Here’s something I’ve learned about HubSpot: a deal pipeline can slowly turn into something way more complicated than anyone meant it to be.
It usually starts with good intentions. A new deal stage gets added because the sales team needs it. Another stage shows up to support a different process. Someone adds a stage just for reporting.
Before long, a pipeline that used to have six or seven stages now has fifteen or more. Everything still technically works. But it gets harder and harder to understand what each stage actually means.
That’s why I always review a deal pipeline before I change anything.
I start with one question
Does every stage represent a real step in the sales process?
The best pipelines are the ones where every stage means something real. If a deal moves to a new stage, something should have actually happened. Maybe a discovery call got done. Maybe a proposal went out. Maybe the customer approved the quote.
If I can’t explain why a stage exists, it’s worth a second look.
Then I look for stages nobody really uses
Sometimes a stage mattered a lot when it was first created. But the process changed, and now deals barely ever pass through it.
When I spot one of these, I ask: does this stage still add value, or is it just making the pipeline harder to manage?
I check how long deals sit in each stage
I find this one really useful.
If deals are stuck in one stage way longer than expected, I don’t assume the stage itself is the problem. I ask why. Is the team waiting on the customer? Is there an approval step taking too long? Or is the stage secretly being used for more than one thing?
The answers usually tell me more about how the team actually sells than the pipeline does.
I check the automation too
Deal stages rarely stand alone. They’re usually tied to workflows, tasks, notifications, or lifecycle updates.
So before I rename or remove a stage, I always check whether any automation depends on it. That one simple check has saved me from causing a problem more than once.
My final check
Before I’m done, I ask myself one last thing: if a new salesperson started tomorrow, would they know exactly when to move a deal into each stage?
If not, the pipeline probably needs some attention.
For me, a good pipeline isn’t the one with the most stages. It’s the one the whole team can actually understand and use the same way. When everyone follows the same process, reporting gets more reliable, forecasts get better, and automation actually works the way it’s supposed to.
That’s why I review pipelines regularly, instead of only touching them when something breaks.