How to Set Up HubSpot Pipeline Rules for Better Deal Management

This chaos happens because most sales teams operate without proper guardrails. Sales reps, eager to show progress or simply trying to organise their work, often move deals around freely without following a consistent process. The result? Inaccurate forecasting, missing critical deal information, and a pipeline that doesn't reflect reality.

The good news is that HubSpot offers powerful pipeline rules that can solve these problems by enforcing your sales process automatically. Here's how to set them up to bring order to your sales chaos.

Part 1: Setting up Conditional Deal Stage Properties

Conditional deal stage properties are required or suggested fields that your team must fill in when they move a deal to a specific stage.

1. Navigate to Settings: From your HubSpot dashboard, click the gear icon in the top right corner to access your settings.
2. Find Deals Settings: In the left-hand menu, go to Data Management > Objects > Deals.
3. Access Pipelines: Click on the Pipelines tab.
4. Select Your Pipeline: Make sure you are working on the correct pipeline if you have more than one. You can set different rules for each pipeline.
5. Edit Deal Stage Properties: Scroll down to the list of your deal stages. Hover over the stage where you want to add a rule and click on Edit properties.
6. Add Required Properties: Search for and select the properties you want your team to fill in at this stage (e.g., "Amount" and "Close Date").
7. Make Properties Required: Check the box next to each property you want to make mandatory. This will prevent a user from moving a deal to this stage without filling out the required information.
8. Save Changes: Click Next and then Save to apply the changes.

Part 2: Setting up Pipeline Rules

Pipeline rules control the overall flow of deals through your pipeline, such as preventing deals from being moved backward or skipping stages.

1. Access Pipeline Rules: While still in the pipeline settings, look for the Pipeline rules section.
2. Review Rule Suggestions: HubSpot provides several suggested rules. Note that these rules do not apply to "super admins," who can override them if needed.
3. Enable Pipeline Rules: Turn on the rules that fit your sales process:
   • Limit deal creation to a single stage: This prevents sales reps from creating new deals further down the pipeline. When you turn this on, you'll be asked to select the default stage for all newly created deals.
   • Restrict deals from skipping stages: This forces a linear flow, requiring users to move a deal to the very next stage in the pipeline.
   • Restrict deals from moving backward: This prevents a deal from being moved to a previous stage.
   • Control deal editing access for specific stages: This advanced option lets you specify which users (e.g., only super admins) can move a deal into a particular stage.
4. Save Your Rules: The rules will automatically be saved once you toggle them on.

Part 3: How the Rules Work in Practice

Once your rules are set, your team will encounter them when they try to manage deals on the deal board.

• Attempting to move backward: If a user tries to move a deal to a previous stage, a pop-up will appear, informing them that this action is not allowed.
• Attempting to skip stages: If a user tries to move a deal from its current stage to a stage that is not the very next one, a pop-up will appear, instructing them to move it to the next stage.
• Moving to a stage with required properties: When a user moves a deal to a stage that has conditional deal stage properties, a pop-up window will appear. The user must fill in all the required fields before they can click "Save" and move the deal to the new stage.

The key to success is starting simple. Don't try to implement every possible rule at once. Begin with the most critical requirements for your process – perhaps just requiring key fields at your most important stages – then gradually add more structure as your team adapts.

Remember, these rules aren't about restricting your sales team; they're about creating a framework that helps everyone succeed. Good luck!

By Bridget Pine