I am modifying Follow-Up Boss and how we use it when creating ‘People’. Here is a list of adjustments being made for Stages, Sources, and Tags.

Prior to today, it had a mix of relationship, intent, transaction, and HR in one pipeline. Now it is clean, concise, and efficient.

STAGE

1. Some stages were conceptually vague
   
   ✅ Kept (with minimal or no change)

   Active Client
   ✔ Clear
   ✔ Transactional
   ✔ Agent-friendly

   Pending
   ✔ Industry standard
   ✔ Clear

   Closed
   ✔ Clear

   Past Client
   ✔ Necessary for reactivation, referrals, newsletters

🟡 MODIFY (Important)

Sphere
⚠ Problem: This is not a transaction stage

• Sphere = relationship, not intent

• Leads here get “stuck” forever

Change:

• Renamed ‘Inactive’

This one matters more than it looks.


Nurture
⚠ Too broad

• Nurture could mean cold, warm, long-term, undecided, or inactive

Change:
Put into ‘Inactive’

Lead
⚠ Weak stage name

• Everything is technically a lead

• Doesn’t tell agents what to do

Changed:

• No change because default

Hot Lead
⚠ Emotion-based
⚠ Subjective
⚠ Different agents interpret differently

Changes:
Deleted and moved to ‘Lead’

❌ KILL OR REPLACE (High Severity)

Pre-Approved
❌ This is not a stage

• Someone can be pre-approved and inactive

• Or pre-approved and years away

Correct handling:

• This belongs as a tag, not a stage

I would remove this from stages in a future cleanup.

Recruit
❌ Should never be in the sales pipeline

• HR ≠ CRM sales flow

Recommendation:
Separate Recruit pipeline or manage via tags + tasks.

Trash
❌❌ This is actively harmful

• Internally disrespectful

• Externally dangerous if screenshotted

• Creates lazy behavior (“just trash it”)

Replace with:

• Dead

• Archived

• Closed – No Action

We already philosophically aligned on “dead ≠ deleted.”
This stage contradicts that.

🎯 Stage Verdict Summary

• Keep: Active Client, Pending, Closed, Past Client

• Modify later: Sphere, Nurture, Lead, Hot Lead

• Remove ASAP: Pre-Approved, Recruit, Trash

We won’t force changes yet — but these are non-negotiable long-term truths.