Custom Pipelines
Build and tune your own sales pipelines, stages, probabilities, and team scoping.
Out of the box, every Aggrandize org gets one default pipeline — Sales Pipeline — with a sensible seven-stage flow. But construction sales rarely fit one mold: enterprise pursuits, public bids, repeat-client work, and channel partnerships often need their own pipelines with different stage names, different probabilities, and different team access.
Pipeline Settings is where Owners and Admins shape that.
Where to find it
Open Settings → Pipeline Settings. The page only shows up for Owners and Admins; members see neither the settings card nor the URL.
Pipeline Settings
Manage your sales pipelines and customize deal stages
Sales Pipeline
DefaultDefault sales process
Stages (7)
Enterprise
EnterpriseLong-cycle multi-stakeholder deals
About Pipelines
- • Each pipeline represents a different sales process (e.g., Enterprise, SMB, Partnerships)
- • The default pipeline is used when creating new deals
- • Each pipeline needs at least one "Won" and one "Lost" stage
- • Stage probability helps forecast deal values
The page lists every pipeline in your org, sorted with the Default one first. Each card shows the pipeline's name, an optional description, a team tag (if scoped), and quick stats — number of stages and number of active deals on that pipeline.
Creating a pipeline
Tip: Not sure how to structure your pipelines? Ask the AI assistant to "set up my pipeline criteria" (or run the Set up pipeline criteria & strategy prompt from the Prompt Library). It interviews you, writes clear "place a deal here when…" criteria into each pipeline, and — if you're starting fresh — can propose a proven structure: Cold Outreach, Targeted Pursuits, and Client Maintenance.
Click New Pipeline in the top-right. The create dialog has four inputs:
- Pipeline Name — required, anything you want (e.g., Enterprise, Partnerships, Public RFPs)
- Description — short blurb shown under the name in the list
- Team Access — Org-wide (default) or scoped to a specific team. When scoped, only members of that team can see deals on this pipeline. Team-scoped pipelines are the right tool when an Enterprise team and an SMB team need to track different opportunities without cross-pollination.
- Create with default stages — checked by default; uncheck if you want to start blank and define every stage yourself
Create Pipeline
Deals in this pipeline will only be visible to team members
Create with default stages
Includes: New Lead, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal Sent, Negotiating, Closed Won, Closed Lost
When the checkbox is on, the new pipeline ships with seven seed stages: New Lead → Contacted → Qualified → Proposal Sent → Negotiating → Closed Won → Closed Lost. Each gets a default probability and color so you can start using the pipeline immediately.
Adding and editing stages
Click any pipeline row to expand it and see its stages.
Pipeline Settings
Manage your sales pipelines and customize deal stages
Sales Pipeline
DefaultDefault sales process
Stages (7)
Enterprise
EnterpriseLong-cycle multi-stakeholder deals
About Pipelines
- • Each pipeline represents a different sales process (e.g., Enterprise, SMB, Partnerships)
- • The default pipeline is used when creating new deals
- • Each pipeline needs at least one "Won" and one "Lost" stage
- • Stage probability helps forecast deal values
Each stage row carries:
- Reorder arrows — bump a stage up or down to change board order
- Color dot — what the stage looks like as the Kanban column header and the deal-card chip
- Name
- Win probability — how likely a deal at this stage is to close. Used by the dashboard for weighted forecasting.
- Type badge — Open, Won, or Lost (more on this below)
- Deal count — how many active deals are currently on this stage
- Three-dot menu — Edit, Archive, or Delete
To add a stage, click Add Stage in the top-right of the expanded list:
Add Stage
The four inputs:
- Stage Name — required
- Stage Type — choose Open, Won (Closed), or Lost (Closed). Type drives the deal lifecycle: deals in Open stages count toward active pipeline value, Won deals book revenue, Lost deals stop accruing. You can't change stage type after creation — once a stage is Won, it's Won forever. Plan accordingly.
