Turn prospects into customers
Every sale starts somewhere. A phone call, a meeting, an enquiry. But between that first conversation and the final handshake, there's a journey. The sales pipeline helps you visualise that journey, track where each opportunity stands, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Officaid's sales pipeline gives you a clear view of all your active deals, organised by stage. You can see at a glance which deals need attention, which are close to closing, and where your team should focus their efforts.
What is a Sales Pipeline?
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of your sales process. It shows every potential deal you're working on and where each one sits in your sales journey. Think of it as a roadmap from "interested prospect" to "paying customer".
Without a pipeline, sales opportunities live in spreadsheets, sticky notes, or worse, in someone's head. Deals get forgotten, follow-ups slip through the cracks, and revenue is left on the table. A well-managed pipeline keeps everything visible and organised.
Business owners and sales teams use pipelines to:
- See all opportunities in one place instead of scattered across emails and notebooks
- Prioritise effectively by focusing on deals most likely to close
- Forecast revenue by understanding how much potential business is in progress
- Identify bottlenecks by spotting where deals tend to stall
- Ensure consistent follow-up by tracking activities for each deal
How Officaid's Pipeline Works
Officaid organises your deals into five stages that reflect the typical B2B sales process:
- Qualified is where new deals start. You've identified a potential opportunity and determined it's worth pursuing. The lead has a genuine need and the budget to potentially buy.
- Contacted means you've reached out. You've made initial contact with the prospect through a call, email, or meeting to introduce your offering.
- Meeting Scheduled indicates active engagement. You've secured a meeting or presentation to discuss the opportunity in detail.
- Proposal Made means you've put forward an offer. You've sent a quotation, proposal, or formal offer for the prospect to consider.
- Negotiating is the final stretch. You're discussing terms, pricing, or details before the deal closes.
These stages are designed to work for most businesses. As you progress a deal, you simply move it from one stage to the next until it's either won or lost.
The Three Pipeline Views
Officaid provides three ways to view your pipeline, each suited to different needs:
Kanban View is the default visual board. Deals appear as cards organised into columns by stage. You can drag and drop cards between stages as deals progress. This view is ideal for getting a quick visual overview and managing deals day-to-day.
List View displays your deals in a table format with sortable columns including Estimated Close Date, Deal Stage, Deal Name, Lead, Deal Value, and Currency. This view is better for sorting, filtering, and reviewing deal details at a glance. You can also download your pipeline data from this view.
History View shows your closed deals, both won and lost. This is your archive of completed opportunities, useful for reviewing past performance and understanding your win rate.
What Makes Up a Deal?
Each deal in your pipeline contains key information that helps you track and manage the opportunity:
- Deal Name is a descriptive title for the opportunity (e.g., "Ventilation Duct System" or "RWS Contract").
- Lead is the company or contact associated with this deal. Leads come from your Network module and must be selected when creating a deal.
- Deal Value is the potential revenue if this deal closes. This helps you prioritise high-value opportunities.
- Currency allows you to track deals in different currencies if you work with international clients.
- Estimated Close Date is when you expect the deal to close. This helps with forecasting and prioritisation.
- Deal Stage indicates where the deal currently sits in your pipeline.
- Probability is your assessment of how likely this deal is to close (Unknown, Very Low, Low, Medium, High, or Very High).
- Description is an optional field for any additional notes or context about the opportunity.
Activity Overdue Alerts
On the Kanban view, you may notice some deal cards display an orange Activity Overdue badge. This alert appears when a deal has pending activities that are past their due date.
These alerts help you spot deals that need immediate attention. If you see an overdue badge, click into the deal to review and complete the pending activities.
The Power of Activities
A pipeline alone isn't enough. What turns prospects into customers is consistent follow-up and engagement. That's where activities come in.
Officaid lets you track every interaction with a prospect directly on the deal. You can log calls, schedule meetings, create tasks, send emails, set milestones, and add notes. Each activity has a due date, so you always know what needs to happen next.
The Focus section on each deal shows your upcoming and overdue activities. The History section shows what's already been completed. Together, they give you a complete picture of your engagement with each prospect.
Activities are one of the most powerful features of the pipeline. We'll cover them in detail in Tracking Deal Activities.
Connecting Your Pipeline to the Bigger Picture
Your sales pipeline doesn't exist in isolation. It connects to other parts of Officaid to create a seamless workflow:
- Network is where your leads come from. Before creating a deal, you need contacts or companies in your Network. These become the leads you link to deals.
- Quotations can be created directly from a deal. When you reach the Proposal Made stage, you can add a quotation and track its status without leaving the deal.
- Invoicing comes after a deal is won. Quotations can be converted to invoices, completing the journey from prospect to paying customer.
Getting Started
To access your pipeline, navigate to Sales → Pipeline from the main menu. If you're new to Officaid, you'll see an empty pipeline ready for your first deal.
Before adding deals, make sure you have at least one contact or company in your Network. This becomes the lead you'll link to your deals.
Frequently Asked Questions
A lead is a person or company in your Network. A deal is a specific sales opportunity with that lead. One lead can have multiple deals over time. For example, you might have a company called "Bayview Galleria" as a lead, and create separate deals for different projects or contracts with them.
When you mark a deal as Won or Lost, it moves out of your active pipeline and into the History view. The deal record is preserved so you can review past opportunities, but it no longer appears on your Kanban board or active list. This keeps your pipeline focused on current opportunities.
Once a deal is marked as Won or Lost, it cannot be reopened. If a previously lost opportunity becomes active again, you should create a new deal for it. This keeps your pipeline history accurate and your reporting clean.
What's Next?
Now that you understand how the sales pipeline works, explore these related articles:
- Adding a New Deal to create your first sales opportunity
- Navigating Your Pipeline to learn the different views and features
- Tracking Deal Activities to master follow-ups and engagement