Sales training and coaching · Team foundations
A deal moves on when the buyer has done something, not when the rep feels good.
Pipeline stage exit criteria are the facts that must be true, and provable, before a deal may move to the next stage. Good ones are required, factual, inspectable and written from the buyer's side. They turn a pipeline from a mood board into a forecast.
Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.
In one paragraph
Pipeline stage exit criteria are the facts that must be true, and provable, before a deal may move to the next stage. Good ones are required, factual, inspectable and written from the buyer's side. They turn a pipeline from a mood board into a forecast.
The owner of a packaging unit in Vapi opens the pipeline sheet and sees eleven deals at the stage called Proposal Sent. Four of them have not replied for six weeks. Two never received the proposal, because it went to an old email address. The stage was a rep's action, not a buyer's, so a deal sat there forever.
Build stages from the buyer's journey. Identify the steps at which the buyer needs your rep's help to move on. Name each stage after what the buyer has done: Quote received, Sample approved, Advance paid. Beside each name, write the exit criterion and the record that proves it, such as an email, a WhatsApp confirmation, a purchase order or an advance receipt.
The sales head writes the stage table; the owner tests it; the manager inspects the evidence in the weekly pipeline meeting. The pipeline stages page in the sales process section covers setting the stages up in a CRM. This page is about the criteria, which decide whether the CRM tells the truth.
Where this sits
Topic 5 of 8 in sales training and coaching: team foundations. The shared definitions a team needs before coaching.
- The topic before
- Objections and closing practice
- The topic after
- Coaching the sales team
If you want this done for you
Know which deals are actually going to close this month, not which ones you hope will.
The work
What this is actually like.
“A purchase order or advance beats a verbal yes”
In India a warm "we will go ahead" is courtesy as much as commitment. The first stage a buyer cannot casually reverse is a written order or money received. Put that as the exit for the late stages and treat everything before it as open.
“Test each stage against four questions”
Is it required, so that no deal skips it? Is it factual, so two people would agree whether it happened? Is it inspectable, so there is a record? Is it written from the buyer's side? Delete any stage that fails two.
“Follow-up is not a stage”
"Follow up" and "waiting for reply" are things the rep does, and a deal can sit there for a year. If the buyer is silent, the deal is still at the last stage the buyer actually completed, with an overdue next step.
“Post-close stages belong in the pipeline”
Handover, delivery and first payment are where promised deals die. Add stages for them, so a deal marked won but not delivered is still visible. A pipeline that ends at the signature hides the work that decides repeat orders.
What we do
What you end up with.
The documents this topic produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.
The draft stage list
A list of six to eight points where the buyer needs the rep to proceed. Start from the buyer's journey and strike any step that is only the rep's internal task.
Result: Finished when each stage is a point where a deal can be stuck for a reason the buyer controls.
The stage dictionary
One row per stage: buyer-side name, the rep's action, the exit criterion, the evidence, and who checks it. Example row: Quote received, rep sends written quote, buyer confirms receipt, WhatsApp read tick or email reply.
Result: Finished when a new rep could place any deal in a stage without asking.
The stage test grid
A table with the four tests as columns and stages as rows, ticked or crossed. Any row with two crosses is rewritten or removed.
Result: Finished when every remaining stage has four ticks.
The CRM or sheet set-up
The stages entered in your CRM or shared sheet, with the evidence field required before a deal can advance.
Result: Finished when you cannot move a deal forward without attaching or ticking the evidence.
The baseline conversion sheet
For the last quarter, the number of deals that entered each stage and the number that moved on, using the new definitions as far as records allow.
Result: Finished when you have a stage-to-stage conversion figure, however rough, for every stage.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Your brief
Tell us what you need, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps about your business, what you want and who decides. Most questions are a tap, and you can skip any you would rather answer on the call.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How many stages should a small business have?
What counts as evidence in a WhatsApp-run business?
What do we do with old deals that fail the new criteria?
Should the stage names be shown to buyers?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this topic further.
The rest of team foundations
Or read all of sales training and coaching.
Your next practical step
Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.
Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.