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Baduist
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Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Our sales process usually starts with leads that either:

 

1. Arrived at an event

2. Bought a front-end product

 

Right now our pipeline only represents the first option, and looks like this:

 

Signup for event --> Showed up --> Meeting Scheduled --> Follow up --> Won/Lost.

 

As far as I'm concerened, "Bought a front-end product" means about the same as "Showed up", but the pipline in Hubspot does not allow for parallel stages (am I wrong?), so I'm wondering if it makes sense to put it as a first stage (before "Signup for event) or a 3rd stage (after "Showed up"), even though it does not represent the actual flow/timeline of the customer's journey. 

 

Does that make sense? Are there any cons I should consider that might pop up down the line? Is there a better way to represented a branched coutsomer journey / sales flow?

 

At the moment it's just one branch (event vs. purchase) but in the future I might have more types of leads to funnel into this same sales proccess. 

 

 

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Josh
Solution
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Hi @Baduist,

 

Understandable. 

 

Reporting accuracy is the most significant downside that comes to mind in regards to having parallel steps in the process. 

 

Josh 




Did this post help solve your problem? If so, please mark it as a solution.

Josh Curcio

HubSpot support and inbound marketing for OEMs, contract manufacturers, and industrial suppliers.
HubSpot Platinum Partner & HubSpot Certified Trainer

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Josh
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Hi @Baduist,

 

Nothing significant comes to mind provided the processes are similar and your teams are clear on the standard operating procedures. 

 

Josh 




Did this post help solve your problem? If so, please mark it as a solution.

Josh Curcio

HubSpot support and inbound marketing for OEMs, contract manufacturers, and industrial suppliers.
HubSpot Platinum Partner & HubSpot Certified Trainer

Baduist
Member

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Thanks! 🙂 

0 Upvotes
Baduist
Member

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Thanks Josh! 

 

Other than when looking at the pipeline, is there anywhere else in Hubspot this might be siginificant that I'm not considering? 

 

 

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Josh
Solution
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Hi @Baduist,

 

Understandable. 

 

Reporting accuracy is the most significant downside that comes to mind in regards to having parallel steps in the process. 

 

Josh 




Did this post help solve your problem? If so, please mark it as a solution.

Josh Curcio

HubSpot support and inbound marketing for OEMs, contract manufacturers, and industrial suppliers.
HubSpot Platinum Partner & HubSpot Certified Trainer

Baduist
Member

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Thanks! Josh!

 

So yeah, we're on the pro plan, but my thinkijng was I'd like to keep my process as lean as possible - a completely separate deal pipeline that's 80% identical means duplicating every single automation I'm using which will clutter the account and make it harder to maintain.

 

Your suggestion of naming the stages more generically makes sense, but this will result in a less clear "big picture", so I'm wondering if there are any specific cons or reasons to avoid adding steps that are parallel in our process ("in real life") but appear one-after-the-other in the pipeline.

 

 

0 Upvotes
Josh
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner
Recognized Expert | Platinum Partner

Deal pipeline best practices for multiple lead types (parallel stages?)

SOLVE

Hi @Baduist,

 

The paid versions of Sales Hub will allow you to create more than 1 pipeline in which you could track the processes separately. Starter comes with 2 pipelines, Pro 15 pipelines, and Enterprise 100 pipelines.

 

Alternatively if the process is the same, you can think of each stage as an objective milestone and rename accordingly. Instead of "Showed Up", may you label that stage "Converted" (or something more relevant). You can create a custom deal property to track whether this deal was an event or an actual product purchase.

 

If you create a stage that is passed always passed over in one of your sales processes may cause confusion and will skew reporting for conversion rates. 

 

I hope that helps!

 

Josh




Did this post help solve your problem? If so, please mark it as a solution.

Josh Curcio

HubSpot support and inbound marketing for OEMs, contract manufacturers, and industrial suppliers.
HubSpot Platinum Partner & HubSpot Certified Trainer