Work the pipeline
How to move deals and read the weighted forecast
Drag deals through your stages, close them won or lost with a reason, and read the weighted forecast — committed, likely, and pipeline — against each rep's quota.
Updated June 2026
Once your pipeline is built, the daily job is simple: keep deals moving and keep the data honest. KudosCRM gives you a kanban board to drag deals across stages, a list view to work them in bulk, and a forecast view that turns the live pipeline into a number you can defend in a review.
This guide covers advancing a deal (and what the stage gates do), closing it with a reason, and reading the weighted forecast and quota attainment — so the number leadership sees is built from real activity, not a hopeful spreadsheet.
Who this is for
Reps working their deals day to day, and managers who run the pipeline review and forecast call.
Before you start
- A pipeline with stages set up (see 'How to build a sales pipeline').
- Deals in the pipeline to work.
- Quotas set for your reps if you want attainment to show.
What's live vs. coming soon
Weighted forecasting (value × stage probability), the committed/likely/pipeline categories, and quota attainment are live. Switching the forecast calculation method (commit / best-case) and AI win-probability/health scoring are on the roadmap (shown with a 'Soon' pill) — today the forecast is a transparent, weighted roll-up you can audit.
Move deals and read the number
Drag a deal to the next stage
On the kanban board, drag a deal's card to the next stage. The board shows a verdict before you drop — OK, a warning, or blocked — so you know if a required field or rule will stop the move.
Fill what the gate asks for
If the target stage requires fields, a prompt collects them before the move completes. This is by design — it keeps the forecast honest by ensuring deals only advance when they truly qualify.
Override probability when a deal is unusual
Most deals inherit their stage's win probability. When one is an exception, set a per-deal probability override on the deal — the forecast uses it instead of the stage default.
Close it won or lost
Move the deal to your Won or Lost stage. Winning promotes the linked contact to customer automatically; losing requires a reason (and optionally a competitor) so the loss is captured for win/loss analysis.
Open the forecast view
Switch the pipeline to the forecast view. Open deals are weighted by stage probability and bucketed into committed, likely, and pipeline — with won-to-date and a projected end-of-period number.
Read attainment against quota
If quotas are set, the forecast shows each rep's attainment — target vs. attained, with a progress bar and period-over-period delta — so you can see who's on track and where the gap is.
Act on the gaps
Use the gap analysis and filters (stalled deals, high-value at-risk) to decide where to spend the rest of the period. Every change you make on the board updates the forecast in real time.
What you get
- Deals that only advance when they genuinely qualify, thanks to stage gates.
- A weighted forecast — committed, likely, pipeline — built from real activity.
- Quota attainment per rep, with the gap to target visible.
- Every loss captured with a reason, feeding win/loss analysis.
Related articles
Build your pipeline & stages
Set up the stages, probabilities, and gates this guide builds on.
Read articleSales forecasting (feature)
Everything the weighted forecast and quota tracking do, on the feature page.
Read articleDeals (feature)
Managing each opportunity, closing with reasons, and win/loss analysis.
Read articleSales & Pipeline overview
The full journey stage — see the customer, move the deal, trust the number.
Read articleSales & Pipeline is the third stop in the KudosCRM journey — moving deals across a visual pipeline on one 360° customer record. See the full picture on the Sales & Pipeline platform overview.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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