Opportunity Settings
Shape your sales process: pipelines, the stages inside them, the templates you reuse, and the categories, types and contact roles you classify opportunities with.
PrimeTask does not decide how you sell. Opportunity Settings is where you build the pipeline your sales actually follow, name the stages in your own words, and set up the ways you want to classify and describe your sales.
Everything here is part of the Pro tier, alongside the rest of PrimeCRM. To use it, upgrade from License Settings.
What you can do
Build a pipeline
from scratch, from a ready-made template, or by copying one you already have
Name and order your stages
and give each one a colour so the board reads at a glance
Keep more than one pipeline
for different kinds of sale, and choose which is the default
Save a pipeline as a template
and reuse it whenever you need the same shape again
Retire a pipeline
you have finished with, without losing the sales on it
Set up categories and types
for what you sell and who you sell it to
Define contact roles
so you can record who decides, who advocates and who guards the gate
How to open Opportunity Settings
- From the board: open Opportunities, then the settings control in the header
- From the pipeline switcher: click the pipeline name at the top of the board and choose Manage pipelines, or New pipeline to go straight to creating one
It opens on four tabs: Pipelines, Categories, Types and Roles.
Pipelines and stages
A pipeline is one sales process. Its stages are the steps a sale moves through, and they become the columns on the board.
Creating a pipeline
Choose New pipeline and pick how to start:
- Blank - give it a name and name its first stage. Add the rest afterwards
- From template - choose a ready-made shape, then add, rename and reorder its stages to suit you
- Duplicate - copy a pipeline you already have, stages and all
Whichever you choose, you get a new pipeline. Nothing existing is replaced or converted.
The ready-made templates
Five come with PrimeTask, and each is a starting point rather than a rule. Every stage can be renamed, recoloured, reordered or removed once the pipeline exists.
| Template | Stages |
|---|---|
| Standard Sales | Inquiry, Qualified, Proposal, Negotiation |
| Lead Qualification | New Lead, Attempting Contact, Connected, Discovery, Qualified, Sales Ready |
| Consulting & Services | Enquiry, Discovery, Scoping, Estimate, Proposal, Negotiation, Ready to Start |
| Retainer Renewal | Account Review, Renewal Drafted, Client Approval, Signed |
| Property Sale | Valuation, Listed, Viewings, Offer, Contracts |
Search the gallery by template name, by what it is for, or by a stage name, and each one previews its stages before you commit.
Working with stages
Select a pipeline and its stages are listed underneath. From there you can:
- Add a stage - type a name, pick a colour, add it
- Rename or recolour an existing stage
- Reorder by dragging a stage up or down. That order is the order of the columns on the board
- Delete a stage
Stage names have to be unique within a pipeline, and a stage cannot be nameless.
Deleting a stage moves its sales, it does not delete them
If any opportunities sit on the stage you are deleting, PrimeTask tells you how many and asks which stage they should move to. They are moved, not removed. A pipeline always keeps at least one stage.
Renaming a pipeline and choosing the default
Select a pipeline to rename it. Set as default makes it the one new sales start on when nothing else is chosen.
Drag pipelines in the list to reorder them, which is the order they appear in the switcher on the board.
Templates
A template is a saved pipeline shape you can create new pipelines from.
Saving your own
With a pipeline selected, choose Save as Template from its actions. Give the template a name and, if it helps, a note about when to use it.
A template is a snapshot, not a link
It records the pipeline's stages as they are at that moment. Changing the pipeline afterwards does not change the template, and editing the template does not change any pipeline. They go their separate ways from the moment you save.
Editing and deleting your own
Your saved templates can be edited in the gallery: change the name, change the note, and add, rename, recolour, reorder or remove stages. A template keeps at least one stage.
Deleting one removes it from your saved templates. Pipelines you already created from it are not affected.
The five that come with PrimeTask cannot be edited or deleted. Save your own version instead, by creating a pipeline from one, adjusting it, and saving that as a template.
Retiring a pipeline
When a sales process is finished with, retire its pipeline rather than deleting it. Choose Retire from the pipeline's actions.
Retiring asks where the sales should go, and it needs both a destination pipeline and a destination stage. PrimeTask tells you how many opportunities will move before you confirm. Nothing is deleted. If no opportunities are on it, it simply leaves your lists, and its name stays readable in the history of anything that used to be on it.
