Sales phases turn your sales process into something visible and manageable. They show where deals are right now and what should happen next. In Tribe, sales phases organise opportunities into clear stages as they move forward. By completing this step, you will translate your sales process into a simple, structured pipeline.
Sales phases help your team understand where deals sit and how they are progressing. They make it easier to see what should happen next and where deals tend to slow down.
In Tribe, sales phases act as work buckets for opportunities. Each opportunity sits in one phase at a time and moves forward as the deal progresses.
Start From Your Sales Process
In an earlier step, you described your sales process in a few clear steps. This step is about translating those steps into sales phases in Tribe.
As you do this, consider the main milestones from the first conversation to closing, when a deal clearly moves forward, and when visibility and reporting matter most.
Your phases should represent milestones, not small tasks.
Think In Milestones, Not Activities
A good sales phase answers what has been achieved in the deal.
For example, phases such as “Discovery completed” or “Proposal shared” describe clear progress. Activities like sending an email or calling a prospect do not.
This approach keeps your pipeline clear and easy to understand.
How Probabilities Work
Each sales phase is linked to a probability that reflects the chance of winning the opportunity. For example, selecting the Won phase sets the probability to 100%.
Default probabilities can be defined in the settings, while sales reps can still adjust them per opportunity. These probability values are used to generate a calculated forecast, where deal values are weighted by how likely they are to close.
Example Of a Simple Phase Setup
A common starting point includes phases such as:
Qualification - First contact or intake completed
Appointment - Needs and fit are explored during meetings
Proposal - Solution and pricing are shared
Negotiation - Decision process and alignment
Won or Lost - Deal closed
Note! This is only an example. Your sales phases should always reflect your own sales process. Keeping things simple is more important than making them perfect.
Tips For Choosing Good Phases
Strong sales phases are easy for the whole team to understand, clearly different from each other, and based on real progress in the deal. They should also be useful for reporting and forecasting.
If two phases feel very similar, it is usually better to merge them.
Keep Adoption in Mind
Your sales team will work with these phases every day. Fewer and clearer phases lead to better pipeline visibility, more consistent usage, and faster adoption.
You can always optimise the setup once your team starts working in Tribe.
How to Configure Sales Phases
Go to Configuration.
Select Activities and then Sales Opportunity.
3. Open Pipelines.
4. Make changes within the Standard Pipeline.
5. Adjust existing phases by changing their name or probability percentage.
6. Decide the default phase for new opportunities.
7. Mark the possible end steps of your sales process as final phases.
What Success Looks Like
By the end of this step, you should have a clear list of sales phases, shared agreement on what each phase means, and a simple pipeline configured in Tribe.
Quick Summary
You have translated your sales process into clear sales phases. Each opportunity now moves through defined milestones in a structured pipeline. This gives your team better visibility and a shared understanding of deal progress.