Use the words they already use
“New,” “Contacted,” and “Won” are fine only if that is how the business talks. A med spa thinks in consults and treatments. A contractor thinks in quotes and jobs. The stage should say that.
A client should be able to point at a card and know the next action without a glossary.
One pipeline, one job
Do not put sales, onboarding, and support in the same board because the account looked empty. Each board is for one path. Extra boards can wait until that path is used.
If a lead can sit in two stages at once, the names are overlapping. Rename them before the snapshot is saved.
Write one line under each stage
The line says what moves a card forward, and who moves it. That is the documentation a later teammate, and the support desk, will actually read.
If you cannot write the line, the stage is not real yet.
