Sales flow
Create templates for stages, substages and outcomes, assign them to projects, adapt them per project and have the AI build them.
Settings → Sales → Sales flow. You need the permission ‘Organization and defaults’ (admins always have it).
A sales flow defines how your team guides a lead through sales: which stages there are, which outcomes (formerly ‘results’) can be chosen when documenting and what happens automatically afterwards. Your team only sees the fitting buttons.
The way in three steps
- Choose a template: take a system template, create your own or take over an offer from the Marketplace.
- Assign to projects: each project receives a flow.
- Adapt per project: changes only apply to this project.
Templates
Under Templates there are three types:
| Type | What it is |
|---|---|
| Default | The default flow of the organisation. It applies to all projects without their own template. |
| System templates | Supplied by Leadmode, view and copy only: Full Cycle, Opening and intro call, Cold outreach, Email support |
| Own templates | Your own |
The system templates differ in scope: ‘Full Cycle’ runs from cold outreach to the customer, ‘Opening and intro call’ ends at the handover, ‘Cold outreach’ ends at the agreed intro call, ‘Email support’ answers incoming emails without calls and appointments.
Each card shows the number of stages and outcomes and how many projects use it. Buttons:
- Create with AI: you describe the flow, Leadmode drafts it (Flows with AI).
- New template: you enter a name and a description and choose the basis under ‘Start with’.
- Edit or View: opens the editor.
- Create copy (system template) or Duplicate: creates your own copy.
- Bin (own only): deletes the template. Projects that received it earlier keep their flow.
Assigning to a project
Under Projects, each project is listed with a selection ‘Template for project name’. If you choose a different template, the dialog Assign template opens. If leads in the project are in stages that do not exist in the new flow, you assign them new stages under ‘Assignment of leads’. Then click ‘Assign’. If there is nothing to move, it says ‘All leads of the project stay where they are.’
If an own template has a newer version than the one a project uses, New version of the template appears next to the project, with the versions, for example ‘v17 → v18’. Otherwise, the version in use is shown (‘Version v17’). Update brings the current state of the template into the project. As with every change, you see beforehand where contacts move that are in a stage being dropped.
If you adapt the flow of a project, adapted appears next to the selection. With Reset to template in the editor, you restore the template’s flow.
The editor
Adapt (on the project) or Edit (on the template) opens the editor. At the top are Back, for templates the name and description, and on the right History, Discard and Save. After saving, the button shows ‘Saved’. When leaving with changes, Leadmode asks. On the project flow there is additionally Save as template. System templates are read-only; there you copy with Save as own template.
The editor is a tree that you enter step by step:
Stage → Substage → Outcome → Automation
- A stage is a section in sales, for example contacting or intro call.
- A substage is an interim status of the stage, for example ‘Callback agreed’ or ‘1× not reached’.
- An outcome (formerly ‘result’) is the button your team clicks after a conversation. It belongs to a substage and is only selectable there.
- The automation is what happens afterwards: where the lead goes, which waiting time applies, which tasks arise.
The default names of stages and substages are kept consistent and easy to understand, for example ‘Gatekeeper blocks’, ‘Booked’ or ‘Appointment outcome open’. Existing flows have been renamed, unless you had changed a name yourself. Your own templates stay as they are. Projects with a system template therefore show ‘New version of the template’, and Update takes over the new names. Only the display names have changed; documentation, automations, metrics and the assignment of leads stay. Names may contain emojis. If you do not want to see them, hide them for yourself under Settings → Appearance → Display with the switch Show emojis in stage and list names; the full name stays saved. Under the stage tree the editor also explains what stage, substage, documentation and work list mean.
The editor opens full screen: the menu on the left collapses while it is open, and ‘Back’ takes you to the overview. On the Flow tab, three columns stand side by side: Stages, Substages and Outcome. They are there from the start and open from left to right as soon as you choose something. At the top of the editor are the tabs: Flow and Overview are enough for a start. Work list, Lists per stage, Advanced settings and (for templates) Fields and views carry the red mark Pro and are meant for details.
Level 1: stages
The stages are listed one below the other in the left column. Each card shows name, type and how many substages and outcomes it contains. A click opens the stage in the middle column. You change the order only by dragging the handle. Add stage creates a new one.
If outcomes have no place in the flow (for example because you deleted a substage), the editor reports this at the top. You either place them in a substage there or remove them.
Level 2: one stage
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name of the stage | Label |
| Counts as in finance | ‘Nothing special’, ‘Quote meeting’ or ‘Offer’ (only for stages where this is possible) |
| Type of stage | ‘Sales’ or ‘After closing’ (only for own stages). Stages after closing must come after ‘Won’. |
| Remove stage | Removes the stage. If leads are still in it in the project, Leadmode asks where they move when saving. |
Below are the substages. Each row shows small fields with the outcomes of the substage and where they lead. You arrange them by dragging, add a new one with Substage, and remove one with the bin. A click opens the substage.
