What it means
Teams name their own stages, but a common set is prospecting, qualification, proposal, negotiation and closed won or lost. Each deal sits in one stage at a time and carries a value and an expected close date. The nearest neighboring term is the sales funnel. A pipeline tracks individual deals and their value, while a funnel describes how many people drop out at each step.
Why it matters when you buy software
Pipeline views are a core feature of CRM software, and plans differ in how much they allow. Buyers check how many pipelines a plan supports, whether stages can be customized, and whether forecasts and pipeline reports sit in a higher tier. A rigid pipeline forces a team to fit its process to the tool, which affects ease of use.
How it works in practice
A rep creates a deal when a lead qualifies and moves it from stage to stage as work progresses. Managers add up deal values by stage, often weighted by a win probability, to estimate future revenue. Common measures include the conversion rate between stages, average deal size and sales cycle length.
See also: CPQ, Lead scoring and the glossary index.