Sales Cycle Settings
Define the steps contacts move through, per contact type — which are active, what each one means for reporting, and who takes over at each stage.
On this page
1What the sales cycle is
The sales cycle is the sequence of steps a contact moves through — New Lead, Contacted, Appointment Set, Quoted, Closed, Completed, or whatever fits your business. Each contact type has its own cycle, so clients, employees and partners can follow different paths. The cycle is what the Pipeline draws as columns, what the Dashboard measures progression against, and what Conversion Plans are attached to.
2Adding and editing steps
In Settings → Sales Cycle, pick the contact type’s tab and click Add New. Each step has:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Active / InActive | Active steps appear in the Pipeline and in Dashboard progression. Inactive steps are for contacts no longer moving forward — lost leads, on hold — and are hidden from both. |
| Sort order | Where the step sits in the sequence. |
| Name | What people see on the Pipeline column and in filters. |
| Likelihood % | The likelihood-to-close given to contacts when they enter this step (it can be changed per contact on the profile). |
| Mark as Appt Set / Quoted / Closed / Completed | Tells reporting what reaching this step means. Tick the milestone the step represents — and keep the earlier ones ticked on every later step, so a contact in “Completed” still counts as quoted and closed. |
| Assigned User and Add Notification | Optionally hand contacts to a specific user when they reach this step, and notify that user. |
The list shows each step’s ID (useful for imports and the API), its path and how many contacts are in it. Advanced Sales Cycle Organization below the list is a visual organiser of the steps and their paths, with a button to reset the New Lead Progression chart.
Steps with contacts or plans in them can’t be deleted
If any contact sits in a step, or any action plan is attached to it, ClientTether refuses to delete the step (“Client or Action plan are linked with selected sales cycle”). Move the contacts and re-point the plans first — or make the step Inactive instead, which is usually what you want anyway.
3In an Enterprise structure
An Enterprise account can lock the sales cycle so every location reports on the same steps. If you can’t edit the cycle, that’s why — the Enterprise owner changes it for everyone.
4Troubleshooting
A step is missing from the Pipeline
It’s Inactive. Edit it and switch it to Active.
Closed deals don’t show in the Dashboard’s closed ratio
The step isn’t marked Mark as Closed. Tick it on that step and on every step after it.
I can’t delete a step
See the warning above — contacts or plans still reference it.
5Related pages
- Pipeline — the cycle as a board.
- Action Plans — Conversion Plans attach to steps.
- Dashboard — Sales Cycles and closed-ratio charts.