The pipeline
A web designer's pipeline doesn't end at launch. The domain renews every year, the client wants changes, and the next site often comes from the last client's friend. This board keeps all of it.
| Stage | Move a card here when | Needed to enter | Stale after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiry | Someone asks for a site | 2 days | |
| Brief call | You've talked through what they need | Site type, Next activity | 5 days |
| Quote sent | They have the price and the pages in writing | Deal value, Next activity | 5 days |
| Closed | They've said yes and paid the deposit | Amount paid, Launch date | |
| Completed | The site is live | Domain renewal | |
| Lost | They said no or went quiet |
Palby CRM counts Closed and Completed as won stages in your win rate. Moving a card to Completed asks for the domain's renewal date first.
The fields
| Field | Type | Options or rule | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site type | Select | Brochure site, Online shop, Landing page, Redesign | Which kind of site you're quoting for |
| Pages | Number | The quote's biggest driver | |
| Built with | Select | WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Wix, Custom | Who can edit it after you hand over |
| Website | URL | Their current site, or the new one once live | |
| Launch date | Date | Remind me: Once, on the date | A week's warning before you promised it |
| Domain renewal | Date | Remind me: Every year | The email comes a week before, every year |
| Hosting renewal | Date | Remind me: Every year | The same, when you host it |
| Care plan | Select | None, Basic, Plus | Who pays you monthly after launch |
| Lost reason | Select | Price, Timing, Went with a template, Chose someone else, No reply | Moving a card to Lost asks for it |
| Amount paid | Currency | S$ | What they've paid so far, deposit included |
| Date paid | Date | The date of the latest payment |
The follow-up rules
- Chase every quote within five days. Next activity is needed to enter Quote sent, and five quiet days flag it as stale.
- Put a renewal date on each live site. Domain renewal is needed to enter Completed. Every year the email comes a week before the date and on the day, which gives you a reason to message a client who hasn't heard from you.
- Offer the care plan after the first fix. When a client on Care plan None asks for a change after launch, that's the moment to offer Basic. Filter Completed by Care plan to see who's on none.
- Ask for the referral at launch. Set the follow-up to Next week when a card moves to Completed. A client with a new site is showing it to people.
Keep your packages in a price list
Keep your usual packages in the products list: name, price and category, for example "Brochure site, 5 pages, S$2,400" and "Care plan Basic, S$80 a month". When you quote, add them to the deal as lines with a quantity and any discount, and the deal's value adds itself up.
Set it up in Palby CRM
- Pick Services and agencies when you set up your business.
- Rename Discovery call to Brief call and Proposal sent to Quote sent. Delete Negotiating, or keep it if your clients haggle. Rename Won to Closed, and add Completed after it.
- Add the eleven fields from the table. For Domain renewal and Hosting renewal, pick Remind me: Every year.
- Open each stage's settings for Needed to enter and Stale after.
- Add your packages under Manage products, in any stage column's menu.
An example board on Monday 2 November, with made-up names
| Customer | Stage | Site type | Deal value (S$) | Domain renewal | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little Sprouts Enrichment | Completed | Brochure site | 2,400 | 9 Nov | Offer the care plan with the renewal note |
| Haji Lane Leather | Quote sent | Online shop | 5,800 | Chase on Wed 4 Nov | |
| Brightwater Physio | Closed | Redesign | 3,200 | Launch on 20 Nov | |
| Tan & Lee Law | Brief call | Brochure site | Send the quote by Thu |
Little Sprouts' domain renews on 9 November, so today's email listed it. The client has had no reason to hear from the designer since launch. Now there's one.
The spreadsheet version
Copy these columns into Google Sheets or Excel, one row per client:
Client | Contact | Phone | Stage | Site type | Pages | Built with | Website | Value (S$) | Launch date | Domain renewal | Hosting renewal | Care plan | Next step | Next step date
On the first of each month, sort by Domain renewal and message everyone due in the next 30 days.
30 minutes. You choose the day and the time.
Book a walkthroughKeep reading
- Custom fields in Palby CRM
- Payments and revenue
Questions about the web design CRM template
Each client's stage, site type, what it's built with, the quote's value and the next step, plus the domain and hosting renewal dates after launch.
Enquiry, brief call, quote sent, closed, completed and lost. Add negotiating if your clients often come back on price.
Renewals, care plans and referrals at launch are the usual three. A yearly domain reminder gives you a reason to message a client you haven't spoken to since launch.
Yes, as a running total. Update the Amount paid field when each payment lands, and the board adds every client's total into what's come in.
Yes, the template is free to copy into a spreadsheet or set up in Palby CRM.