Stages nobody agrees on
One estimator calls a job “quoted” after the visit, another after the proposal goes out. The counts mean nothing because the words mean different things.
SALES PIPELINE
A sales pipeline that shows every job between first call and signature.
How many proposals are out right now, and what are they worth? If answering means scrolling through texts, you don’t have a pipeline yet. We set the stages, the rules for moving between them, and the view you check each week.
Show me where I’m losing jobsFree 2-minute assessment · No pitch, no obligation
Part of the engine: System · Tracking that improves it monthly
At a glance
- Who it’s for
- Contractors in remodeling, general contracting, solar, and other trades that sell projects worth an estimate
- Part of the system
- System: tracking that improves it monthly
- How it works
- Agree on the stages
- Write down the moves
- Set it up in your CRM
- Read it with you monthly
- Judged on
- Jobs and value at each stage
- Days a job sits in each stage
- Stage-to-stage conversion rates
- Lost jobs by reason
- Common mistakes
- Stages nobody agrees on
- Lost jobs with no reason
- A feeling instead of a number
- What it costs
- Ad spend is paid directly to Meta or Google, never through BlueSmith. Setup and monthly management are scoped on a strategy call after the free assessment.
WHERE IT BREAKS
Sales Pipeline: where it breaks for most contractors.
Lost jobs with no reason
Jobs vanish from the board without a note. You can’t tell whether you’re losing on price, on speed, or to the same competitor every time.
A feeling instead of a number
You know it’s been a slow month, but not whether the trouble is too few leads, too few visits, or too few signatures.
WHAT WE BUILD AND RUN
What’s included.
Stages with entry rules
Each stage has a short definition of what must be true for a job to move into it, so everyone counts the same way.
A reason on every lost job
A short pick-list of loss reasons, filled in when a job is marked lost, so patterns show up after a few months of real data.
The owner’s weekly view
Jobs and dollar value at each stage, how long each has been sitting, and which ones need a call this week.
Stage-to-stage rates
The share of jobs that move from each stage to the next, which points at the part of your sales process that needs work.
HOW WE RUN IT
In order. No guesswork.
- 01
Agree on the stages
We sit down with you and whoever runs estimates and name the stages the way your team already talks about jobs.
- 02
Write down the moves
What moves a job forward, what marks it lost, and who updates it, on one sheet your team can follow.
- 03
Set it up in your CRM
Stages, loss reasons, and the weekly view built in Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or GoHighLevel.
- 04
Read it with you monthly
We go through the numbers together and point at the stage where the most jobs are stalling or dying.
Judged on outcomes, not activity
- Jobs and value at each stage
- Days a job sits in each stage
- Stage-to-stage conversion rates
- Lost jobs by reason
WHERE IT FITS
One part of the whole engine.
Attention × Offer × Sales × System. A weak part drags the others down, so we build and run all four.
- Conversion Tracking→
- CRM and Automation→
- Sales PipelineYou’re here
RUN YOUR NUMBERS
Sales pipeline forecast: what are your open estimates worth?
Every estimate sitting on a kitchen table is money you might sign. Weight it honestly and see what your pipeline is really carrying.
Expected revenue from open estimates: $187,500
Expected revenue from open estimates$187,500
- Jobs you expect to sign
- 6.3
- Signed revenue per month if the pipeline stays this full
- $267,857
25 open estimates at $30,000, 25% expected to sign, about 21 days to decide.
See what we’d build for these numbersStarts with example numbers. Change them to yours. Arithmetic only, not a promise of results.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS
Questions we hear.
How is this different from your CRM and automation work?
CRM and automation is the machinery: the software, the messages, the tasks. The pipeline is what you read from it: the stages, their definitions, and the numbers that tell you where sales are breaking. A tidy board with no definitions teaches you nothing.
What stages should a contractor pipeline have?
Fewer than most software defaults. New lead, estimate booked, estimate held, proposal sent, signed, and lost cover most contractors. Add a stage only when your team does something different at that point, like a design meeting or a financing approval.
Can a pipeline forecast next month’s revenue?
Roughly. Example numbers, not a benchmark: 12 proposals out at an average of $18,000, with a past close rate of 25%, points to about $54,000 likely to sign. It’s a planning figure, and it only gets trustworthy once your stages and close rate are measured honestly.
Why bother logging reasons for lost jobs?
Because the fix depends on the reason. Losing on price calls for better qualification or a range shown up front. Losing on timing calls for follow-up. Losing to slow proposals is a process problem. Without reasons, you end up fixing the wrong thing.
Your crew is ready for the next job. Is your calendar?
Seven questions. Two minutes. See the one part of your engine holding your projects back.
Show me where I’m losing jobsFree 2-minute assessment · No pitch, no obligationAvg response time 2.5 minutes