Connect the customer journey. / 12 min / 3-question quiz
Turn your sales stages into clear decisions, reliable next actions, and useful customer context.
06/ 20
Alex · Your virtual learning guide
Follow the reading, unpack the idea, and put it into practice. At your pace.
You will have a stage map with entry evidence, an accountable owner, and a next action for each opportunity.
Choose a small number of stages that reflect actual customer progress. For each stage, write what must be known before an opportunity can enter and what evidence moves it forward. “Proposal sent” should mean a proposal reached the customer, not that somebody plans to write one. Keep lost and paused work distinguishable from active work.
Give each opportunity one accountable owner, a specific next action, and a review date. Record the customer need and relevant decision context. Avoid treating a high activity count as proof of progress: the next useful conversation matters more than the number of notes. Decide how an overdue next action will be reviewed by the team.
Walk through an opportunity that advances, one that stalls, and one that is no longer a fit. Define what happens when the owner changes or a customer returns after a pause. Check whether another colleague can understand the account from the record. Only add stages or fields when they support a real decision.
Example to adapt
A fictional maintenance firm uses Qualified need → Site assessment → Proposal shared → Decision. To enter Proposal shared, the record must identify the customer contact, the actual proposal, the owner, and the agreed follow-up. A request for a future budget cycle is paused with a review date instead of remaining in an active proposal queue.
Try it with your team
Use invented customer details. Write four stage definitions, one entry condition for each, and the next action for an opportunity currently in each stage. Ask a colleague to place the same examples without seeing your answers. Resolve any disagreement in the stage definitions.
Put your understanding to the test
Answer all three questions correctly to complete this lesson. Feedback is part of the learning; you can try again.
Your results are saved in this browser. Academy completion is a learning record, not a professional certification.
