Holistic Business Solutions · Internal Reference
Outreach & Deal Pipeline Reference
Where a lead, prospect, qualified prospect or deal belongs — what qualifies each stage, and what evidence is required to move a record forward.
Purpose
Two pipelines, one record
This reference is an operating manual for daily CRM work and for onboarding new team members. It is not a marketing page — scan it, follow it, and print it when you need a copy at your desk.
The Outreach Pipeline
Organizes research, contact attempts, responses, nurture and qualification. It answers: “Is there enough fit, engagement and commercial evidence to open an opportunity?”
The Deal Pipeline
Begins when mutual commercial engagement exists. It answers: “What commitment has the prospect made, what remains unresolved and what must happen next?”
Why they stay separate
Keeping them separate protects conversion reporting and prevents cold outreach from inflating the true sales forecast.
Shared language
Lead
A person or practice identified through research or an inbound source, but not yet sufficiently verified or engaged.
Prospect
A lead that fits the HBS target profile and has either a verified decision-maker or meaningful engagement.
Qualified Prospect
A prospect for whom a relevant need, trigger, dissatisfaction or priority has been identified and HBS appears capable of helping.
Deal
A mutually active commercial evaluation with a concrete next step, such as continued exploration, discovery, proposal review or onboarding.
Note: the HubSpot record may technically be a Deal object during Outreach because of the Starter workaround, while the business definition of a deal does not begin until the record enters the Deal Pipeline.
How to use this reference
- Use the five tabs above. Only the selected section is shown, so nothing here is a long scroll.
- In Outreach and Deals, click any numbered node on the pipeline map to load that stage’s definition, entry criteria, required evidence, work and exit criteria.
- Use Scoring before moving a record between pipelines. Your selections are preserved while you move between tabs.
- The URL updates as you browse — copy it to share a specific stage, such as
#outreach/stage-4.