The pipeline
A consultant's best new client is usually an old one. This pipeline keeps the proposal and the next project on the same board.
| Stage | Move a card here when | Needed to enter | Stale after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiry | Someone asks for help | 2 days | |
| Discovery call | You've booked or held the first call | Next activity | 5 days |
| Proposal sent | They have the scope, the fee and the timeline in writing | Deal value, Engagement type, Next activity | 5 days |
| Negotiating | They've come back on scope or fee | Next activity | 7 days |
| Active client | The engagement is signed and running | Start date, End date | |
| Completed | The work is delivered | Next activity | |
| Lost | They said no, or chose someone else |
Palby CRM counts Active client and Completed as won, and any stage with Lost in its name as lost. Completed asks for a Next activity, which is the check-in date in rule 3.
The fields
| Field | Type | Options or rule | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement type | Select | Project, Retainer, Workshop, Advisory | What they bought, and what to offer next |
| Start date | Date | When the work begins | |
| End date | Date | Remind me: Once, on the date | A week's notice before the engagement ends |
| Decision maker | Text | The person who signs off | |
| Referred by | Linked contact | Points at the client who sent them, so you can thank them | |
| Industry | Select | Your own list | For filters, like every F&B client |
| Lost reason | Select | Price, Timing, Did it in-house, Chose another firm, No reply | Moving a card to Lost asks for it |
| Amount paid | Currency | S$ | What they've paid you so far, as a running total |
| Date paid | Date | The date of the latest payment |
The follow-up rules
- Chase a proposal within five days. Next activity is needed to enter Proposal sent, and five quiet days flag the card as stale. A proposal that waits two weeks for a nudge often goes to the firm that nudged first.
- Plan the next project before this one ends. The End date reminder arrives a week before. Use that week to propose phase two, while the client still sees you every week.
- Check in three months after. When a card moves to Completed, set its follow-up to In 3 months. Ask how the work is holding up, and whether something new has come up.
- Track repeat work as deals. A second project for the same client is a second deal on the same customer, with its own value and close date. The first project's history stays on the record.
- Thank the referrer. When a new card has Referred by filled in, message the person it points to the same week.
Set it up in Palby CRM
Fifteen minutes on your board.
- Pick Services and agencies when you set up your business.
- Rename Won to Active client. Add Completed after it.
- Add the nine fields. Set End date to Remind me: Once, on the date.
- In each stage's settings, pick its Needed to enter fields and its Stale after days.
- Add a deal for each engagement as you win it, with its value and expected close.
Bringing a spreadsheet? Use the field names as column headers, add a Stage column with these stage names, and import. A stage name the board doesn't have won't be created, and the import tells you which stage those rows landed in instead.
An example board on Monday 2 November, with made-up names
| Customer | Stage | Engagement type | Deal value (S$) | End date | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lumen Logistics | Active client | Project | 18,000 | 9 Nov | Propose phase two this week |
| Bayside Clinics | Proposal sent | Workshop | 4,500 | Chase on Tue 3 Nov | |
| Aster Retail | Completed | Advisory | 9,000 | Check in on 1 Feb | |
| Northpoint Labs | Enquiry | Book the first call |
Lumen's project ends on 9 November, so today's email listed it, a week ahead. Phase two goes on this week's list.
Use it as a spreadsheet
Copy these columns into Google Sheets or Excel, one row per engagement:
Client | Contact | Phone | Stage | Engagement type | Value (S$) | Start date | End date | Referred by | Next step | Next step date | Lost reason
Sort by End date at the start of each month, and by Next step date every day.
30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.
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Questions about the consulting CRM template
Each client's stage, what they bought, the engagement's value and dates, who referred them and the next step with its date.
Enquiry, discovery call, proposal sent, negotiating, active client, completed and lost.
Propose the next phase before the current one ends, and check in about three months after it does.
Yes. In Palby CRM each engagement can be its own deal on the same customer, with its own value and close date.
A CRM tracks the sale, not the contract. For the scope, fees and terms, use a consulting agreement; ours is free to copy.
Yes, the template is free to copy into a spreadsheet or set up in Palby CRM.