Lead & Deal Reporting Non-sequential

[EM1234]

Hi There 

I currently use the lead and deal funnel for customer outreach flow, however the stages are not nessacarily sequential. 

ie I have a stage "Stagnant" but a lead might not move through that stage if they go from connected to a deal. The lead would only move through the stagnant stage if they are unresponsive but we want to differentiate the reporting from someone who is in an "attempting" stage. 

In additon we have a qualified stage > a deal is created and a "disqualified stage" so naturally a the lead won't move through both stages. 

As a result the reporting for the lead and deal funnel isn't accurate as the reporting is sequential and only counts a lead/deal if it has been moved through every stage. 

Questions are:

a) is having my funnels set up this way incorrect and is there a better way to set the stages so the reporting is accurate?

b) is there a way to change the reporting so it is not sequiential and just records each stage?

Thank you 

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @EM1234,

Generally, HubSpot expects deals and leads to move through stages in order / sequence. The strict answer would be that, no, there isn't a way to configure reports in a way that they reliably and completely display conversion rates, times in stages etc.

In other words, you should aim for a deal / lead stage configuration that you can follow sequentially. It might take some getting use to but I would consider it best practice. You will not be able to generate the same level of insights with non-sequential deal stages.

That also means removing the 'stagnant' stage(s), as they can lead to records moving back and forth. I am of the opinion that this stage is typically a way to workaround disqualifying a contact and setting a reminder to follow-up again, if applicable. I'd recommend either leaving a recordsin the stage they're currently in (theoretically, a deal can stagnate in each stage; using HubSpot reports, you could see which stages deals get stuck in and for how long) or close them, marking them with a disqualification or lost reason, e.g. "No response", "No activity" etc. You could then, either manually or leveraging workflows, set yourself email or task reminders to open a new record after a while.

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions!