We have a recommended staging system for flooring companies: 

Open Stages

• Unassigned* – This is a new lead that has been created in the system and has not yet been assigned to a user. Typically, leads in the unassigned stage have either been created by a managerial user or via an API connection. Leads in this stage should be reviewed and assigned to a user as soon as possible. Unassigned leads will appear on the Daily Stalled notification.
• Assigned* – This is a new lead that has been assigned to a user, but has not yet been accepted by the user. Assigned leads will appear on the Daily Stalled notification.
• Accepted* – This is a lead that has been accepted by the user to whom it was assigned, but had not been moved into one of the stages below. Accepted leads will appear on the Daily Stalled notification.
• Contacted – This is a lead that needs to be contacted or has been contacted by the assigned user.
• Qualifying – This is a lead that is being or needs to be qualified.
• Measure – This is a lead for which a measure has been scheduled or is being completed.
• Appointment – This is a lead with which the assigned user has scheduled an appointment or meeting.
• Estimating – This is a lead for which the assigned user is in the process of estimating the job and/or preparing a quote. For example, a salesperson has measured a job and will need a day or two to complete the estimation due to the complexity of the job or a busy schedule. Changing the job to this stage indicates that the job is in the queue to be estimated or is in the process of being estimated. The task date you’d set at this stage is the date you expect the estimating to be complete.
• Quoted – This is a lead that has received or been sent a quote. The job should be changed to this stage when estimating is complete and a quote is given to the customer.
• Negotiations – This is a lead where the assigned user is in negotiations with the customer after a quote has been given. This typically is used if the customer is getting multiple quotes from various companies.
• On Hold – This is a lead where the customer has asked you to follow up on the project after a considerable amount of time. For example, the customer may have asked you to put the project on hold for several months. The lead should be put on hold and then given a follow up date, so the system will remind the assigned user to follow up with the lead.
• Sold – Job In Progress – This is when the lead has been sold and for which you have a signed contract. The job is now in the process of going through the operations channels.

Closed Stages

• Completed Sale – This is when the job is complete and installed. This is where you also follow up with the customer and thank them for their business, ask for referrals, and ask them to write a review. There is a field within this stage to be checked off that says “Post Job Call Complete”. It is important that you understand that when changing to this stage you must complete this action of the follow up call.
• No Sale – This is a lead that the assigned user has nurtured but has not successfully converted into a sale or a new account.
• Dead – This is a lead that does not represent a sales opportunity, such as out of service area or sales solicitation (examples – someone in China trying to sell you LVT, someone offering to get you a #1 ranking on Google – mostly these come through direct website submissions). If you choose not to have a “Dead” stage, you can simply delete these types of leads.

*Indicates a system required stage.