Two pipelines cannot be retired: the default one, and the last remaining one. Make another pipeline the default first, or create another pipeline, and then retire.
Where retired pipelines go
They are out of the way rather than gone. Turn on Show retired in the pipeline list to see them. A retired pipeline is read-only.
Restoring, and deleting for good
A retired pipeline can be restored, which brings it back with the same stages.
It can also be deleted permanently, and that cannot be undone. This only works while no opportunity uses the pipeline, so if sales are still on it you will need to move them first. History that refers to the pipeline keeps reading correctly afterwards.
Categories, types and roles
Three lists you define, each on its own tab, and all three work the same way: drag to reorder, rename in place, add at the bottom, retire when you are done with one.
Categories: what you are selling
PrimeTask starts you with Product, Service, Retainer, Consulting, Support, Maintenance, Training and Licence. Every one can be renamed or retired, and you can add your own.
Types: what kind of sale it is
Three to start with: New Business, Existing Business and Renewal.
Roles: why a person matters to a sale
Three to start with: Decision maker, Advocate and Gatekeeper.
Roles are what make the people on a sale useful rather than just a list of names. Each contact linked to an opportunity can carry one, so you can see at a glance who signs it off and who is only being kept informed.
Retiring one
Retiring works like retiring a pipeline. PrimeTask counts how many opportunities carry the category, type or role, and asks where they should go. You can move them to another one, or to none at all. Nothing is deleted.
Retired entries still read correctly
A sale that carried a retired category keeps showing its name. Retiring takes it out of the lists you pick from, it does not rewrite your history.
Where these settings show up
| What you set here | Where you see it |
|---|---|
| Pipelines | The switcher at the top of the Opportunities board, and the Pipeline field on a sale |
| Stages | The board's columns, the stage control on every card, and stage performance in Reports |
| Stage colours | The board, filters, and every stage label across the app |
| Categories and types | A sale's own page, and the board filters |
| Roles | The people listed on a sale |
| The default pipeline | Where a new sale starts when nothing else is chosen |
Things worth knowing
Settings belong to a space, and to a scope
These lists are set up for the CRM you are working in. A project running its own CRM keeps its own pipelines and its own categories, types and roles, separate from your shared ones. See Shared vs Isolated CRM.
Retire rather than delete, wherever both are offered
Retiring keeps your history readable and moves your live sales somewhere sensible. Deleting is only worth it for something that was created by mistake and holds nothing.
These are not task statuses or tags
Opportunity stages are not task statuses, and opportunity labels are not task tags. They are separate lists for separate work, so changing one never disturbs the other. Task statuses and tags are set up in Category Management Settings.
Common questions
"Can I change a pipeline after sales are already on it?"
Yes. Rename it, rename its stages, recolour them and reorder them at any time. Sales stay where they are, on the stage they were on. The only change that moves anything is deleting a stage, and that asks you where its sales should go first.
"What is the difference between retiring and deleting?"
Retiring hides something and keeps everything readable, moving any live sales somewhere you choose. Deleting removes it for good, and is only available once nothing is using it.
"I saved a template, then improved the pipeline. Is the template updated?"
No. A template is a snapshot from the moment you saved it. To capture the improvements, save the pipeline as a template again under a new name, or edit the template directly.
"Can I edit the templates that came with PrimeTask?"
Not directly. Create a pipeline from one, change it to suit you, then use Save as Template on that pipeline. You get your own version, and the original stays available.
"Do I have to use categories, types and roles?"
No. They are optional on every sale. They earn their keep when you want to compare like with like, for example new business against renewals.
"Why can I not retire this pipeline?"
Either it is the default, or it is the only one you have. Make another pipeline the default, or create a second pipeline, and the option becomes available.
Where to go next
| If you want to… | Read this |
|---|---|
| Work the board and manage sales | Opportunities |
| Write notes and read a sale's history | The Opportunity Timeline |
| Attach a call, email, meeting, demo or proposal | Activities and Opportunities |
| See how each stage is performing | CRM and Reports |
| Set up task statuses, priorities and tags | Category Management Settings |
| Keep a project's sales settings separate | Shared vs Isolated CRM |