The sales record should preserve the next action and the project facts the operations team will need—not become a separate island of names and dates.
Stage sequence
- Qualify the opportunity and record source, customer, site, disciplines, decision process, timing, and next action.
- Schedule surveys, calls, reviews, and proposal follow-ups with ownership and outcome notes.
- Attach or reference the current plan, estimate, proposal, questions, changes, stakeholders, and customer decisions.
- Use clear stages and reasons for won, lost, delayed, or disqualified opportunities.
- At acceptance, hand off the approved revision, scope, contacts, commitments, schedule constraints, payment/order state, and open risks.
Stage output
Create an auditable opportunity timeline and a signed-off handoff packet that operations can act on without reconstructing the sale.