 75% | The prospect is actively discussing terms, pricing, or scope with you. Both parties are working toward an agreement. |
| Won | 100% | The deal has been successfully closed. The customer has agreed to purchase and the revenue is confirmed. |
| Lost | 0% | The deal did not close. The prospect declined, chose a competitor, or the opportunity is no longer viable. |
These are the default stages, but they are fully configurable. You can rename them, change the probabilities, add additional stages between them, or remove stages that do not apply to your business. See Configuring Pipeline Stages for instructions on customizing your pipeline.
Understanding Probability
Each pipeline stage has a default probability percentage that represents how likely a deal at that stage is to close successfully. This probability is a statistical estimate based on typical sales conversion rates.
- A deal in the Lead stage has a 10% probability because most early-stage leads do not convert.
- A deal in the Negotiation stage has a 75% probability because the prospect is actively working toward an agreement.
- A Won deal has 100% probability because it has already closed.
- A Lost deal has 0% probability because it will not generate revenue.
When you create a new deal and select a stage, the probability field is automatically filled with that stage's default value. However, you can override this value on any individual deal if you have a better estimate of its likelihood. For example, if you have a deal in the Proposal stage but you know the customer is very enthusiastic, you might manually set the probability to 70% instead of the default 50%.
The Deals Tab on the Customer Form
The Deals tab is where you interact with the pipeline on a per-customer basis. Every customer record in AccuArk has a Deals tab that shows all deals associated with that customer.
Accessing the Deals Tab
- Open the Customer Form by navigating to Customers in the main menu and selecting the customer you want to review.
- Click the Deals tab near the top of the form.
- The tab loads and displays the deal summary panel at the top and the deals grid below.
Deal Summary Panel
At the top of the Deals tab, a summary panel provides three key metrics that give you an at-a-glance understanding of the customer's pipeline status:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Open Deals | The number of deals that are currently active (not in the Won or Lost stage). This tells you how many opportunities are still being worked for this customer. |
| Total Pipeline Value | The sum of the dollar values of all open deals. This represents the total potential revenue if every open deal were to close successfully. |
| Weighted Pipeline Value | The sum of each open deal's value multiplied by its probability, divided by 100. This figure provides a more realistic estimate of expected revenue because it accounts for the likelihood of each deal closing. |
How Weighted Pipeline Value Is Calculated
The weighted pipeline value is calculated by taking each open deal's value, multiplying it by the deal's probability percentage, and dividing by 100. The results are then summed across all open deals.
For example, suppose a customer has three open deals:
| Deal | Value | Probability | Weighted Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office Renovation | $10,000 | 50% | $5,000 |
| Furniture Package | $3,000 | 75% | $2,250 |
| Maintenance Contract | $1,200 | 25% | $300 |
| Totals | $14,200 | $7,550 |
In this example, the Total Pipeline Value is $14,200 (the sum of all deal values), while the Weighted Pipeline Value is $7,550 (the probability-adjusted sum). The weighted value gives you a more realistic forecast because it factors in how likely each deal is to actually close.
Deals Grid
Below the summary panel, the deals grid lists every deal associated with the customer. The grid displays the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Deal Name | A descriptive name for the opportunity (for example, "Office Furniture Package" or "Annual Service Contract") |
| Value ($) | The dollar amount of the deal |
| Stage | The current pipeline stage, displayed as a color-coded badge. The badge color comes from the stage's configured color_hex value, making it easy to visually scan the grid and identify where deals stand. |
| Probability (%) | The likelihood of the deal closing, expressed as a percentage |
| Expected Close Date | The date by which you expect the deal to be finalized |
| Assigned To | The user (salesperson or account manager) responsible for working this deal |
| Age | The number of days since the deal was created, giving you a sense of how long the opportunity has been in the pipeline |
Deals are sorted by expected close date in ascending order, so the deals expected to close soonest appear at the top of the grid. This helps you prioritize your attention on the most time-sensitive opportunities.
Creating a New Deal
To create a new deal from the Deals tab:
- Click the New Deal button at the top of the Deals tab.
- The Deal dialog opens with empty fields ready for you to fill in.
- Enter the deal name, value, stage, expected close date, and other details.
- Click Save to create the deal.
- The new deal appears in the deals grid and the summary panel updates to reflect the new totals.
The new deal is automatically linked to the current customer. You do not need to manually associate it. For a detailed walkthrough of every field on the Deal dialog, see Creating & Managing Deals.
Opening an Existing Deal
To view or edit an existing deal, double-click the deal row in the grid. The Deal dialog opens with all of the deal's current information, including its full stage history. You can update any field, move the deal to a new stage, or mark it as won or lost.
Deal Visibility Rules
Not every user can see every deal. AccuArk controls deal visibility through a combination of location settings and user permissions.
Location-Level Visibility Setting
Each location has a crm_deal_visibility setting that determines the default visibility scope:
- owner_only — Users can only see deals that are assigned to them. This is useful for organizations where salespeople should not view each other's deals.
- location_wide — Users can see all deals at their current location, regardless of who the deal is assigned to. This is useful for collaborative sales teams where everyone needs visibility into the full pipeline.
Permission-Based Overrides
Two CRM permissions control deal visibility at the user level:
- CRM_VIEW_OWN_DEALS — This permission is required for a user to see any deals at all. Without it, the Deals tab will not display deal data. This is the baseline permission that all deal-related users should have.
- CRM_VIEW_ALL_DEALS — This permission overrides the location's visibility setting and allows the user to see all deals at the location, regardless of assignment. This is typically granted to managers and administrators who need full pipeline visibility for reporting and oversight.
The combination of the location setting and user permissions gives you fine-grained control over who can see what. For example, you might set a location to owner_only for general privacy, but grant CRM_VIEW_ALL_DEALS to the sales manager so they can monitor the entire pipeline.
Pipeline Forecasting
One of the most valuable aspects of the sales pipeline is its ability to help you forecast future revenue. By looking at the weighted pipeline value across all customers and all open deals, you can estimate how much revenue your business is likely to generate in the coming weeks and months.
Here is a simple forecasting approach:
- Review the deals expected to close within your forecast period (for example, the next 30 days).
- Add up the weighted values of those deals.
- The total gives you a probability-adjusted revenue forecast for that period.
Keep in mind that forecasts are estimates. The accuracy of your forecast depends on how realistic your probability percentages are and how diligently your team updates deal stages. Over time, as you track actual conversion rates, you can refine your stage probabilities to improve forecast accuracy.
Tips and Best Practices
- Keep deals current — Update deal stages promptly as conversations progress. A pipeline full of stale deals gives you an inaccurate picture of your sales health.
- Use realistic probabilities — The default probabilities are starting points. Over time, track your actual close rates at each stage and adjust the defaults to match your real-world data.
- Set expected close dates thoughtfully — Avoid setting close dates too far in the future just to keep deals off your radar. Use dates that reflect genuine expectations so your forecasts remain useful.
- Review lost deals periodically — Lost deals contain valuable information about why prospects did not convert. Reviewing lost reasons can help you improve your sales process and identify patterns.
- Assign every deal to an owner — Unassigned deals tend to be neglected. Make sure every deal has a clear owner who is responsible for moving it forward.
- Clean up old deals — If a deal has been sitting in the same stage for an unusually long time without any activity, it may need to be re-evaluated. Either advance it, mark it as lost, or update the expected close date.
What to Read Next
- Creating & Managing Deals — Step-by-step guide to creating, editing, and closing deals
- Configuring Pipeline Stages — Customize stages, probabilities, colors, and auto-task automation