Status vs. Sales Steps · You Don't Need a CRM!


Status vs. sales steps

When managing your leads there are several aspects that you need to know, two of which are important ones: where in the sales process a lead is (sales funnel) and what’s it’s status (closed or alive)? Knowing these elements will help you optimize your sales process.

The main difference between these two elements is that the sales process is variable from one company to another, whereas statuses stay unchanged.

In every sales team out there, the statuses are: either I have something to do with the lead right away (To-Do), I will have something to do at some point (Standby), I closed the deal (Won), I lost it against a competitor (Lost), or the sale dropped for some reason (Cancelled). The status *cancelled often doesn't exist in other software, but we believe there's a big difference between losing against a competitor and not closing the deal because the project ended up not going through.

On the other hand, it’s not possible to create an exact list when it comes to sales steps because, not only do they vary from one company to another, but also from an individual product or service to another.

Inside no you can define each step of your own sales funnel so that it corresponds to your company’s needs, and it’s the same for every sales person inside the company. For example: To Qualify > Contacted > Visited > Quotation > Closing. However, statuses can’t be changed. To-Do / Standby / Won / Lost / Cancelled always stays the same.

We suggest that you don't create too many sales steps. Above 7 or 8 and it becomes difficult to visualize and manage. Most importantly, do not create sales steps that replicate the statuses, you need to clearly define the difference in these before you set up.

If after your sales cycle there's another process of follow-up you need to start, then you can create a sales step such as "after sales" or "follow-up".

Read also: Defining your sales steps inside YDNCRM

Next post: Defining Key Information on Leads

Table of contents

  1. Organizing your sales activity
    1. Our Philosophy
    2. Suspects (Unqualified Prospects) vs. Leads
    3. Prospecting Lists, Leads & Client Folders
    4. Status vs. Sales Steps
    5. Defining Key Information on Leads
    6. The Importance of Categorizing Your Leads
    7. Managing Multiple Contacts in the Same Company
    8. Admin, Team Manager & User
    9. Customizing Your Account Interface
  2. Organizing Your Daily Activities
    3. Set Reminders and Synchronize Your Account with Your Calendar
    4. Sort Activities for a Better Understanding of Your Leads
    5. Extended, Compact & Pipeline Mode
    6. Create Several Pipelines to Analyse Different Sales Processes
    7. Make your Most Important Leads Stand Out
    8. Find Leads by Using Filters
  3. Learn How to Use Prospecting Lists
    1. When and How to Use Prospecting Lists
    3. The Importance of Using Column Names
    4. Magic Columns
  4. Working on the Go
    1. Mobile App
    2. Using the Speech Recognition
    3. Scan your Business Cards
  5. Adding Leads from External Sources
    1. By E-mail
    2. From your Partners
    3. From a Contact Form
    1. Analyze your business and sales team performance
    2. Analyze your Activity by Category or by Salesperson
    3. Find the Leads That Have Been Pending for too Long
    5. Using the Activity Feed to Manage your Team
    7. Exporting your Data for Reporting or Marketing Purposes
  7. Manage your Existing Customers
    1. Following up on your Won Clients
  8. Connect to Other Apps
    1. How to Connect: Zapier, API & Direct Integration
    2. Send Notifications or Fire Actions Based on Events