HubSpot Lead Status vs Lifecycle Stage vs Deal Stage: A Comparison - Axon Garside

If you’re using HubSpot, you must understand how to categorise your contacts and leads effectively to manage opportunities and drive revenue.

Because let’s face the facts: Clarity is key in any sales process.

That said, if you’re unfamiliar with terms like ‘lifecycle stage’, ‘lead status’, and ‘deal stage’, understanding how they work in conjunction isn’t necessarily a piece of cake,  

So, in this blog, we’ll explain these three core categories in HubSpot, including what they are, how they differ, and most importantly, how they work together to support your business.

By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of how HubSpot organises your contacts and sales opportunities, helping you set up your portal for success. Whether you’re new to HubSpot or looking to refine your approach, this guide will help you streamline your sales process and set your system up for growth.

Once you’ve mastered these core concepts, you’ll be ready to take full advantage of what HubSpot has to offer.

What are lifecycle stages?

HubSpot Lifecycle Stages help you track and manage where your contacts or companies are in their journey with your business, whether it's through sales, marketing, or customer service. These stages offer a clear framework for understanding how your leads progress and when they’re ready for further engagement.

Here’s a breakdown of HubSpot's standard Lifecycle Stages:

• Subscriber: Someone who has shown interest by signing up for your newsletter, blog, or updates but hasn’t taken any further action with your business.
• Lead: A contact who’s shown more interest in your product or service, such as downloading content or filling out a form, but isn’t ready for sales yet.
• Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): A lead that’s engaged with your marketing efforts (like visiting multiple pages or opening emails) and is ready for more nurturing, but not quite ready for sales.
• Sales Qualified Lead (SQL): A lead that has been vetted by your marketing team and is now considered ready for direct engagement from your sales team.
• Opportunity: A contact or company identified as a potential sale, meaning they’re actively considering your product or service.
• Customer: A contact who has made a purchase or signed a contract with your business.
• Evangelist: A customer who promotes your business, referring new customers or advocating for your products or services.
• Other: This stage is for contacts that don’t fit into the above categories, such as partners or vendors.

By using these stages, you can better understand where each contact stands, ensuring you engage with them at the right time and with the right message.

What are lead statuses?

In HubSpot, Lead Status helps you track and manage the current state of a lead as they move through your sales process.

Unlike Lifecycle Stages, which focus on the overall journey a contact has with your business, lead Status is more specific to your sales pipeline, helping you monitor your interactions with leads more closely.

Here are some common Lead Status options, though you can customise them to fit your business needs:

• New: A lead that you’ve captured but haven’t yet contacted.
• Open: A lead that you’ve contacted or engaged with, but hasn’t yet moved further along in the sales process.
• In Progress: A lead that you’re actively working on, with ongoing communication or actions being taken by your sales team.
• Open Deal: A lead that has turned into a sales opportunity, and you’re actively working on closing the deal.
• Unqualified: A lead that isn’t a good fit for your business, whether due to lack of interest, budget, or other factors.
• Attempted to Contact: A lead you’ve tried reaching, but haven’t been able to engage with yet.
• Connected: A lead that you’ve successfully reached and engaged in a meaningful conversation.
• Bad Timing: A lead that’s a good fit, but the timing isn’t right for them to move forward. You might reach out again later.

By using Lead Status, you can more effectively manage where each lead stands in your sales pipeline and take the right actions to move them forward.

What are deal stages?

In HubSpot, deal stages represent the steps a potential deal goes through as it moves along your sales pipeline, from the first contact to closing the sale.

Each stage helps you and your sales team track where opportunities stand and get a clearer picture of your revenue forecasts.

Here’s a breakdown of the typical deal stages in HubSpot (though you can customise them to match your sales process):

• Appointment scheduled: You’ve set up a meeting or call with the lead to discuss their needs and how your offering might help.
• Qualified to buy: The lead has been qualified, meaning they’re a good fit for your product or service and have the budget, authority, and need to move forward.
• Presentation scheduled: A demo or presentation has been arranged, showing deeper engagement with the lead.
• Decision maker bought-in: The key decision-makers are on board and interested in exploring the deal further.
• Contract sent: You’ve sent a proposal or contract to the prospect for review and approval.
• Closed won: The deal is successfully closed, and the prospect is now a customer.
• Closed lost: The deal didn’t work out, and the prospect won’t be moving forward at this time.

