--- title: HubSpot CRM Setup — Lifecycle Stages, Deal Management & BANT Integration type: article created: '2026-04-05' updated: '2026-04-05' source_docs: - raw/2025-10-09-cai-hubspot-call-93068091.md tags: - hubspot - crm - citrus-america - lifecycle-stages - lead-qualification - bant - deal-management - automation - sales-ops layer: 2 client_source: Citrus America industry_context: food-beverage transferable: false --- # HubSpot CRM Setup — Lifecycle Stages, Deal Management & BANT Integration ## Overview Working session with Miriam Framson (Citrus America) to finalize HubSpot CRM architecture. The call covered the full contact lifecycle flow, reorganization of fields between contact and company objects, automated deal creation triggers, and a plan to integrate BANT criteria into deal probability scoring. **Attendees:** Melissa Cusumano, Mark Hope, Chris Ostergaard (Asymmetric); Miriam Framson (Citrus America) **Follow-up:** Tuesday at 8am CT / 9am ET --- ## Key Decisions ### 1. Lifecycle Stage Flow Confirmed The agreed contact lifecycle progression is: ``` Prospect → Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer ``` | Stage | Criteria | |---|---| | **Prospect** | Default for any contact missing Lead criteria; also used for non-sales contacts (vendors, media) | | **Lead** | First name, last name, email, phone, US/Canada location (incl. Alaska, Hawaii), category known | | **MQL** | All Lead criteria + associated company with known number of locations + interest in juicing (contact-level fields only) | | **SQL** | All MQL criteria + company-level fields answered (juicing status = yes OR no-but-interested; additional qualification fields with "unknown" option allowed) | | **Opportunity** | Triggers automated deal creation | | **Customer** | Set upon deal close/won | Lifecycle stages are a standard HubSpot field and cannot be customized beyond the built-in options. The waterfall automation will cascade contacts upward as criteria are met, and downward if data is removed or invalidated (e.g., a bogus phone number clears the Lead qualification). ### 2. Company Object Reorganization Fields describing the *place* (not the person) were moved from the contact object to the company object. Rationale: contacts come and go; the company record persists and should hold institutional knowledge. **Fields moved to company object:** - Are you already juicing? (yes / no, but interested / no, not interested / unknown) - Number of locations - How much volume do you anticipate juicing? - Additional qualification fields (juicing program details, etc.) **Rules:** - These fields are **not** required to create a company record (avoids friction for early-stage research entries) - They **are** required for a contact to reach SQL status - An **"Unknown"** option will be added to each field so reps can progress qualification without blocking on incomplete information — but the field must be explicitly filled in ### 3. Automated Deal Creation at Opportunity Stage Deal creation will be automated when a contact's lifecycle stage changes to **Opportunity**. This ensures: - Every opportunity has a deal record with an associated contact and company - If a contact leaves a company mid-process, the deal and company records remain intact and the sales team can identify the missing contact - Revenue forecasting can begin, even at low probability > *"The way you're supposed to manage sales processes is you're managing deals, you're not managing companies or contacts."* — Mark Hope ### 4. BANT to Drive Deal Probability Scoring BANT criteria (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline) will be added as fields on the **deal object**. Rather than reps manually entering a probability percentage, BANT scores will drive an automated probability calculation. Proposed priority flagging: - 🟢 **Green** — all BANT criteria met - 🟡 **Yellow** — partial BANT criteria met - 🔴 **Red** — minimal BANT criteria met This replaces the current approach where reps enter probability by feel ("putting their finger in the air"). Full BANT implementation is pending Miriam's review of the deal section. ### 5. Deal-to-Deal Associations for Complex Projects For RFQ/spec projects involving multiple dealers and locations, HubSpot's associated records feature allows deals to be linked to other deals. The pattern: - Create a parent deal as a placeholder for the RFQ/project - Attach the RFQ document - Create child deals per location or dealer quote, linked back to the parent This preserves the project lineage without conflating separate commercial opportunities. --- ## Action Items - [ ] **Mark Hope** — Complete SQL automation workflow; add "unknown" option to all company qualification fields; hold on BANT deal implementation until Miriam provides input - [ ] **Miriam Framson** — Review current deal stages, structure, and probabilities; assess BANT integration approach; report back before Tuesday call - [ ] **Both** — Tuesday follow-up call (8am CT / 9am ET) to align on deal setup and BANT implementation - [ ] **Team** — Plan contact cleanup: reassign contacts currently owned by Jay; audit existing contacts and deals against new lifecycle criteria --- ## Open Questions - Should deal creation trigger at **SQL** (low probability placeholder) or **Opportunity** (confirmed)? Decision landed on **Opportunity**, but the SQL-level placeholder concept was discussed and not fully ruled out. - Exact BANT field structure and scoring weights TBD on next call. - Deal stage names need review — current "New Deal/Quote" stage should likely be split; "Appointment/Presentation" verbiage doesn't match Citrus America's demo-based sales process. - Long-term/spec deals need a dedicated stage so they don't inflate near-term pipeline. --- ## Context & Background - Citrus America's sales motion involves both direct end-customer contacts and dealer intermediaries (e.g., dealers requesting quotes on behalf of end customers for spec projects) - Jay (former team member) still owns a large number of contacts in HubSpot — reassignment is a near-term cleanup priority - The team is moving toward a more active sales posture internally, with Miriam taking on more direct HubSpot usage --- ## Related - [[wiki/clients/current/citrus-america/_index]] - [[wiki/knowledge/hubspot/lifecycle-stage-automation]] - [[wiki/knowledge/hubspot/bant-deal-scoring]]