Setting up pipelines and phases

A pipeline is a group of leads with the same kind of request, such as selling, buying or a mortgage. Phases are the steps a lead goes through in that pipeline, from first contact to decision. Together they are the foundation of your reporting: what you set up here determines what you can see later.

What a pipeline is

Think of a pipeline as a funnel. Leads come in at the top and move down phase by phase. While a lead is in the funnel, it is Open. At the bottom it leaves the pipeline as Won or Lost. Every pipeline has those two statuses built in; you don't create them as phases.

Two questions decide which pipelines you need:

• Which groups of leads do you want to see separately in your reports?
• Which way of working belongs to each group?

Most agencies need four to six pipelines, for example Sales, Purchase, Valuation, Mortgage, New build and Insurance. Some combine buying and selling in one pipeline.

Phases and their three categories

Every phase belongs to one of three categories. Together they describe a lead's journey:

• Entry: the lead has come in, but nothing has been done with it yet. Examples: "Request received", "Warm leads", "Urgent". Usually one or two phases.
• Approach: you are trying to make contact, or have made it. Examples: "No contact yet", "Waiting for reply", "Appointment on site". Usually two or three phases.
• Decision: the lead has to choose. Examples: "Prepare proposal", "Proposal sent", "Follow up proposal". Usually one or two phases.

Day to day, this shows where each lead stands. At management level it shows at a glance how many leads are still coming in and how many have reached a decision. Keep phases broad: we recommend no more than seven per pipeline. A lead doesn't have to go through every phase.

Reasons for extra context

If you want to know why a lead is in "No contact yet", use reasons rather than extra phases. You set a short list of reasons per phase for your colleagues to choose from. You can also require a reason for Won and Lost, so your reports show why leads drop out. For Open, also switch on "No reason enabled": it adds "Not applicable" to the list, so nobody has to make up a reason.

How leads get into a pipeline

• Created by hand: you choose the pipeline, and the lead goes into the first phase of the Entry category.
• From Realworks: with the Virtual Colleague, KeyVue creates leads from characteristics, appointments, tasks or contacts in Realworks, and moves them to another phase when something happens in Realworks.
• Through a webhook: for each webhook you set which pipeline the lead goes into and with which status, for example as a Chance.

You can't change the pipeline of an existing lead. If a lead belongs in another pipeline as well, use "Create additional". That creates a second lead.

Potential revenue

If you enter the average revenue of a won lead per pipeline and per team, KeyVue calculates what your pipeline is worth. The potential revenue is that amount added up over all open leads. The forecast is that potential revenue multiplied by the share of leads won in that pipeline. The potential revenue changes straight away; KeyVue updates that share every 24 hours, so for a new pipeline the forecast only appears the next day.

The amount is per team because revenue can differ by region. If it's the same everywhere, enter the same amount for every team.

Where to set it up

You'll find everything below under Settings, as a company manager.

• Pipeline → "Pijplijn & Fase": pipelines on the left, phases on the right. A phase has a name, a colour, a category and the status Active. Drag phases to change their order or category.
• Activating a pipeline: only possible once it has at least one active phase in every category.
• Copying phases: "Import phases" takes over the phases of another pipeline. The phases this pipeline already had are overwritten. This only works while the pipeline has no open leads.
• Deleting: a pipeline or phase that has ever been used can't be deleted. Set it to Inactive instead. Leads in it stay there, but they no longer appear in the phase tabs.
• Mind the first phase: new leads go into the first Entry phase, even if that phase is inactive. So keep it active.
• Potential revenue: in the pipeline under "Teams and potential revenue", or under Virtual Colleague → Turnover. That last page is also where you choose which roles see the amounts.

Not sure how to divide things up? Email support@keyvue.app. We're happy to help.