How to Set Up Pipelines in Alivo
Create your sales board, place leads in stages, and keep the funnel visible to your whole team.
A pipeline is the visual board that shows where each lead sits in your sales process. Setting one up in Alivo takes a few minutes and gives your team a shared view of every open job, from first contact to signed estimate to done. This guide walks through the first-time setup wizard, how to edit stages afterward, and where to see your leads on the board.
Before You Start
You need company admin or organization admin access to create or edit pipelines. Non-admins can view pipeline settings and the board, but they cannot add stages, rename columns, or run the setup wizard.
Go to Settings, open the Pipelines section in the left menu, and click Pipelines. You can also start setup from your Audience list by switching to the pipeline view and clicking the setup link when no pipeline exists yet.
1. Run the Setup Wizard (First Time)
If your account has no pipelines yet, you will see a Setup pipelines button. Click it to launch the wizard. Alivo creates a default Sales pipeline with roofing-friendly stage names already filled in.
Step 1: Review the Recommended Stages
The first screen shows every stage Alivo will create, in order. The default list looks like this:
- New Lead
- Contacted
- Inspection Booked
- Estimate Sent
- Estimate Signed
- Job In Progress
- Job Complete
- Nurture / Future Work
- Needs Reassignment
- Review Requested
- Done (marked as Won)
- Not Interested / Disqualified (marked as Lost)
Click Next when you are ready. You can rename, reorder, and recolor every stage after setup.
Step 2: Review How Existing Leads Will Map
The second screen explains how unstaged leads will be placed into stages based on their last agent conversation and legacy CRM data. Each stage card shows which rules apply and which agents match. This is a preview only. Nothing moves until you confirm.
Click Create pipeline to finish. Alivo creates the pipeline, sets it as your default, and places unstaged leads into the appropriate stages. A confirmation message tells you how many stages were created and how many leads were updated.
Good to know: Right after pipeline setup, Alivo offers to add recommended automations that keep the board updated as agents work leads. You can add them now or skip and set them up later under Settings → Automations.
2. Manage Stages on an Existing Pipeline
Once a pipeline exists, the Pipelines settings page shows a table of all stages. Changes save automatically as you edit.
Rename a Stage
Click the stage name and type a new label. Alivo saves after a short pause. Stage names must be unique within a pipeline.
Reorder Stages
Drag the handle on the left side of a row to move a stage up or down. Order matters on the board: stages read left to right in the sequence you set here.
Change a Stage Color
Click the color dot on a stage row and pick a swatch. The same color appears on the pipeline board column header so your team can scan the funnel quickly.
Mark Won or Lost Outcomes
Each stage has an Outcome column with three options:
- — (dash) means the stage is still open. Leads here are active.
- Won closes the lead positively (for example, Done).
- Lost closes the lead without a sale (for example, Not Interested / Disqualified).
Only terminal stages should be marked Won or Lost. Everything else stays on the dash setting.
Add a New Stage
Click New stage in the toolbar. Alivo adds a row at the bottom with a default name you can edit immediately.
Delete a Stage
Click the trash icon on a stage row. If leads are still in that stage, Alivo asks you to pick another stage to move them into first. If an automation still references the stage (as a trigger or a move-to target), Alivo blocks the delete and lists the automations you need to update first.
3. Work With Multiple Pipelines
Most shops run one default pipeline, but you can create more if you need separate funnels (for example, sales vs. service).
- Select a pipeline. Use the dropdown at the top of the Pipelines settings page. The default pipeline is labeled with "(default)".
- Create a new pipeline. Open the pipeline actions menu and choose to add a new pipeline. Give it a name and click Create pipeline. New pipelines start with no stages. Add stages one at a time with New stage.
- Rename a pipeline. Open the pipeline actions menu and choose rename.
- Delete a pipeline. Open the pipeline actions menu and choose delete. You cannot delete a pipeline that still has leads sitting in one of its stages.
4. View Leads on the Pipeline Board
Go to Audience and switch to the Pipeline view. Each column is a stage. Lead cards show key details at a glance. You can drag a card to another column to move the lead manually, sort columns by last activity or name, and click a card to open the full lead record.
The board uses your default pipeline unless you pick a different one from the pipeline selector on the Audience page.
Keep in mind: Moving a lead on the board updates its stage immediately. If you have automations tied to stage changes, a manual drag can trigger them the same way an automatic move would.
Common Questions
Do I have to use the recommended stage names?
No. The wizard is a starting point. Rename any stage to match the language your team already uses.
What happens to leads that are not in any stage?
They show in an unstaged area on the board until something places them, either manually, through an automation, or during the initial setup backfill.
Can I set up automations before I set up pipelines?
Some automations work without a pipeline, but most stage-based recipes need pipeline stages to exist first. Run pipeline setup, then head to Settings → Automations.
A well-built pipeline is the foundation for everything else: a clear board your team trusts, and the stage structure your automations will reference. Start with the wizard, adjust the stages to match how you sell, and you are ready to wire up automations on top.
Still have a question this didn't answer? Reach out to our support team support@alivo.ai and we'll be glad to help.