HubSpot Deal Stages: How to Customise and Use Deal Stages in Your Pipeline

Deal stages define where each deal sits in your sales pipeline. Every deal in HubSpot belongs to a pipeline and sits at a specific stage. As reps move deals forward the pipeline view updates in real time, giving your team a shared picture of where each deal stands.

This guide covers how to set up and customise deal stages in HubSpot, and how to automate actions when deals advance.

What are deal stages in HubSpot?

A deal stage is a label that describes where a deal is in your sales process. When a rep creates a deal, they assign it to a pipeline and a stage. As the deal progresses, they move it forward until it is marked won or lost.

HubSpot comes with a default pipeline that includes several preset stages. These serve as a starting point. As your process becomes clearer, you will want to customise the stages to match how your team actually sells.

Each stage has two key settings:

• Name: the label your team sees in the pipeline view
• Probability: the estimated likelihood of closing at this stage, used in HubSpot’s weighted forecasting

Both can be updated at any time. For a broader overview of how pipelines work in HubSpot, see the HubSpot sales pipeline guide.

How do you customise deal stages in HubSpot?

Stage configuration lives inside your pipeline settings. Go to Settings > Objects > Deals, then click on the pipeline you want to edit.

From the pipeline settings screen you can:

• Rename existing stages by clicking on the stage name
• Add new stages using the “Add Stage” button at the bottom of the list
• Delete stages that do not apply to your process
• Drag stages into a different order
• Update the win probability for each stage

If your business handles deal types with genuinely different sales motions, you can create multiple pipelines. Each pipeline has its own independent set of stages. A new-business pipeline would have different stages from a renewal pipeline, often with separate team ownership.

How do required properties help you keep data clean?

One of the most practical pipeline features is the ability to require certain properties before a deal can move to a new stage.

For example, you might require that a deal has an expected close date and a primary contact associated before it moves from “Qualified” to “Proposal Sent.” If those fields are empty, HubSpot prompts the rep to fill them in before the stage change is saved.

This reduces incomplete data without depending on individual discipline. The requirement is built into the moment the deal moves forward, rather than relying on managers to chase updates after the fact.

To configure required properties, open your pipeline settings and hover over the stage you want to update. Click the gear icon, then select “Properties required when moving to this stage.”

How do deal stage automations work in HubSpot?

Once your stages are set up, you can trigger actions automatically when a deal enters or exits a stage. This is managed from the pipeline settings screen under “Automate.”

Common automations triggered by stage changes include:

• Sending an email to the contact when a deal moves to “Proposal Sent”
• Creating a task for the deal owner when a deal reaches “Decision Stage”
• Enrolling a deal in a workflow when it enters a specific stage
• Sending an internal notification when a deal is marked won

Stage automations in pipeline settings handle straightforward triggers. For more complex logic with conditions and branching, HubSpot workflows can fire on deal stage changes with additional flexibility. For a full breakdown of what is possible, see the HubSpot pipeline automation guide.

How do deal stages affect HubSpot reports?

Deal stages feed directly into several views and reports in HubSpot:

• Pipeline view: shows all open deals grouped by stage, with total deal value visible per stage
• Deal forecast: uses the win probability at each stage to calculate weighted expected revenue
• Deal funnel report: shows how many deals moved between stages over a given period and where the most drop-off occurred

Well-named stages with calibrated probabilities make these reports far more useful. If your probabilities do not reflect your actual close rates, the forecasting numbers will not match what your team experiences. For guidance on building reports from your deal data, see the HubSpot deals guide.

What mistakes should you avoid when setting up deal stages?

• Too many stages: More than seven or eight stages often causes reps to skip updates or misapply stages. Aim for five to seven stages representing genuinely distinct steps.
• Vague stage names: Names like “In Progress” or “Active” do not communicate what has happened. Use action-oriented names: “Demo Scheduled” or “Contract Sent.”
• Probabilities that never get updated: Default probabilities rarely match your actual close rates. Review them after your first quarter and adjust based on what your data shows.
• Using stages to track status instead of properties: Some teams create a stage called “Waiting for Signature.” That state is better captured as a deal property with a date field rather than as a separate pipeline stage.

FAQ

Can I have more than one deal pipeline in HubSpot?
Yes. You can create multiple pipelines under Settings > Objects > Deals. Each pipeline has its own independent stages. The number of pipelines available depends on your HubSpot subscription tier.

What happens to existing deals if I rename a stage?
The deals keep their stage assignment. HubSpot updates the stage label across all records sitting at that stage when you save the name change.

Can I reorder deal stages after setting them up?
Yes. Inside pipeline settings you can drag stages into a different order at any time. Deals already in those stages are not affected by the reorder.

Can I delete a stage that still has deals in it?
HubSpot will ask you to reassign those deals to another stage before allowing the deletion. You cannot remove a stage while active deals are in it.

Do deal stages connect to contact lifecycle stages?
Not automatically. They are separate properties. You can use a HubSpot workflow to update a contact’s lifecycle stage when a deal they are associated with reaches a certain stage.

This is an independent informational resource produced by a HubSpot Platinum Partner. HubSpot is a trademark of HubSpot, Inc.