If you work in B2B sales, you already know that most pipeline advice is either too abstract or too complicated to bother with. This guide is for sales teams, managers, and anyone who wants a practical, no-nonsense approach to managing their pipeline with Aptiv. Whether you’re new to Aptiv or just want to sharpen your process, you’ll find what works, what’s overrated, and how to actually get results—without wasting your day on busywork.
1. Get Your Pipeline Stages Right (and Keep Them Simple)
Before you even open Aptiv, take a hard look at your sales stages. Most teams try to track too much or invent new stages for every quirk. Don’t.
What works: - Stick to 5–7 stages. If you need a cheat sheet, think: Lead → Qualified → Demo → Proposal → Negotiation → Closed Won/Lost. - Name stages after real-world actions (“Demo Scheduled” is better than “Evaluation”). - Make sure everyone knows exactly what has to happen for a deal to move forward.
What doesn’t: - Overcomplicating with “micro-stages” (e.g., “Intro Call Complete” and “Needs Discovery” as separate stages). - Letting old or weirdly-named stages hang around because “that’s how we’ve always done it.”
Pro tip: In Aptiv, you can customize pipeline stages. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Start simple; you can always add nuance later if you discover a real need.
2. Clean Up Your Data Before Importing (Seriously)
Aptiv is only as good as the data you put in. Importing a mess just gives you a fancier-looking mess.
Why this matters: - Duplicates, typos, and outdated contacts will haunt you later. Fix them now. - Mapping fields from your old CRM? Double-check them. Mismatched fields create more confusion than missing data.
What to do: - Deduplicate leads and accounts in Excel or Google Sheets before importing. - Standardize company names and contact info. - Decide which custom fields are actually useful (hint: do you really need “Favorite Sports Team”?).
Ignore: - Importing every historic lead “just in case.” If nobody’s touched it in two years, leave it out or archive it.
3. Set Up Aptiv for Real-World Tracking
Now you’re ready to make Aptiv work for you—not the other way around.
Key steps:
- Customize fields: Only add custom fields that help you make decisions or prioritize deals. “Date of Last Contact” is useful; “Fax Number” probably isn’t.
- Use tags, but sparingly: Tags are handy for quick filtering, but a tag for every little thing gets messy.
- Automate what makes sense: Aptiv’s automation is solid for reminders and follow-ups. Don’t overdo it—nobody likes a system that spams them with tasks.
Honest takes:
- Aptiv’s out-of-the-box dashboards are good enough for most teams. Don’t waste hours building custom reports unless you have a very specific reason.
- The mobile app is fine for checking in, but don’t expect to do heavy pipeline management on your phone.
4. Build a Weekly Pipeline Review (That’s Not a Slog)
Pipeline reviews are where most teams lose the plot. The goal isn’t to recite every deal in the system—it’s to identify stuck deals and next steps.
How to run a review that doesn’t suck: - Pull up your pipeline in Aptiv and filter for deals that haven’t moved in 2+ weeks. - Ask deal owners for two things: what’s the next step, and what (if anything) is blocking it. - Keep it to 30–45 minutes, max. If you need longer, you have too many deals or not enough focus.
What to ignore: - Status updates for the sake of “visibility.” If nobody cares, skip it. - Going down rabbit holes on closed/lost deals unless there’s a clear pattern to fix.
Pro tip: Use Aptiv’s saved filters to quickly identify aging deals or those missing next steps. This saves time and keeps the meeting focused.
5. Use Reminders and Tasks—But Don’t Let the System Own You
Aptiv lets you set reminders, assign tasks, and log activities for each deal. Done right, this keeps things moving. Done wrong, it just adds noise.
Do: - Set reminders for real follow-ups (e.g., “Send proposal by Friday”). - Use tasks to nudge yourself or teammates when a deal is in danger of stalling.
Don’t: - Create tasks for every tiny step (“Send thank-you email”). You’ll stop caring and just click “complete” to clear the list. - Let overdue tasks pile up—if you’re ignoring them, revisit your process.
Honest take: Automation helps, but it won’t save you from a bad process. If everyone’s ignoring tasks, it’s a sign your workflow needs a rethink.
6. Keep Notes Where They Belong
Scattered notes kill deals. Aptiv makes it easy to log call notes, meeting recaps, and key details right on the deal record. Use this—future you will thank you.
Best practices: - After every call or meeting, jot down the key takeaways in the deal’s activity feed. - Summarize objections, next steps, and any personal info that might help (“Their CFO loves golf, worth mentioning at close”). - Don’t copy-paste email chains—just the highlights that matter.
What to ignore: - Over-documenting. You’re not writing a novel; just enough so anyone can pick up the deal cold and not sound clueless.
7. Stay Honest About Deal Probabilities
Aptiv lets you assign probabilities or “deal health” scores. These are supposed to help with forecasting, but it’s easy to game the numbers (intentionally or not).
How to use this well: - Set default probabilities for each stage, and only adjust if there’s a real reason (e.g., “We’re the only vendor left”). - Review probabilities as a team once a month. If everything’s 80% or higher, you’re probably kidding yourselves.
Ignore: Changing probabilities just to make the forecast look good for your boss. It won’t help you hit quota, and it won’t fool anyone for long.
8. Automate Reporting, but Actually Read the Results
Aptiv can send you pipeline reports, won/lost summaries, and activity breakdowns. Set these up to hit your inbox weekly, and actually take 5 minutes to read them.
What’s useful: - Trends over time (e.g., “Are we losing more deals at the proposal stage?”) - Activity vs. results (lots of calls but no closes = wrong focus)
What’s not: - Vanity metrics (like “total number of notes added”) - Reports nobody reads or acts on
Pro tip: If you’re not using a report to make a decision or change behavior, turn it off. More data isn’t always better.
9. Don’t Let the System Replace Actual Sales Conversations
It’s easy to hide behind your CRM—updating fields and checking boxes feels productive, but it doesn’t close deals. Aptiv is a tool, not a substitute for talking to your prospects.
The basics: - Use Aptiv to prep before calls—review recent notes, last steps, and decision makers. - After calls, log the essentials and set clear next actions in the system. - Block off time for outreach. Don’t let “pipeline cleaning” become an excuse for not picking up the phone.
10. Iterate—Don’t Overhaul Everything at Once
No CRM setup is perfect on day one. The best teams make small tweaks, see what sticks, and ignore the rest.
How to do this: - Once a quarter, review your pipeline stages and fields. Kill what’s not working. - Ask the team what’s slowing them down in Aptiv. Fix the top 1–2 pain points. - Stay skeptical of shiny new features—most aren’t as game-changing as the marketing says.
Wrapping Up
Managing your B2B pipeline in Aptiv isn’t about chasing every new feature or over-engineering your process. Get your basics right, keep your stages clean, and use the system to support real sales work—not as a substitute for it. Start simple, improve as you go, and you’ll spend less time wrestling with your CRM and more time closing deals.