Sales Pipeline Stage & Exit-Criteria Framework

The rule: a deal does not move to the next stage until every exit-criterion for its current stage is met — a calendar date or a rep's opinion is never sufficient on its own.

Stage 1 — Prospecting / New

Entrance: Contact identified, initial outreach made. Exit criteria (all required to advance):

• ☐ Contact has responded and agreed to a discovery conversation
• ☐ Contact confirmed as being at a company matching ICP criteria
• ☐ A scheduled meeting exists on the calendar

Stage 2 — Qualified

Entrance: Discovery meeting completed. Exit criteria (all required):

• ☐ A specific business problem has been named by the buyer, in their words
• ☐ A rough budget range or budget process has been discussed (even informally)
• ☐ Buyer has confirmed they are actively evaluating solutions (not just "interested")
• ☐ Decision timeframe has been stated by the buyer (not proposed by the rep)

Stage 3 — Discovery / Needs Analysis

Entrance: Qualification confirmed. Exit criteria (all required):

• ☐ Compelling event identified — a specific reason the decision must happen this period
• ☐ Decision process mapped: who's involved, in what order, and what each cares about
• ☐ Economic buyer identified by name and title (access not yet required at this stage)
• ☐ Success criteria defined: what does the buyer need to see to say yes?

Stage 4 — Solution / Demo Delivered

Entrance: Needs analysis complete, solution mapped to stated needs. Exit criteria (all required):

• ☐ Tailored demo/solution presentation delivered, addressing the specific problems named in Stage 3 (not a generic demo)
• ☐ Buyer has explicitly confirmed the solution addresses their stated need
• ☐ Champion identified and has agreed, in their own words, to advocate internally

Stage 5 — Proposal / Quote Sent

Entrance: Buyer has requested or agreed to receive formal pricing. Exit criteria (all required):

• ☐ Proposal sent to, and acknowledged received by, the buyer (not just emailed into silence)
• ☐ Pricing has been discussed directly with someone who controls or approves budget
• ☐ A specific date for the buyer's response/decision has been set by the buyer

"Proposal Sent" means: the buyer has the document, knows the price, and has committed to a date to respond — not merely that the rep clicked send.

Stage 6 — Negotiation

Entrance: Buyer has engaged substantively with pricing/terms (objections, redlines, or requested changes). Exit criteria (all required):

• ☐ Legal/procurement/security engaged if required by deal size or buyer's process
• ☐ Specific objections identified and a plan exists to resolve each one
• ☐ Economic buyer has been directly engaged on pricing/terms (not only the champion)

Stage 7 — Verbal Commit

Entrance: Buyer has stated, unprompted, that they intend to proceed. Exit criteria (all required):

• ☐ Verbal commitment came from the economic buyer or someone with signing authority, not only the champion
• ☐ Paper process started (contract sent/being reviewed)
• ☐ No known blocking approvals remain outstanding

Stage 8 — Closed Won / Closed Lost

Closed Won requires: signed contract received. Closed Lost requires: a documented, specific loss reason selected from a controlled list (never "no reason given") — this data feeds your win-rate-by-stage calculations (see the companion Weighted Pipeline Forecast Template).

Enforcement rules for managers

• A deal cannot be moved forward in a deal review by the rep's narrative alone — the manager checks the exit-criteria boxes against evidence (an email, a quote, a calendar invite), not against the rep's summary.
• If a deal has been advanced without meeting exit criteria, move it back. This will feel punitive the first few times — it is the only way stage names mean the same thing for every rep.
• Audit stage-to-stage conversion rates quarterly. A stage with an unusually high or low conversion rate compared to neighbors often means the exit criteria for that stage aren't being enforced consistently.