Pipeline Management
How the sales pipeline works day-to-day — moving deals, automatic probability, forecasting and the kanban board.
Pipeline Management
The pipeline is the sum of all your open opportunities. HotCRM gives you a governed pipeline where stage progression, win probability and forecast values are all kept in sync automatically — reps focus on selling, not on data hygiene.
How probability is set
Win probability is set from the stage automatically, so every rep's forecast uses the same numbers:
| Stage | Default win probability |
|---|---|
| Prospecting | 10 % |
| Qualification | 25 % |
| Needs Analysis | 40 % |
| Proposal | 60 % |
| Negotiation | 80 % |
| Closed Won | 100 % |
| Closed Lost | 0 % |
You can override the probability manually on an individual deal if you have a special situation, but the override is reset the next time the stage changes. This prevents reps from inflating their forecast by hand.
Admins can adjust the percentages per stage — see Administration › Automation.
How expected revenue is calculated
Expected Revenue = Amount × Probability ÷ 100
This number is the heart of the weighted forecast. It's recalculated automatically every time the amount or probability changes (including the auto-updates from stage changes).
The Sales Dashboard sums Expected Revenue across the open pipeline to give you the weighted forecast for the quarter.
The pipeline kanban view
The Pipeline Kanban (sidebar shortcut Sales Pipeline) shows the pipeline as 7 columns — one per stage. Each card shows:
- Opportunity name
- Account
- Amount
- Close date
- Owner avatar
To advance a deal, just drag the card to the next column. The system enforces the stage rules, so you can't drag from Prospecting directly to Closed Won.
At the top of each column you'll see two numbers:
- The unweighted total (sum of amount)
- The weighted total (sum of expected revenue)
Pipeline health signals
A few derived fields surface deal risk so you can act on them in your weekly review:
| Signal | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Days in current stage > 30 | Deal is stagnant — push or close it. |
| Close date in the past AND stage still open | Forecast is wrong; reset the date or accept the loss. |
| Amount > $500K with no submitted approval | Discount approval is required before this can close. |
| Competitors set with no win plan | The Sales Copilot can suggest a strategy. |
The Sales Copilot surfaces at-risk deals when you ask "what's slipping?" or "how does my pipeline look?"
Pipeline reports worth bookmarking
You'll find these in the Reports section of the sidebar:
| Report | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Pipeline Coverage (Quarter) | Are we covering 3x the quota for the upcoming quarter? Matrix of quarter × stage. |
| Funnel by Owner → Stage | Per-rep funnel health — spot leaky stages. |
| Opportunities by Stage | Bar chart of pipeline by stage. |
| Won by Owner | Leaderboard for quarter-end recognition. |
| Customer Churn Signals | Open cases + low NPS on existing customers = churn risk. |
See Analytics › Reports for details.
Recommended pipeline cadence
| Cadence | What to do |
|---|---|
| Daily | Open Pipeline Kanban. Find stalled cards (in-stage > 14 days). Push or close. |
| Weekly | Run Pipeline Coverage. Ask the Sales Copilot: "what's at risk?" |
| Monthly | Run Funnel by Owner → Stage. Coach reps with leaky stages 1:1. |
| Quarter-end | Run Won by Owner for commissions. Archive lost deals with a loss reason. |
Forecasting roll-up
The Sales Manager / Director view of the forecast is built from:
- The Opportunity analytic cube (measure: sum of amount, dimension: stage)
- The Sales Dashboard widgets (pipeline by stage, win rate, top deals)
- The Pipeline Coverage report (quarter × stage matrix)
Together they answer: "do we have enough pipeline to make the quarter, and where are the risks?"
Tips for sales reps
- ✅ Move stage promptly — your forecast is wrong if your stage is wrong.
- ✅ Use Next Steps — your manager reads it every Monday standup.
- ❌ Don't slide the close date to hide slippage; use Closed Lost with a reason.
Tips for sales managers
- ✅ Run Funnel by Owner → Stage monthly to catch reps with leaky funnels.
- ✅ Use Pipeline Coverage by Quarter in QBRs to set the next quarter's targets.
- ✅ Coach reps to fill in Competitors — it dramatically improves Copilot quality.
Tips for admins
- Add or remove stages? You need to update three places: the picklist on the opportunity object, the workflow rule that sets probabilities, and the state machine that controls transitions. See Customization › Extending Objects.
- The $100K large deal notification threshold lives in the opportunity workflow rules.