In HubSpot, a pipeline is a way to visualize and manage your Deals—showing exactly where each potential opportunity stands, from early discussion through closure. By default, HubSpot provides a single pipeline with built-in stages, giving you a quick, standardized sales flow. For many consultants, these default stages are enough to begin tracking deals right away.
1. What Is a Pipeline?
A pipeline is a sequence of stages that a deal passes through on the way to being won (or lost). It helps you see at a glance:
- Which deals are near closing and which are still early.
- Which stage each deal occupies so you can focus on the right next steps.
- Overall progress for all your opportunities.
HubSpot’s default pipeline is already set up in your CRM when you create deals. Each stage typically correlates to a key milestone or event in your sales cycle.
2. HubSpot’s Default Deal Stages
By default, HubSpot’s pipeline might include these stage labels (though exact names can vary slightly from account to account):
- Appointment Scheduled: You’ve arranged an initial meeting or call with the contact. They’ve shown some willingness to learn more about your services.
- Qualified to Buy: You’ve determined the contact meets basic qualifications: they have a need, budget, or timeline that matches your offering.
- Presentation Scheduled: You’re set to present a proposal, outline your solution, or deliver a demo (in some industries). This indicates they’re reasonably interested.
- Decision Maker Bought In: Key stakeholders or the main decision-maker have expressed alignment or strong intent. You’re moving closer to closing.
- Contract Sent: You’ve delivered a formal agreement or contract for signature. Payment terms, scope, or final details are on the table.
- Closed Won: The deal is finalized—congratulations, the client has agreed to your engagement terms or signed the contract.
- Closed Lost: The deal did not materialize—either the prospect chose another solution, decided not to proceed, or otherwise ended the conversation.
These stages form a standard sales workflow: from setting an appointment, building a proposal, to final negotiations, then success or loss.
3. Moving a Deal from One Stage to Another
3.1 Updating Deal Stages
- Open a Deal: In Deals, choose the specific deal record you want to update.
- Change Stage: Look for the Deal Stage property. Select a new stage from the dropdown.
- Save: HubSpot updates the deal record to reflect that move.
3.2 Drag-and-Drop in Board View
- Go to Deals: By default, HubSpot shows your pipeline in a “board” layout (sometimes called “Kanban”).
- Find the Deal Card: In the column representing its current stage.
- Drag to Another Column**: If your deal moves from “Presentation Scheduled” to “Decision Maker Bought In,” simply grab the deal card and drop it into that column.
- Result: The stage property automatically updates, and you’ll see the card now sits in the new stage’s column.
4. Viewing the Pipeline
HubSpot offers two main ways to look at your deals:
- Board (Kanban) View
- Deals appear as cards in columns labeled by stage (e.g., “Appointment Scheduled,” “Contract Sent”).
- You can drag cards from left to right as they progress.
- Great for a visual sense of the entire pipeline’s distribution.
- Table (List) View
- Displays deals in rows with columns for stage, amount, close date, and so on.
- Useful if you want a sortable or filterable spreadsheet-like interface.
- You can also update a deal’s stage by clicking into the record or using inline editing if available.
Both views let you filter deals by owner, stage, or timeframe to focus on what matters that day. For instance, you might filter to see only deals in “Presentation Scheduled” so you can prioritize follow-up.
