Pipeline Management & Sales Tracking

Funnels capture leads. Workflows nurture them. But how do you see where everyone is in the process?

That’s what pipelines are for.

What Is a Pipeline?

A pipeline is a visual Kanban board — columns representing stages, with contacts (called “opportunities”) moving left to right as they progress.

Think of it as a CRM for your course sales:

New Lead → Engaged → Sales Page Visited → Checkout Started → Enrolled → Lost

At a glance, you can see:

• How many leads are in each stage
• Which leads need follow-up
• Your conversion rate at each step
• Projected revenue from leads in the pipeline

Setting Up Your Course Sales Pipeline

Go to Sales > Pipelines in GHL. Create a new pipeline called “Course Sales.”

Recommended Stages

Stage	What It Means	How Leads Get Here
New Lead	Just opted in	Form submission → automation creates opportunity
Engaged	Opening emails, clicking links	Workflow condition: opened 3+ emails
Sales Page Visited	Clicked through to sales page	Trigger link click
Considering	Spent time on sales page, maybe started checkout	Checkout started event
Enrolled	Purchased the course	Purchase event
Won’t Buy (Now)	Declined or went cold	Manual move or “inactive” tag
Lost	Unsubscribed or inactive 60+ days	Automation or manual

Stage-by-Stage Automation

Connect your workflows to move contacts through the pipeline automatically:

When lead opts in:

• Create opportunity in “New Lead” stage
• Value: your course price (for revenue forecasting)

When lead opens 3+ emails:

• Move to “Engaged” stage

When lead clicks sales page trigger link:

• Move to “Sales Page Visited” stage

When lead starts checkout:

• Move to “Considering” stage

When lead completes purchase:

• Move to “Enrolled” stage
• Mark opportunity as “Won”

When lead goes inactive (60+ days no engagement):

• Move to “Lost” stage
• Mark opportunity as “Lost” with reason

Building the Pipeline Automation

Create a workflow called “pipeline-course-sales”:

TRIGGER: Form "lead-magnet-opt-in" submitted
  → ACTION: Create opportunity in pipeline "Course Sales", stage "New Lead", value $[course price]

Then, in your other workflows, add pipeline actions:

In the welcome sequence workflow:

  (after email 3)
  → CONDITION: Opened 3+ emails?
    → YES: Move opportunity to "Engaged" stage

In the nurture workflow:

  → CONDITION: Trigger link "sales-page" clicked?
    → YES: Move opportunity to "Sales Page Visited" stage

After purchase:

TRIGGER: Purchase made (your course offer)
  → ACTION: Move opportunity to "Enrolled" stage
  → ACTION: Mark opportunity as "Won"
  → ACTION: Add tag "student-active"

Revenue Forecasting

Once your pipeline is populated, GHL shows you:

• Total pipeline value — sum of all opportunity values
• Stage-by-stage value — how much potential revenue is at each step
• Win rate — percentage of leads who convert to students
• Average time to close — how long from opt-in to enrollment

This data is gold for business planning. If you know:

• Your pipeline has 200 leads worth $50,000 total
• Your conversion rate is 5%
• Your average time to close is 30 days

Then you can forecast: $2,500 in revenue over the next 30 days.

Manual Pipeline Management

Not everything can (or should) be automated. You can manually:

• Drag and drop contacts between stages
• Add notes to individual opportunities
• Assign follow-up tasks to team members
• Set reminders for specific leads
• Mark opportunities as won or lost with reasons

Weekly Pipeline Review

Spend 15 minutes each week reviewing your pipeline:

1. How many new leads entered this week? (top of funnel health)
2. How many moved to “Engaged”? (nurture effectiveness)
3. How many visited the sales page? (email pitch effectiveness)
4. How many enrolled? (overall conversion)
5. Any stuck leads? (in a stage too long — need manual follow-up)

The “Stuck Lead” Protocol

If a lead has been in “Sales Page Visited” for 14+ days without moving:

1. Send a personal email: “Hey [name], I noticed you checked out [course name]. Any questions I can answer?”
2. If they reply, move them forward or add a note
3. If no reply after 7 more days, move to “Won’t Buy (Now)“

Pipeline for High-Ticket Sales

If you sell a high-ticket program with sales calls (see High-Ticket Sales Calls), your pipeline stages change:

Stage	What It Means
New Lead	Opted in or filled out an application
Qualified	Application reviewed — good fit for a call
Call Booked	Scheduled a sales call
Call Completed	Had the conversation
Proposal Sent	You sent pricing/next steps
Enrolled	They signed up
Lost	Declined or ghosted

High-ticket pipelines have more manual stages because each deal requires personal attention. But the automation still handles the parts between calls — booking confirmations, reminders, and follow-up.

Pipeline vs. Funnel — What’s the Difference?

• Funnel = the pages and forms that capture leads (opt-in → sales page → checkout)
• Pipeline = the CRM view that tracks where each lead is in the process
• Workflow = the automation that moves leads through both

All three work together. The funnel feeds the pipeline. The workflow automates the movement between stages.

With your funnels built and automations running, the final piece is testing and optimizing everything. Let’s cover that next.