Stages Without Exit Criteria
Helio Systems is a Series B software company with 45 account executives and an average deal size of $38K. Its sales process has six stages: Lead, Discovery, Demo, Proposal, Negotiation, Closed. Win rate is 18%, forecast accuracy swings plus or minus 40% inside the quarter, and average sales cycle has grown from 74 to 96 days. Reps routinely move deals from Demo to Proposal in the same week, skip discovery notes, and push close dates by 30 days at month end. The CRM has 14 required fields, but reps enter N/A or single-word notes. The VP of Sales wants to add two more stages and more required fields. The RevOps lead believes the stage model itself may not be the problem. There is no documented exit criteria for any stage, no deal inspection cadence, and no shared definition of a qualified opportunity. Leadership is pressing for a fix before the next board meeting in eight weeks.
1. How would you test whether the problem is stage design, stage discipline, or opportunity qualification? What would you examine in the CRM and in rep conversations?
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Test three hypotheses. First, stage design: count how often deals skip stages and how long they sit in each stage. If deals routinely move Demo to Proposal in under seven days but cycle time is rising, the stages may be too coarse or misordered. Second, stage discipline: compare stage duration and exit evidence for won versus lost deals. If won deals have discovery notes and documented pain but lost deals do not, the problem is discipline, not design. Third, qualification: sample 20 open opportunities and check for economic buyer, compelling event, success criteria, and decision process. If those are missing at Proposal, the stage model is exposing a qualification gap, not causing it.
Also inspect close-date changes: a pattern of 30-day pushes at month end suggests forecasting behavior, not stage design. Talk to six reps and three managers; ask what they actually do to decide a deal is real. Do not add stages until you know which hypothesis is true. More stages and fields will likely increase admin burden and reduce adoption.
2. Rewrite the stage model with exit criteria and required evidence. Explain what you would remove or keep from the 14 required fields and why.
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Replace the six-stage model with a buyer-verifiable process: Qualified Opportunity, Discovery Complete, Solution Validated, Business Case Accepted, Contracting, and Closed. Exit criteria: Qualified requires ICP fit, identified pain, and a named contact with authority. Discovery requires documented current state, impact, and decision criteria. Solution Validated requires a demo or technical validation against the buyer’s success criteria and a mutual action plan. Business Case Accepted requires economic buyer confirmation and a budget path. Contracting requires verbal commitment and legal or procurement steps.
Required evidence should be short: one linked note, one next step with a date, and one buyer-confirmed field. Remove most of the 14 required fields. Keep only fields that drive routing, forecasting, or reporting, such as segment, source, close date, amount, and next step. Move nice-to-have data to optional or enrichment. Fewer fields with higher-quality evidence are better than 14 fields of N/A. Add a stage-exit checklist that managers inspect weekly, not a hard gate that blocks reps.
3. How would you roll out and enforce the new process without destroying rep trust or slowing the funnel further?
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Roll out in three steps. First, run a calibration workshop with managers and top reps to pressure-test the exit criteria on five real deals, including one lost deal. Second, pilot with two teams for four weeks; compare stage duration, forecast accuracy, and rep feedback against a control group. Third, train the full team on the why, not just the fields, and give managers a weekly deal inspection guide with three questions per stage.
Enforce through coaching and forecast reviews, not CRM policing. Remove any field that is not used in a report or inspection within 30 days. Protect selling time: cap required updates at two minutes per deal. Track leading indicators such as percentage of deals with a next step, discovery note completion, and stage-skip rate. If reps still skip stages, ask whether the criteria are unrealistic or whether managers are rewarding speed over evidence. Tie manager scorecards to forecast accuracy and pipeline hygiene, not just quota.