Pipeline Stages
Customize your deal pipeline to match how your MSP actually sells — rename stages, set probability defaults, add new stages, and mark which stage means "Won" or "Lost."
Default stages
Breadbox ships with 8 default pipeline stages tuned for MSP sales cycles. These are seeded automatically when your org is created:
| Stage | Default Probability | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Prospect | 10% | Initial awareness — haven't had a conversation yet |
| Discovery | 20% | First call or meeting completed |
| Technology Assessment | 35% | Formal IT assessment underway |
| Proposal Sent | 50% | SOW or proposal delivered to client |
| Legal Review | 65% | Contract under review |
| Verbal Commit | 85% | Client has said yes, paperwork pending |
| Closed Won | 100% | Deal signed and active — triggers onboarding |
| Closed Lost | 0% | Opportunity ended — loss reason captured |
Configuring stages
Go to Settings → Pipeline Stages to manage your stages. Changes take effect immediately for all users and existing deals.
Rename a stage
Click the stage name and edit inline. The new name appears in the Kanban board, deal forms, and reports.
Change the color
Click the color circle to open the native color picker. The color is used as the stage column header in Kanban view.
Set probability default
Enter a number 0–100. New deals created in this stage default to this probability. Individual deals can override it.
Reorder stages
Drag stages by the handle on the left. The order here is the order in the Kanban board and deal stage selector.
Mark as Won
Toggle the Won flag. When a deal moves to a Won stage, it triggers Closed Won side effects: onboarding creation, account lifecycle update, commission creation.
Mark as Lost
Toggle the Lost flag. A Lost stage prompts for a loss reason when a deal is moved into it.
Set as default
The default stage is pre-selected when creating a new deal. Click the Default badge button to change which stage is the default.
Adding a custom stage
Click Add Stage at the bottom of the stage list. Enter a name, choose a color, and set the probability. Drag it to the position in your pipeline where it belongs.
Common custom stages MSPs add:
- "Executive Approval" — between Verbal Commit and Closed Won for enterprise deals
- "Proof of Concept" — for managed security or cloud service trials
- "Competitive Evaluation" — to track multi-vendor bake-offs
- "Budgeted — Next FY" — for deals confirmed but pushed to next fiscal year
- "Nurturing" — long-cycle deals not ready for active pipeline
Deleting a stage
Click the trash icon next to a stage to delete it. Before deleting, you must move any deals currently in that stage to another stage — the dialog will show you how many deals would be affected.
Note: You cannot delete the stage marked as Won or Lost if there are closed deals in it. Those stages are preserved for historical reporting accuracy. You can rename them but not delete them while closed deals exist.
How stages affect forecasting
The Pipeline Forecast report uses each deal's probability to compute weighted MRR. When you change a stage's default probability, it only affects new deals. Existing deals keep their individual probability values unless manually updated.
Best practice: keep stage probabilities honest and consistent across your team. Inconsistent probability usage makes forecasts unreliable. Many MSPs set probabilities at the stage level and only override them for exceptional deals.
Multiple Won / Lost stages
You can mark more than one stage as Won or Lost if your process requires it. For example, some MSPs have a "Closed Won — Pending Signature" stage (probability 95%) and a "Closed Won — Signed" stage (probability 100%). Side effects (onboarding creation, etc.) only trigger when a deal moves into a stage with isClosedWon = true.