Hi @Stacks42
From what I know, the cleanest pattern is keep your existing sales-heavy Lead Statuses, then add one extra status called “Nurturing” that a workflow toggles on after a quiet period. That way reps aren’t asked to move records backwards, and Marketing can own the drip without cluttering the active pipeline.
Create the new status
• In Settings › Objects › Contacts › Lead status, add Nurturing under the Not started group (it’s fine there—HubSpot won’t penalise you for a “backwards” move as long as workflows handle it). Guide: edit lead-status values. community.hubspot.com
Detect stalled leads automatically
• Build a contact workflow (Automation › Workflows › From scratch).
• Enrollment: Lead status is Attempting OR Connected AND “Last activity date” is more than 21 days ago.
• Action: Set lead status → Nurturing. Workflow how-to here. knowledge.hubspot.com
Enroll them in the nurture drip
• Draft 3-5 Automated marketing emails that answer common objections. KB: create automated emails. knowledge.hubspot.com
• In the same workflow, add Send email actions with gaps (e.g., 5-day delays Tuesday–Thursday). How to insert delays. community.hubspot.com
Bounce them back to Sales on engagement
• Add an if/then branch: If Contact replies OR clicks any nurture email → set lead status back to Connected and assign task to owner.
• Else let the sequence finish and mark as Unresponsive or Disqualified depending on your policy.
Watch the SQL queue
• Separate deal/workflow: when Lifecycle stage = SQL and Create date older than X days AND no associated deal, trigger a Task “Follow up or recycle.” Use the same workflow tool—just target SQL instead of Lead Status.
Why not bury “Nurturing” between Attempting and Connected?
Sales often jump back and forth; putting nurture in the Not started bucket keeps the visual funnel simple, and a workflow can bump them forward automatically once they re-engage—no manual drag-and-drop.
Extra analytics
Tag every nurture email with a Campaign so Marketing can measure reopen-to-Connected lift; HubSpot’s Campaigns tool rolls that up nicely. knowledge.hubspot.com
That setup lets Sales keep hunting, Marketing warms the silent ones, and no lead gets stranded.
Hope this helps.