Build your pipeline
Think of a water slide with a few platforms. Every kid starts at the top and slides down one platform at a time. A pipeline is the same: every person you talk to sits on exactly one platform, and you always know which one.
- Before this course: Sales Fundamentals: Conversations That Close (course 2.5). You already know the six-step conversation (open, discover, present, handle concerns, ask, follow up) and the simple tracker. This course turns one conversation into a repeatable system.
- A sales pipeline is the list of stages a person moves through from a new lead to a customer. It shows where every lead is right now.
- Name each stage as something you completed, so it is clear when a person should move. "Contact made" and "Proposal sent" are clearer than just "Proposal", which could mean you are about to write it or it is already out.
- Start with one pipeline. Extra pipelines only help when you sell very different things in very different ways.
- Example stages for a small service business:
| Stage | Moves to the next stage when... |
|---|---|
| New lead | You have a name and a way to reach them |
| Contact made | They replied or you spoke |
| Need confirmed | You heard their problem in their words |
| Proposal sent | They have your price and offer in writing |
| Decision | They said yes or no, or you agreed a date |
| Won or lost | Money received, or reason for the "no" written down |
- Every person in the pipeline needs a next step and a date. A lead with no next step is stuck.
- Open a spreadsheet (Excel or Google Sheets) and name the sheet Pipeline.
- Make columns: Name, Stage, Next step, Next step date, Last contact, Value (your price), Notes.
- Write 5 to 6 stages as completed actions (for example Contact made, Need confirmed, Proposal sent).
- Next to each stage, write the exact event that moves a person into it.
- Add everyone you are talking to right now and give each one a stage.
- Give every row a next step and a date.
- Check: nobody sits in a stage without a next step, and you can explain why each person is in their stage.
Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.
Read the video script
[Host] "Do you know where every possible customer is right now? A pipeline tells you."
[Text on screen: Name the stages as finished actions] "Name each stage as something you finished: contact made, need confirmed, proposal sent."
[Screen: spreadsheet with stage and next step columns] "Every person gets a stage, a next step and a date."
[Host] "No next step means stuck. Fix that first."
Build your pipeline sheet with 5 to 6 stages and the event that moves someone into each. Add every current lead with a next step and date.
ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude
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For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.
I'm learning "Sales Process: pipeline, follow-up and objections" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Build your pipeline". What the lesson teaches: - Before this course: Sales Fundamentals: Conversations That Close (course 2.5). You already know the six-step conversation (open, discover, present, handle concerns, ask, follow up) and the simple tracker. This course turns one conversation into a repeatable system. - A sales pipeline is the list of stages a person moves through from a new lead to a customer. It shows where every lead is right now. - Name each stage as something you completed, so it is clear when a person should move. "Contact made" and "Proposal sent" are clearer than just "Proposal", which could mean you are about to write it or it is already out. - Start with one pipeline. Extra pipelines only help when you sell very different things in very different ways. - Example stages for a small service business: - Stage - Moves to the next stage when... - New lead - You have a name and a way to reach them The exercise I'm working on: Build your pipeline sheet with 5 to 6 stages and the event that moves someone into each. Add every current lead with a next step and date. I'm stuck. Please: 1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example. 2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step. 3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Build your pipeline" from the course "Sales Process: pipeline, follow-up and objections". Here's what the lesson says: Think of a water slide with a few platforms. Every kid starts at the top and slides down one platform at a time. A pipeline is the same: every person you talk to sits on exactly one platform, and you always know which one. The activity: Build your pipeline sheet with 5 to 6 stages and the event that moves someone into each. Add every current lead with a next step and date. Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words. Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Sources
- MinorCo, how to set up your Pipedrive pipeline and stages (video; naming stages as completed actions): www.youtube.com/watch?v=44UHk7P7lxQ
Qualify before you invest time
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A follow-up system that respects people
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Price objections and honest price claims
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Track your conversion
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The weekly sales review
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Final project
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Quiz
What is a sales pipeline?
The list of stages a person moves through from a new lead to a customer.
How should you name pipeline stages?
As completed actions, such as "Contact made" or "Proposal sent".
Name the four qualifying checks.
Budget, authority, need and timing.
What is a cadence?
A planned series of follow-ups spread over days or weeks.
How long can implied consent from a purchase last where anti-spam rules like CASL apply?
Up to 2 years after the purchase (6 months after an inquiry or application, under CASL).
What must you keep to show someone agreed to receive your messages?
Complete records of consent.
Name one of the two tests for a "regular price" claim.
Volume test (more than half of sales at that price or higher) or time test (offered in good faith at that price for a substantial period).
How do you calculate a conversion rate?
People who moved forward divided by people at the earlier stage, times 100.
Where should you improve first?
The step with the lowest conversion rate.
Why change only one thing at a time?
So you can tell what made the difference.
Final exam
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Certificate
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