The Biggest CRM Mistake
One of the most common mistakes new Studio Escrow users make is treating their Pipeline like a Contact List. This clutters your dashboard and makes it impossible to know how much revenue is actually pending.
The Contact List (The Database)
Your contact list is your rolodex. It contains every past client, every newsletter subscriber, every vendor, and every lead who ever filled out a form. It's the master record of everyone your business has ever interacted with.
The Pipeline (The Money Board)
Your pipeline is a visual representation of active deals. A contact should only be in your pipeline if they have expressed intent to purchase and are currently moving through your sales process.
How to Manage Them
When a lead goes cold, they shouldn't sit in your "Follow Up" pipeline stage forever. They should be marked as "Lost" or "Abandoned" and removed from the pipeline. They still exist in your Contact List, and they can still receive your automated marketing emails, but they are no longer cluttering your active sales view.
Keep your pipeline clean. It should only show you the deals you can close this month or this quarter.