Multiple active pipelines are available on Nutshell Pro and above. Draft pipelines are available on all Nutshell plans.
Learn how to add a new pipeline from scratch, from a template, or edit an existing pipeline.
Admins can make changes to pipelines in Nutshell from the Automation section in the Sales menu.
Need pipeline inspiration? Check out our B2B sales process templates!
Note: You can use our built-in Sales pipeline designer AI Agent to:
Create or improve your sales process
Get help organizing your stages, goals, and tasks
Get suggestions based on what’s worked for other sales teams
Build or fine-tune your pipeline faster
Learn more about the Sales pipeline designer and our other AI Agents
Create a new pipeline
When you add a new pipeline in Nutshell, you can either start by creating your own from scratch, copying from an existing pipeline, or choosing one of five templates.
Each template is designed to match a different sales process and comes with built-in stage goals, tasks, drip sequences, and more to show what a fully configured pipeline can look like. You can also create custom fields to capture more specific information about each lead as they move through the pipeline.
To add a pipeline:
Go to Sales > Pipelines
Click +Add new pipeline
Choose to create from scratch, from an existing pipeline, or from a template
If you choose to create a pipeline from one of the provided templates, you’ll get custom fields, activity types, tags, and lead outcomes depending on the template you choose, to help you track the right data from the start.
If you're creating a pipeline from scratch, you'll start by adding your pipeline stages.
To create stages:
Click Add stage
Give your stage a name
Add guidance or a brief description of the purpose of the stage (optional)
Choose a confidence level for leads that enter the stage (optional)
Select a timeframe for when leads should become overdue (optional)
Decide when you would like leads to automatically close, and the outcome (optional)
Click Add
Your new stage will appear in the pipeline, and Nutshell Pro users can add more automations for that stage now, or continue adding stages.
Working with draft pipelines
New pipelines are automatically saved in a 'Draft' status. Draft pipelines allow you to experiment with stage names, outcomes, and automation without affecting open leads in your current active pipeline or exceeding plan limits.
Draft pipelines can still be configured with automation rules, user assignments, follow-through, and more—however, draft pipelines cannot have any open leads in them and thus will not count toward plan limits. You can access all draft pipelines under the 'Draft' tab on your pipeline setup page.
Once your pipeline looks how you want, you can choose to activate it and start adding leads. Open the pipeline you want to activate and click 'Activate pipeline' in the upper right, then confirm in the modal.
Note that draft pipelines will still show up in reports and filters if they have any closed, won, or lost leads.
What is guidance?
Admins can add guidance to each stage to let your sales team know what to do to move the lead to the next stage. Stage guidance functions as a training tool to keep everyone on the same page and bring new team members up to speed immediately.
Guidance is especially helpful when you make changes to your process. You'll be able to see the impact of these changes right away.
What happens if I'm marking leads overdue?
Keep your teammates on track and moving leads along by letting Nutshell know when to mark leads as overdue. These rules are helpful especially when it comes to knowing how quickly you'll need to follow up with leads to make sure you're reaching them when they are most at risk of drifting away, early in the process.
Your overdue leads can be filtered in your leads list:
You can also save a view of your overdue leads on your Nutshell dashboard:
They will appear as overdue on your lead board:
Lastly, you can see how frequently your leads are overdue on the Leads on time chart in your Snapshots report. If you have a low percentage of leads on time, it might be worth considering whether your sales cycle is longer than you think it should be, and why.
Editing a pipeline
To edit a pipeline:
Go to Sales > Pipelines
Click Edit on the pipeline you want to revise
From there, you can add, remove, or re-order your stages.
Click +Add new stage to create a new stage.
Click on the name of any stage to edit the name, stage guidance, lead confidence, overdue and auto-close rules.
Click and drag a stage header to change the order of your stages (the stage order is automatically saved). Note that changing the order of your stages will cause your Funnel report to be inaccurate for leads that are currently open and in this pipeline.
Pipeline settings
To update the pipeline settings, click the menu button and choose one of the options:
Edit: Revise the stages, automations, and assignments associated with that pipeline
Rename: Change the name of a pipeline
Make a copy: Duplicate the pipeline
Set as default: All new leads will be placed in the pipeline
Deactivate pipeline: Move the pipeline from 'Active' status to 'Draft' status. It will retain all its closed, won, and lost leads, but it cannot include any open leads. Ensure that all open leads in a pipeline are moved to another pipeline before deactivation. Deactivated pipelines can be found under the 'Draft' tab.
Archive: Make the pipeline inactive (it’s like deleting a pipeline, but you can still view it later!)
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