- Win Probability (%) — 0 to 100. Open stages typically climb from 10% to 80% as deals advance; Won is 100%; Lost is 0%.
- Stage Color — pick from the swatch palette. Color is used for the Kanban column, deal-card chip, and stage badge.
Stage type rules
Aggrandize enforces a clean Won/Lost contract so reporting stays accurate:
- Exactly one Won stage per pipeline. Trying to add a second triggers a "Pipeline already has a Won stage" error.
- Exactly one Lost stage per pipeline. Same rule.
- Every pipeline needs both. If you delete a Won or Lost stage (only possible if no deals are sitting in it), the validation banner reminds you to add a replacement before the pipeline can host new deals.
Pipeline Settings
Manage your sales pipelines and customize deal stages
Institutional RFPs
Tracking bids and proposals for institutional clients
Stages (3)
Pipeline needs a "Lost" stage
About Pipelines
- • Each pipeline represents a different sales process (e.g., Enterprise, SMB, Partnerships)
- • The default pipeline is used when creating new deals
- • Each pipeline needs at least one "Won" and one "Lost" stage
- • Stage probability helps forecast deal values
Reordering stages
Use the up/down arrows on the left side of each stage row to change order. Order matters in two places:
- Kanban board — left-to-right column order on the pipeline page mirrors top-to-bottom stage order in Settings
- Drag-to-advance — when you drag a deal one column to the right, it moves to the next stage in this exact order
You don't need to keep Open stages above closed stages; many teams keep Closed Won and Closed Lost at the far right so the visual flow reads as left-to-right progress.
Archiving vs. deleting stages
The three-dot menu on a stage row exposes two destructive-looking options that behave differently:
- Archive Stage — soft-hides the stage. Deals already on it stay put (and stay readable), but new deals can't be created on or moved to an archived stage. Use this when your process changes and you want to retire a stage without losing history. Archived stages render dimmed in the Stages list and don't appear on the Kanban board.
- Delete Stage — permanently removes the stage. Only available when no deals are on the stage AND the type is Open. Won and Lost stages can never be deleted (the warning "Cannot delete Won stage" reminds you why) — they're the contract that anchors the pipeline.
If a stage has deals on it, neither Archive nor Delete is enabled. The dropdown reads "Move N deals to delete" — re-stage those deals first.
Custom fields
Stages track where a deal is; custom fields track what's true about it. Because the right fields depend on the workflow — a construction-sales pipeline wants Confidence and Delivery System, a service pipeline wants Contract Length and Renewal Date — custom fields are defined per pipeline, right alongside its stages. (Custom fields are a paid-plan feature — see Plans & Pricing.)
Where to find it
On any pipeline card, open the three-dot menu and choose Manage Fields. That opens the pipeline's Custom Fields page.
Custom Fields
Fields for the “Sales Pipeline” pipeline
Adding a field
Click Add Field. The dialog has a handful of inputs:
- Label — the human name shown on deals (e.g., Delivery System)
- Key — auto-generated from the label (e.g.,
delivery_system); it's how the value is stored, so it's locked once deals start using the field - Type — Text, Number, Percent, Currency, Date, Checkbox, or Select (a single-choice dropdown)
- Options — for Select fields, add the choices and give each a color (the color becomes the badge on the deal)
- Required — when on, the field must be filled to create a deal
Add Field
Auto-generated from the label. Lowercase letters, numbers, underscores.
Where custom fields show up
Once defined, a pipeline's fields appear everywhere its deals do:
- Create / edit deal — the fields render in a Custom Fields section on the form
- Deal detail — a Custom Fields section shows each value
- Table columns — turn any custom field into a column from the Columns menu on the Deals table (off by default)
- Filters — in table view, filter deals by their custom-field values
Rules worth knowing
- Required is enforced when creating a deal. Adding a required field later does not lock the deals you already have — you can still edit them; they just don't have a value for the new field yet.
- Reorder fields with the up/down arrows; the order is the order they appear on deals.
