A sales pipeline where every stage has one rule a rep can check in ten seconds
CRM setup for small sales teams and mid-size ones up to 150 seats. We write the stage definition sheet with your sales lead, get it signed, then configure stages, deal fields, record types and permissions to match it line for line. From a $2,400 fixed base plus $90 to $140 per seat.
What a sales pipeline setup costs at three team sizes
Base plus seats, rounded to $50. The base range depends on how many record types and permission profiles you need; the seat rate depends on how many distinct roles have their own page layouts.
This is an estimate band, not a quote. We quote in writing after a scoping call. A second pipeline for renewals or partners adds $600 to $900.
What goes in a stage definition sheet
One page. A row per stage. Each row has a name, an entry rule, an exit rule and a default probability. The entry rule is a fact about the buyer that someone could verify from the record: a meeting on the calendar, a named budget holder, a signed order form. Not "feels qualified". Not "good call".
The ten-second test is literal. We hand a rep a deal record and a stopwatch. If they cannot say whether it meets the entry rule of its current stage in ten seconds, the rule is rewritten. Most first drafts fail on two or three stages, usually the middle ones where "Discovery" and "Qualified" blur together.
The sheet also carries field decisions. For every field on the deal form we write which stage makes it required, if any. A field required at stage 1 that nobody reads until stage 5 is moved to stage 5. A field required and never read is deleted. On a recent audit, 40 required fields came down to 9.
Your sales lead signs the sheet. That signature is the gate: no stage, field or layout is configured until it exists, and after launch the sheet is what our 30-day fix window is measured against.
A seven-stage pipeline for a B2B team of 18 seats
This is close to a sheet we signed off for a software team selling annual contracts. Your CRM pipeline stages definition will differ in wording. The shape rarely does.
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01
5% NewEntry ruleA named contact at a company inside the target segment, with an owner assigned by routing.
Exit ruleA first meeting is booked on the calendar, or the lead is closed as unqualified with a reason.
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02
10% Meeting bookedEntry ruleCalendar event exists with the contact, linked to the record.
Exit ruleMeeting held and the pain field filled in the buyer's own words. No-shows go back to New after two reschedules.
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03
20% DiscoveryEntry ruleFirst meeting held. Pain recorded.
Exit ruleBudget holder named on the record and a second meeting that includes them is booked.
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04
40% EvaluationEntry ruleBudget holder has attended a meeting.
Exit ruleBuyer has stated their decision criteria and a target start date, both written on the record.
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05
60% ProposalEntry ruleProposal document sent. Close date and amount become mandatory here, and nowhere before.
Exit ruleBuyer has returned comments or requested contract terms.
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06
80% NegotiationEntry ruleContract or order form sent. Discounts above the approval threshold routed to a manager.
Exit ruleSigned document attached, or the deal is closed lost with a reason from a fixed list.
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07
100% Closed wonEntry ruleSigned order form attached to the record.
Exit ruleHandoff task created for onboarding. The deal is locked against edits except by an admin.
Why seven and not eleven
The pipeline we replaced had eleven stages. Three were internal steps ("Proposal drafting", "Proposal review", "Proposal sent") that described what the rep was doing, not what the buyer had done. Two more had no deals in them for a year. Merging them did not lose information. It removed the choice reps were making by gut feel every Friday.
Where the close date lives
Your forecast is only as honest as the close date. So it is mandatory at Proposal and hidden before it. A close date typed on a discovery call is a guess, and a pipeline full of guesses produces a forecast that rolls forward by 30 days every month. Probabilities are tied to the stage and not editable by reps.
Your forecast is only as honest as the close date. Mandatory at Proposal. Nowhere before.
Stage sheet, rule 03
What gets configured after the signature
The build takes two to three weeks for most teams and follows the sheet in order. We test every stage by moving a dummy deal through it and checking that the required fields, validation rules and probability behave as written.
- Stages
- Names, order, default probability, closed-lost reasons from a fixed list
- Deal fields
- Kept, cut or moved per the field inventory; required only at the stage that uses them
- Validation
- Entry rules enforced where the CRM allows it, flagged by report where it does not
- Record types
- New business, renewal, partner, as the sheet specifies
- Layouts
- One per role: SDR, AE, manager, admin
- Permissions
- Who can edit amount, close date and stage after Closed won
- Handover
- Admin guide section covering every item above
Records come in through data migration and cleanup, routing through workflow automation, and the forecast view through forecasting and dashboards. Each is priced separately.
Before you book CRM setup
We already have a pipeline. Do we pay for a new one?
You pay for the sheet and whatever changes it causes. If your stages survive the ten-second test, the build is small and the quote says so. The per-seat rate covers layout and permission work, which usually needs redoing anyway.
What if our sales lead will not sign the sheet?
Then we have found the real problem, and it was cheaper to find it on paper. We run up to three revision rounds on the draft within the base price. If the team cannot agree after that, we stop and bill only for the sheet work done.
Is this right for a two-person team?
Probably not yet. Below three seats the base price is hard to justify, and a shared spreadsheet with clear stage names does the job. Come back when a third rep starts and nobody knows whose deal is whose.