How to set up opportunity stages in Kluster for your sales process

If you’re managing deals and forecasting revenue, your pipeline stages aren’t just labels—they’re the backbone of your whole sales process. But let’s be honest: most CRMs turn this into a mess of jargon and checkbox hell. If you’re using Kluster and want your opportunity stages to actually reflect how your team sells (not how some software vendor thinks you should), this guide’s for you.

Here’s how to set up opportunity stages in Kluster so your pipeline actually makes sense—and works for you, not against you.

Why Opportunity Stages Matter (and Where Most People Screw Up)

Before you start clicking around, let’s get real about what opportunity stages should do:

  • Reflect reality: They should match how your team actually works deals, not just some idealized process.
  • Drive action: Each stage should make it clear what needs to happen for a deal to move forward.
  • Keep reporting clean: The right stages make forecasting and pipeline reviews less painful (and less likely to become a finger-pointing session).

Where most teams mess this up:

  • Too many stages (analysis paralysis)
  • Vague definitions (“Negotiation” means something different to everyone)
  • Setting it up once and never revisiting it

Keep this in mind as you go.

Step 1: Map Out Your Real Sales Process (Don’t Skip This)

You can’t set up useful stages if you don’t know how your sales actually flows. Don’t just copy the default list or your old CRM—do the work.

How to do it:

  1. Whiteboard it: Grab your team (or at least your top reps) and sketch out the typical path a deal takes from first contact to closed-won or lost.
  2. Write down the big transitions: Ask, “What has to happen for a deal to move from one step to the next?” Ignore the tiny details—focus on the moments that represent real progress.
  3. Keep it under 7 stages: More than that and you’ll spend more time updating stages than actually selling.

Common B2B Sales Stage Examples: - Prospecting - Qualified - Discovery/Needs Analysis - Proposal - Negotiation - Closed Won - Closed Lost

Pro Tip: If you’re debating between two stages, combine them. You can always split later if you really need to.

Step 2: Log In and Find Your Opportunity Stage Settings

Kluster’s interface is pretty straightforward, but the settings for opportunity stages aren’t always where you’d expect.

Here’s how to get there:

  1. Sign in to your Kluster account.
  2. On the left sidebar, click on Settings (gear icon).
  3. Find and select Pipeline Setup or Opportunity Stages (the exact label might change depending on your version).
  4. You’ll see a list of your current stages—likely the out-of-the-box defaults.

Heads up: If you’re not an admin, you might have to ask someone with permissions to do this bit.

Step 3: Edit, Add, or Remove Stages

Here’s where you make your pipeline match reality. Remember that list you mapped out with your team? This is where it comes to life.

Editing Existing Stages

  • Click the pencil/edit icon next to a stage.
  • Rename it to match your process.
  • Add a clear description so everyone knows what belongs here. Be specific (“Intro call completed and basic needs confirmed,” not “Early conversations.”)
  • Set the right probability (if you use weighted forecasting).

Adding New Stages

  • Click Add Stage or the plus button.
  • Name it, describe it, and set its place in the order.
  • Only add what you actually need. Don’t try to cover every possible scenario.

Removing Stages

  • If a stage doesn’t fit your process, delete it.
  • Don’t worry about “what if we need it later”—you can always add it back.

Pro Tip: Kluster lets you drag and drop to reorder stages. Put them in the order deals actually flow.

Step 4: Define What Moves a Deal Forward

This is the step most teams skip—and then everyone gets confused later.

For each stage, write down (in plain English) what has to happen for a deal to move forward. Add this as the stage description in Kluster, or keep it in your team wiki.

Example:

  • Qualified: “Lead has budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT) confirmed. Agreed to schedule a discovery call.”
  • Proposal: “Proposal sent to decision-maker, awaiting feedback.”

If you can’t explain it in one sentence, it’s probably too vague.

Step 5: Set Probabilities (But Don’t Obsess Over Them)

Kluster lets you assign a probability to each stage (used for forecasting). Don’t get too hung up on these numbers—think of them as rough benchmarks, not gospel.

Suggested probabilities: - Qualified: 20% - Discovery: 35% - Proposal: 60% - Negotiation: 80% - Closed Won: 100%

Look at your own data over time and adjust if needed. If you’re just starting out, these are fine.

Step 6: Test It—Then Get Feedback

Before you unleash your new pipeline on the whole team:

  1. Run a few deals through the new stages. Grab a couple of recent opportunities and update their stages based on your new setup.
  2. Ask your reps: “Does this actually make sense? Where do you get stuck?”
  3. Fix what’s broken. If people keep debating which stage a deal is in, your definitions are too fuzzy.

Don’t treat your setup as sacred. You’ll almost always need to tweak something after a week or two of real-world use.

Step 7: Train the Team—Briefly

Nobody needs a 60-slide deck here. But do take 15 minutes to walk everyone through:

  • The new stage names
  • What each one means (share your one-sentence descriptions)
  • Why you changed it (so reps don’t think it’s just “change for change’s sake”)
  • Where to find the definitions later

Make it clear: everyone needs to use the same definitions, or you’ll be back to pipeline chaos in no time.

Step 8: Ignore the Bells and Whistles (For Now)

Kluster, like most CRMs, offers a ton of extras—custom fields, automations, integrations, and so on. Don’t get distracted at the start.

Here’s what you can skip until your basics are solid:

  • Custom fields for every possible detail (you’ll just annoy your reps and muddy reports)
  • Stage-specific automations (wait until you know your process works)
  • Gimmicky visualizations (they look nice, but don’t fix bad data)

Focus on getting your core stages right. The rest can wait.

Step 9: Review and Tweak Every Quarter

Your sales process will change as your team grows, your product evolves, or you spot issues with how deals flow.

  • Schedule a quarterly review: Does every stage still make sense? Any bottlenecks? Are reps skipping steps?
  • Update as needed: Don’t be afraid to merge, rename, or cut stages if they’re not useful.
  • Keep it simple: If in doubt, fewer stages are almost always better.

Honest Takes: What Works, What to Watch Out For

What works: - Fewer, clearer stages = better pipeline hygiene and forecasting. - Writing down what triggers a stage change keeps everyone honest. - Getting rep feedback early means less grumbling and more adoption.

What doesn’t: - Over-engineering your pipeline to cover every edge case. It just slows everyone down. - Letting the CRM dictate your process. Kluster is flexible—use that to your advantage. - Setting it and forgetting it. Your pipeline is a living thing, not a set-and-forget config.

Keep It Simple—And Don’t Sweat Perfection

Setting up opportunity stages in Kluster isn’t rocket science, but it does take a bit of up-front thought. Start simple, get the team on board, and tweak as you go. You’ll save yourself a ton of headaches—and your pipeline will finally reflect how you actually sell.