- Editing in use is limited on purpose. Once a deal uses a field, its key and type lock, and a Select field's existing option values lock — so the data already saved on deals keeps its meaning. You can always rename labels, recolor options, add new options, and add new fields.
- Archive a field (three-dot menu) to retire it without losing data: it disappears from forms and detail, but the values stay on the deals.
- Per-pipeline. If you move a deal to a different pipeline, its previous custom values are preserved and shown under an Other fields section on the deal — they're just not editable unless that pipeline defines a matching field.
- There's a limit on how many active fields a pipeline can have, to keep the deal form and table readable. When you hit it, archive a field to free a slot.
Setting the default pipeline
The default pipeline is the one new deals land on when no pipeline is explicitly picked — from the Create Deal button, from the AI assistant, and from any future automations.
The Default star badge marks which pipeline holds that role. To change it, open the three-dot menu on any non-default pipeline and click Set as Default:
Pipeline Settings
Manage your sales pipelines and customize deal stages
Sales Pipeline
DefaultDefault sales process
Enterprise
EnterpriseLong-cycle multi-stakeholder deals
About Pipelines
- • Each pipeline represents a different sales process (e.g., Enterprise, SMB, Partnerships)
- • The default pipeline is used when creating new deals
- • Each pipeline needs at least one "Won" and one "Lost" stage
- • Stage probability helps forecast deal values
Only one pipeline can be default at a time. Switching the default doesn't touch existing deals — they stay on whichever pipeline they were created on.
Deleting a pipeline
Open the three-dot menu on the pipeline card. Delete Pipeline appears only when both conditions hold:
- The pipeline is not the default
- The pipeline has zero deals on it (across all stages, including archived ones)
Otherwise the menu shows an explanation: either "Cannot delete default pipeline" (pick a new default first) or "Move N deals to delete" (re-stage the remaining deals to a different pipeline first).
A confirmation dialog asks before the delete commits. Deletion is permanent for the pipeline and all its stages — but the deals themselves are never lost; they're moved off the pipeline before delete can fire, so they survive on whatever pipeline you re-staged them to.
Working with multiple pipelines
Once you have more than one pipeline, the rest of the app adjusts:
- Deals page — the pipeline switcher above the Kanban board lets you flip between pipelines; the Kanban renders the stages of whichever pipeline is active
- Create deal dialog — pipeline becomes a required dropdown (the default is pre-selected); changing pipeline re-loads the stage dropdown
- Bulk action bar — a "Pipeline" select appears in deals-table multi-select so you can move a batch of deals between pipelines in one go (see Pipeline → Bulk actions)
- AI assistant — when asked to create deals, the assistant picks the default pipeline unless you specify otherwise ("create the deal on the Enterprise pipeline")
Who can change pipeline settings?
Pipeline Settings is Owner and Admin only. Members can use the pipelines that exist — drag deals between stages, change the active pipeline on the Deals page — but they can't add stages, rename pipelines, or change defaults. If a member needs a new stage, an Admin has to add it on their behalf.
A few patterns we see in the field
- Single Sales Pipeline, customized stages. Most teams start here. They keep the default pipeline and just rename a few stages and adjust probabilities to match how they actually qualify. Lowest friction, highest signal.
- Two pipelines split by deal size. SMB (fast cycle, 4-5 stages) and Enterprise (long cycle, 6-8 stages with explicit POC and Procurement stages). The bulk action bar's pipeline switcher lets you re-classify deals as they grow.
- Team-scoped pipelines. When two teams operate independently — say a Commercial Construction team and a Civil/Infrastructure team — give each its own team-scoped pipeline. Members of each team see only their pipeline's deals, even at the dashboard level.
- Channel pipeline. A separate Partnerships pipeline whose stages track the partner-handoff lifecycle (Identified → Pitched → Co-Sell → Joint Close) keeps direct-sale metrics clean and tracks influence revenue separately.
If you're not sure where to start, leave the default Sales Pipeline alone for the first few weeks. Pipeline Settings is a place you'll come back to once you see how your team actually works.