By using these Deal Stages, you’ll have a better grasp of where each opportunity stands, helping you stay organised and focused on moving deals toward the finish line.

How are lifecycle stages, lead statuses, and deal stages used?

Lifecycle stages

Lifecycle stages represent the general stages that track a contact or company’s overall journey with your business, covering both your marketing and sales funnels.

Both your marketing and sales teams use lifecycle stages to categorise contacts based on their relationship with your business.

You can use lifecycle stages to organise contacts into categories like Subscriber, Lead, and Customer, helping you tailor communication and track their journey effectively.

You might send educational content to MQLs and more product-focused content to SQLs to nurture them toward conversion.

Lead status

Lead status refers to the specific stages that track the current state or engagement level of a lead as they move through your sales process.

Your sales team uses lead status to manage and prioritise outreach, tracking progress from initial contact attempts to qualification.

Lead status helps you monitor the progress of a lead, such as moving them from New to In Progress, or marking them as Connected after a meaningful conversation.

For example, you can change a lead from New to In Progress when your sales team begins outreach, or mark them as Connected after a successful interaction.

Deal stages

Deal stages track the progress of specific deals or opportunities as they move through your sales pipeline.

Your sales team uses deal stages to track deal progress, forecast revenue, and manage next steps based on the current stage of the deal.

Deal stages help you track where a deal stands, moving it to Appointment Scheduled when a meeting is set, and eventually to Closed Won when the deal is successful.

You might move a deal to Appointment Scheduled when a meeting is arranged, and then to Closed Won if the deal is successful and the prospect becomes a customer.

How to use lifecycle stages, lead status, and deal stage in your sales process

Using lifecycle stages, lead status, and deal stages together can help you significantly improve sales and marketing alignment in HubSpot by creating a clear, shared process for managing leads, nurturing them, and tracking progress towards conversion.

Here’s how you can use all three together to align your sales and marketing teams:

Lifecycle stages: Define the overall journey

Lifecycle stages allow both your sales and marketing teams to understand where a contact is in the overall customer journey, from awareness to becoming a customer.

By clearly defining each stage (Subscriber, Lead, MQL, SQL, etc.), marketing knows when a contact is ready to be passed to sales, and sales has a clear view of the lead’s background and interest level when they receive it.

For example, your marketing team works to move contacts from Subscriber to MQL using nurturing campaigns, content offers, and lead scoring. Once the contact reaches the SQL stage, sales is notified and can take over, confident that the lead has been pre-qualified by marketing.

Lead status: Track real-time engagement by the sales team

Lead status allows your sales team to update marketing in real-time on the status of leads as they engage with them.

When a lead moves from New to In Progress or gets marked as Unqualified, marketing can see what’s happening and adjust their strategies accordingly. This ensures leads don’t fall through the cracks and helps marketing re-engage cold leads when appropriate.

For example, your sales team can update the lead status as they begin contacting a new SQL, changing it from New to In Progress. If the lead doesn’t respond, the status can be marked as Attempted to Contact, prompting your marketing team to provide additional nurturing, such as an email sequence or remarketing campaign.

Deal stages: Track opportunities and forecast sales

Once a lead becomes a qualified opportunity, you can create a deal and use deal stages to track how close it is to closing.

By managing deal stages effectively, both your sales and marketing teams can collaborate on forecasting, understand which marketing campaigns are driving revenue, and spot bottlenecks in the sales process.

For example, your sales team can move an opportunity through the deal stages, from Appointment Scheduled to Closed Won. This allows your marketing team to measure which campaigns helped convert the lead into a customer and use those insights to optimise future marketing efforts.

By using these three HubSpot tools together, you ensure a smooth handoff between sales and marketing, better lead management, and more accurate forecasting.

Transform your business operations with HubSpot implementation from Axon Garside

Implementing HubSpot effectively is crucial for streamlining your marketing, sales, and service processes.

By making the most of HubSpot’s features, you can align your teams, drive growth, and improve customer experiences. However, real success comes from a strategic approach tailored to your unique business needs, and expert guidance can help you achieve that.

Explore our 5 Stages of HubSpot implementation to understand how our award-winning process has achieved this for our clients.