Sales OS · Lifecycle
How leads and deals move through a consistent lifecycle, so reporting stays clean and everyone (including channel partners) sees accurate status. This covers intake, stage discipline, SLAs, and the handling of partner-submitted leads.
Every lead follows the standard lead lifecycle (capture, qualification, conversion). Once initial contact is made and a discovery meeting is scheduled, convert the lead into an Account, Contact, and Opportunity, then manage the opportunity through the full stage progression. Maintain accurate stages, key fields, and activity logging on every deal; clean CRM hygiene is what makes reporting and partner visibility trustworthy. Always confirm lead source and sub-segment so attribution is correct across all stages.
Internal opportunity stages map to a simpler, customer-facing view for partners or execs. A representative mapping:
Keep internal stages rigorous; expose the simplified phases outward. Adapt the stage numbers and names to your own sales process.
Once a partner-submitted lead is approved and assigned, work it with the same rigor and process as any inbound lead. A service-level agreement keeps the channel fast and fair: the partner team reviews and processes partner-submitted leads within a defined window (for example ten business days), and reps refrain from actioning a partner lead until it is approved and assigned. Because partners see lead and opportunity status through their portal, stage discipline directly affects the partner experience.
As deals progress, keep implementation, customer success, and finance informed through the defined handoff points, and keep partners updated as their referred deals move through the lifecycle. The relationship owner is responsible for accurate, timely status so downstream teams and partners are never guessing.