Create chain builds repetitions such as ‘1× not reached’, ‘2× not reached’, ‘3× not reached’. You specify:
- how many steps there should be (1 to 8) and what they are called,
- which outcome leads from step to step (for example ‘Not reached’),
- which waiting time applies,
- from which substage the chain starts,
- what comes after the last step (by default a new substage ‘Not reachable’).
The same outcome then appears in each step and leads to the next one. At the end it remains selectable, but the lead stays in the final step. The waiting time counts the failed attempts itself; its intervals apply as before.
The first entry in the substage list, In every substage, contains outcomes that are selectable in every substage. If the stage has no substages, these are the outcomes of the stage. With Apply to substage you choose a substage (or ‘All substages’) in which you want to set the outcome separately, for example with its own goal and its own waiting time.
Level 3: one substage
At the top is the name of the substage. Below are its outcomes, one per line:
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name | Label of the button, up to 80 characters. A click opens all settings. |
| Then | Where the lead goes: ‘Stays in this substage’, another substage of the stage, another stage or its substage |
| Waiting time | A waiting time (for example cold, warm, busy, follow-up) or none |
| Handle | Order, as it also appears in the contact card |
| Cog | All settings in the sidebar |
| Bin | Removes the outcome from this place. If it only exists here, it is removed entirely. |
Below the list, Add creates a new outcome. With Allow existing here you also permit an outcome that is already placed elsewhere to be selectable here. If an outcome is placed in several places, this is shown under its name (‘in 4 places’). Additionally, it shows which special cases it has (for example after the eighth attempt).
Level 4: all settings of an outcome
The cog opens the sidebar on the right, arranged by the questions one asks:
- What is documented? Name, active and the details after a click: time, reason, scope of blocking, offer value, order value, proof. Each detail is ‘Do not ask’, ‘Optional’ or ‘Mandatory’. An outcome that has already been used can only be switched off, not deleted.
- What happens afterwards? Where the lead goes and which waiting time applies, plus block and tasks.
- What is counted? Which key figures and ranking figures the outcome increases.
If the outcome is placed in several places, the note ‘Also applies in: …’ appears with the choice Change here only or Change everywhere. The default is ‘Here only’. This way a change to ‘1× not reached’ has no effect on ‘Callback agreed’.
Advanced: counting, special cases, rank opens a window with the rarer settings: counting in detail, special cases, step when documenting, appointment outcome, rank in the work list and ‘New opportunity’ (new customer, upsell, extension, reactivation). Special cases determine what should happen differently in a particular state, for example from the eighth attempt onwards. The first matching special case applies. For tasks you can create a check after the appointment (‘after the end of the appointment’, with an interval in hours): it belongs to exactly this appointment, becomes due at the end of the appointment, moves along with a rebooking, ends with a cancellation and is done as soon as the outcome of the appointment has been entered. Two appointments with the same company each get their own check. Missing feedback does not count automatically as a no-show or qualification. What you set in the tree for each substage, Leadmode stores in the background as such a special case.
The other tabs
- Overview shows the flow as a diagram: boxes are stages, arrows are paths. A click on a stage jumps into the tree. The diagram is for viewing; editing happens in the tree.
- Advanced settings (Pro) contains the waiting times between call attempts (see below) and the outcomes that belong to no substage: call outcomes for everywhere (for example ‘Do not call again’), appointments and replies to emails.
- Work list and Lists per stage (Pro) set up the sidebar of the work list, see below.
- Fields and views (Pro, templates only) determines which fields and views a project receives with this template, see below.
If outcomes lack an assignment, the note ‘Outcomes have no stage yet’ appears. Without an assignment, each stage shows your team all outcomes, including unsuitable ones. With Assign stages, Leadmode distributes them to the matching stages; you can change the suggestion afterwards.
History and undo
Before every change to an own template, to the default or to a project flow, Leadmode stores the previous state, including when a template is switched. The last ten versions per source are kept.
History (at the top of the editor) shows them: date, what was changed afterwards (for example ‘AI: …’) and how many stages and outcomes there were. View shows what would change compared with your current draft. Load as draft brings the version into the editor. It is only saved with Save. Until then, you can return with Discard. System templates have no history, because they do not change.
For projects that already have leads, the following applies: if you remove a stage or substage in a project’s flow in which leads still are, the dialog Move leads opens when saving. There you choose a new stage for each state and optionally a substage; saving only happens once everything is assigned. Open leads remain open, closings remain closings. In the default flow and in templates, occupied stages still cannot be removed, and outcomes already in use can only be deactivated.
Create and change with AI
On the Templates page there is Create with AI; in the editor, Edit with AI (to the right of the tabs). You describe in your own words what you need. Leadmode shows beforehand roughly how many credits this costs, lets you watch the draft take shape live and lists every change individually. Only Apply to draft (or Create as template) takes it over. Saving is done as always with Save. More: Flows with AI.
