If you’ve ever tried to fit your sales process into someone else’s mold, you know how frustrating it can be. “Prospecting,” “Qualified,” “Demo,” “Closed Won”—these stages might work for a generic SaaS, but what about B2B manufacturing, real estate, or agency work? Here’s the truth: Out-of-the-box pipelines don’t fit most businesses. This guide is for anyone using Brevitypitch who wants buyer journey stages that actually make sense for their industry—and their team.
Why Customizing Buyer Journey Stages Matters (and When It Doesn’t)
Before you start fiddling with settings, let’s get real about why you’d want to customize buyer journey stages in the first place:
- Clarity for your team: If your reps have to guess which stage comes next, they’ll guess wrong.
- Better reporting: Garbage in, garbage out. Accurate stages mean useful sales data.
- Less friction: If a stage doesn’t fit, people skip it or fudge it—so your CRM becomes a mess.
When doesn’t it matter? If you’re a tiny team with just a handful of deals, don’t overthink it. The default stages are fine until you see real friction. Customize when your process is tripping people up or your reporting is a joke.
Step 1: Map Out Your Real-World Buyer Journey
Don’t open Brevitypitch yet. Seriously. First, sketch out what actually happens in your sales process, not what you wish happened.
- Talk to your team—not just sales. Include customer success, ops, or anyone touching the buyer.
- Write down every step a buyer takes from first contact to closing (and beyond, if relevant).
- Keep it simple. Too many stages and you’ll never keep it updated. Aim for 5-7 main stages.
Pro tip: If your stages are “Send Brochure,” “Demo Scheduled,” and “Demo Completed,” you’re probably getting too granular. Focus on big shifts in commitment or qualification, not every email sent.
What This Looks Like in Different Industries
- B2B SaaS: Lead → Qualified → Demo Scheduled → Proposal Sent → Negotiation → Closed Won/Lost
- Manufacturing: Inquiry → Needs Assessment → Engineering Review → Quote Sent → Purchase Order → Delivered
- Real Estate: New Lead → Contacted → Viewing Scheduled → Offer Made → Under Contract → Closed
Every industry’s different, but notice how each stage signals a meaningful change in the buyer’s intent or your team’s activity.
Step 2: Audit the Default Stages in Brevitypitch
Now, log into Brevitypitch and take a hard look at the default pipeline. Don’t just accept what’s there—compare it to the journey you mapped out.
- Which stages don’t fit? Delete or rename them.
- Are you missing key steps? Add what’s needed.
- Do you have duplicate or overlapping stages? Merge or clarify.
Honest take: Most CRMs add too many stages “just in case.” Resist the urge to create a stage for every little action. Less is more.
Step 3: Set Up or Edit Your Stages in Brevitypitch
Let’s get to the actual nuts and bolts:
- Go to Settings > Pipelines (or whatever Brevitypitch calls it—sometimes it’s just “Stages”).
- Edit existing stages to match your terms. Use language your team actually uses. If they say “Site Visit” instead of “Discovery Call,” call it that.
- Add new stages for any gaps you found. Drag and drop them into the right order.
- Delete or archive old stages you’ll never use.
- Save your changes. (Obvious, but easy to forget.)
Naming Tips That Work
- Keep it action-oriented: “Proposal Sent” is clearer than “Proposal.”
- Avoid jargon: If a new hire wouldn’t get it, rewrite it.
- Use consistent tense: All past, all present, or all future—just pick one.
What to skip: Don’t create a stage for “Follow Up” or “Waiting.” Those are tasks, not buyer journey milestones.
Step 4: Align Stage Criteria with Reality
This is where most teams mess up. For each stage, define exactly what has to happen for a deal to move forward.
- Write a one-liner for each stage: “Deal moves to Demo Scheduled when the buyer agrees to a meeting date.”
- Share this with your sales team—in plain English. If everyone’s working from a different playbook, your data means nothing.
- Add the criteria into Brevitypitch if there’s a spot for notes or definitions. If not, keep a shared doc handy.
Pro tip: If you can’t agree on when a deal moves from one stage to the next, you probably need to combine or rename those stages.
Step 5: Test with Real Deals and Get Feedback
Don’t set it and forget it. Run a few deals through your new stages:
- Watch for confusion: If reps are constantly asking “What now?” you missed something.
- Look for bottlenecks: If everything’s piling up in one stage, maybe it’s too broad or unclear.
- Tweak as needed: It’s better to fix it now than to live with a broken pipeline for months.
What doesn’t work: Overcomplicating things. If your team spends more time updating stages than selling, you’ve gone too far.
Step 6: Train the Team (Without the Eye Rolls)
Customizing stages only works if people use them right. Here’s how to get buy-in:
- Run a short walkthrough, not a lecture. Show how the new stages map to their daily workflow.
- Explain the “why.” If they see how it helps them close deals (or makes their life easier), they’ll care.
- Keep documentation simple. One-pagers or quick videos beat a 30-page PDF no one reads.
Skip: Forcing everyone to use the new stages on day one with no heads-up. Let people try it with a couple deals first.
Step 7: Review and Improve—But Don’t Chase Perfection
Set a reminder to review your pipeline every quarter or so:
- What’s working? Are your reports clearer? Fewer questions from the team?
- What’s not? Are deals getting stuck or skipping stages?
- What can you cut? Simplify wherever possible.
Don’t let “perfect” get in the way of “good enough.” You’ll never have a pipeline that fits every edge case, and that’s fine.
A Few Things to Ignore
- Don’t copy someone else’s stages just because they’re “best practice.” What works for a tech startup probably won’t work for a construction firm.
- Skip the bells and whistles. Fancy automations and integrations can wait. Get the basics right first.
- Don’t obsess over color-coding or icons. They’re nice, but clarity beats cosmetics every time.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Getting your buyer journey stages right in Brevitypitch isn’t about being clever—it’s about making life easier for your team and getting real data you can trust. Start with what actually happens in your business, keep your stages simple, and don’t be afraid to adjust as you go. Most importantly, remember: Your pipeline is there to help you sell, not to win a design award.