#The challenge
The company's sale contained two genuinely separate commercial events. The first was closed by the sales team. The second closed months later and was owned by a different internal team on a different timeline. Both were tracked on one opportunity record type with one stage path and one 'closed won'. The consequences compounded: revenue timing was ambiguous, conversion and cycle-time data could not be trusted, the sales team was being measured on an outcome it did not control, and the handoff between the two teams had no system event behind it. One stage in the path sat awkwardly between the two — occurring after the first closed-won event but before the second phase began.
#The approach
Named the two closed-won events and separated them
Proposed splitting the pipeline into two record types: the first covering identification through signed agreement, ending at an unambiguous revenue event; the second covering everything after that through final close. Each got its own stages, its own page layout and its own exit criteria, so a 'won' record means one thing on each.
Made the internal handoff a system event
Completion of the first opportunity is the trigger to create the second, so the moment ownership passes between teams is recorded rather than assumed — and the sales team is measured on delivering a well-qualified deal through the gate, which is what it actually controls, rather than on an outcome it does not.
Wrote down the friction instead of glossing it
The design named change management and rep retraining as a real cost of the model, flagged the one existing stage that behaved more like a checkbox than a stage because of where it sat relative to the first closed-won event, called out the open question of what triggers the second opportunity in every case, and deferred final record-type naming to the client.
Extended the model to the rest of the revenue base
The object ended up carrying eight record types with distinct page layouts — the two core paths, additional types for the other deal shapes the business ran, and a legacy type retained for history — with deal types separating new business, existing business and renewal, and a weighted-amount calculation on top.
Built the lead layer underneath it
A defined lead status lifecycle with a written definition for each status, a flow stamping status-change timestamps, required fields enforced at lead creation, automatic promotion on conversion, and a plain-language guide so the team could operate it without asking.
Ran the reporting pack as a standing deliverable
An executive dashboard, a weekly dashboard, a sales-cycle-timing dashboard and a rep leaderboard in the CRM, feeding a standing deck set produced month after month for well over a year — filed alongside lead-source, historical closed-won refresh, CAC and payback, and runway and revenue-mix artifacts. The cadence and the artifact set are evidenced by the dated archive; the contents of individual decks were not read.
Left the system documented
A how-it-works document covering lead statuses and their definitions, the lead automations, required fields, every opportunity record type, deal types, the dashboard inventory and the tool stack — plus an offboarding plan and checklist.
#Outcomes
The two-stage model shipped and was in production at handoff
Eight opportunity record types with distinct page layouts, a defined lead status lifecycle with timestamping, and enforced creation requirements were all live and documented when the engagement closed.
Each closed-won event now has one meaning
Revenue timing, conversion and cycle time are measurable per phase rather than blended across two commercial events on one record.
The team handoff is a recorded event
Creation of the second opportunity marks the transfer of ownership, so the gate between the two teams is visible in the system rather than inferred.
A recurring monthly board and operations reporting cadence, run off the CRM for more than a year
Executive, weekly, cycle-timing and leaderboard dashboards were built in the CRM, and a standing deck set was produced month after month for more than a year, with lead-source, CAC/payback and runway artifacts filed alongside it. This rests on the dated archive of deliverables rather than on reading each deck: the cadence and the artifact inventory are evidenced, what any individual deck contained is not.
Documented handover
A how-it-works reference covering statuses, record types, automations, dashboards and the tool stack, plus an offboarding plan and checklist.