New (no substage)
A lead that has just arrived (for example from the website or an import) has no substage yet. So that it can still be documented, the first entry in each stage with substages is New (no substage). Outcomes placed there are visible to a new lead, for example ‘Not reached’, gatekeeper and decision maker. An outcome that applies to the whole stage is placed there automatically. If you attach it to individual substages, include this entry as well, otherwise a new lead cannot select it. If nothing is there, the entry shows empty.
Work list
Two Pro tabs set up the sidebar of the work list. Only the display changes: ‘All’, ‘Due’ and ‘New’ are filters, not statuses, and hiding or renaming changes nothing about the leads, see Work lists.
- Work list determines the order of the entries (All leads, Due leads, New leads, Stages, Contact control, Appointments, My views), their names and whether they are visible. If you map everything in stages, hide ‘My views’. For Stages there is additionally the switch Show stages directly, without outer expander: then the stages appear directly below the general lists, and you do not first have to open the group ‘Stages’. Each stage can still be expanded, and the sublists remain. The switch only changes the display.
- Lists per stage determines which lists each stage shows. Click a stage: All, Due, New leads, the counters ‘N× not reached’, all or individual substages and views that only apply in this stage.
A view in a stage can have sublists (one level, up to 20), for example ‘Not reached’ with the counter lists 1× to 8× and ‘Paused’. Under Lists per stage, you choose the sublists for the view, their names and their order; a list appears at most once in a stage. The number on the view counts each lead only once and is not the sum of the sublists: the view runs its own filter, and the number and the opened list are the same set. Sublists are additional entries with their own filter and may overlap.
For each view (and sublist) in a stage, you set the reference, that is, what is counted:
- Current stage (default): leads that are currently in this stage.
- Stage of the event: leads whose event for the view (for example ‘Disqualified’) was documented in this stage, even if they are now in another stage. This way you can still find later where someone dropped out.
- Whole project: the stage plays no role.
The reference only changes what is counted and shown. A hit does not become callable again as a result: blocks, rights and the rules of the work list apply unchanged. ‘Stage of the event’ affects the event conditions of the view (‘Event has …’, also with ‘Stage at the outcome’).
In flows with the template ‘Full sales cycle’, the entry points Due leads and New leads at the top are hidden by default, so that nobody works in the wrong list by mistake. Work is done in the list of the respective stage, where Due and New leads are still available. Existing flows have been adjusted accordingly, provided you had not changed the two entry points yourself. In the Work list tab you switch them back on in the template or in the project. Leads, blocks, tasks and metrics do not change as a result.
Without its own setting, Leadmode derives the navigation from the stages: ‘New leads’ and the counters appear in contact stages, conversation stages show All and Due. With Reset to default (after a confirmation) you reset everything. You change the order of the entries and the lists by grabbing a row at the handle on the left and moving it; the arrows on the right do the same step by step.
The navigation belongs to the flow: it travels with the template into the project, appears in the history and counts as a deviation from the template if you change it in the project. In the overview, own templates show which version a project has and which is new (‘v17 → v18’).
Waiting times
If a lead is not reached, the waiting times determine when the next call takes place and when it is over. The system reminds your team automatically at the right time. The rules are called, among others, cold, warm, busy, follow-up, gatekeeper, agreed follow-up, cancelled by client, check reactivation and check provider change. With Gatekeeper, a lead where reception did not put the call through to the decision maker stays out of the due leads for 30 days by default (formerly 21 days). Leads that you imported from an old system and on which nothing has happened in Leadmode yet also reappear only after this period, counted from the last activity, and not already with the early due date from the source.
Info mail request as a status of its own
In the flow ‘Full sales cycle’, ‘Contact cold’ and ‘Contact warm’ have the status Info mail requested. The outcomes in which someone wants an info mail set this status and no longer ‘Follow-up’. Existing projects with unchanged outcomes have been switched over. Opportunities that were in ‘Follow-up’ only because of the request are moved to the new status by Leadmode. Who sends the info mail is shown in the info mail list.
Registration as closing
On a project flow there is the section Registration as closing for projects in which a partner or client registers and that registration is the closing. Set up registration creates the stage ‘Registered’ with the statuses ‘Pre-registered’ and ‘Company verified’. Registered leads disappear from the due leads and the Power Dialer. Existing outcomes are not changed by this. The contact card then shows ‘Log registration’. Save your open changes beforehand.
See also
Fields and views (Pro)
For own templates, the tab Fields and views determines what a new project receives with this template. Fields appear with badges for type, scope and ‘filterable’. If a field with the same name and type already exists in the organisation, it is used and not created twice. A template never copies values. Suggestion only means: the field or view is created when applying only if someone explicitly ticks it. Views are created as shared views in the project; for each one it shows which field it uses. If you remove a field that a view uses, Leadmode asks, because the view would then be removed as well. Contact control, appointments and performance records and the clarification view exist in every project without you creating them.