How do I track next steps in my Project and Deals?

Add Next Steps to Project and Deals to help you keep track of what you've done and what you have left to do. Think of Next Steps as repeatable checklists that you can write once and reuse.

Next Steps are an extension of the higher level Stages—they should mirror your workflow and all of the things you need to get done to move to the next Stage.

For example, you might have specific steps you walkthrough for each active project. Or in sales, you might follow a specific sales process for potential customers. (Scroll to the bottom of this article for an example.)

In sales, you may refer to the combination of Stages and Next Steps as your "pipeline" or "sales funnel". In Projects, you will track all of the Steps to "win" your engagement (move from Lead to Potential to Active) and then track all of your steps to deliver the project or service.

Set these up as Next Steps and you'll always know what steps are done, and you'll be reminded to follow up on the next thing you have to get done — automatically.

Please follow the instructions below to add your own Steps.

1.) Tap on More (...) in the lower right of your screen on mobile (iOS/Android) and lower left on cloze.com.

2.) Tap on Settings

3.) Scroll down to the Customizations and tap on Deals to expand the section.

4.) In the Customizations section scroll down to People, Projects (or Deals or another label you may have used).

5.) Tap on the Add Step link to add your first Step and repeat for each Step you would like to track.

Tip: Cloze has two Styles of Next Steps

Next Steps can either act like a Process, where steps should be done in sequence, or like a Task List, where steps can be done in any order.

With a Process, as you mark steps done, you automatically advance to the next step.
With a Task List, you can mark steps done in any order, but you need to manually pick which step is the next step.

Swipe to the left to mark steps as done.

In process mode, Cloze will automatically advance to the next step.
In Task List mode, you can select another step as needed.

Process Mode:

Completing a step automatically advances to the next step. You can manually advance to another step by selecting the next step.

Task List Mode:

Tap on the checkmark next to each step to mark it done. After you complete a step you will need to select the next step to be completed.

In this example, the current step is "Negotiation / Agree on Price". To mark it done, we will tap on the checkmark next to the step name. To set the next step we will tap on the step name (on the left).

6.) Tap on the gear icon to edit the Step name and add a reminder.

7.) You can have Cloze remind you a few days after each Step. For each step you can set a reminder time and a custom template.

In this example, you would be reminded 10 days after your "Invoice" step.

Below are a few examples of how you might structure your Next Steps for a Project or Sales Pipeline. You will likely have a much different process, but they should help you get started. You can have as many Next Steps as you would like (in other CRMs our Next Steps are often called Stages). Each Next Step can have it own reminder and email template associated with it too.

Lead Stage: As leads come in you will need to qualify them to see if they are a good match for your products or services. Here are some example Next Steps that might be used for the "Lead" Stage:

Introduction / Follow-up
Send additional information
Document needs
Qualified

Potential Stage: Before you can deliver your service or product, you will need to keep track of everything it takes to win the deal or engagement. Here are some example Next Steps that might be used for the "Potential" Stage:

Discuss Capabilities
Draft Proposal / Cost Estimate
Deliver Proposal
Intro Project Team
Negotiation
Final Proposal
Contract Signed

Active Stage: Now that you've won your deal or engagement you need to track everything required to deliver the project to the client. Here are some example Next Steps for the "Active" Stage:

Kickoff Meeting
Rollout Plan Draft
Plan Sign-off
Client Acceptance
Phase 1 Delivery
Phase 1 Invoice Sent
Phase 1 Payment Received
Phase 2 Delivery
Phase 2 Invoice Sent
Phase 2 Payment Received

Inactive Stage: Your product or service has been successfully delivered/completed, but you have some final items to take care of before you are truly done. Here are a few examples of Next Steps at this phase.

Final Invoice Sent
Final Payment received
Thank You Email Sent and Request Referrals
Checking in (30-60 days after the deal/project has completed trigger a reminder to check in)