---
title: HubSpot Lifecycle Stage Definitions
type: knowledge
created: '2026-04-05'
updated: '2026-04-05'
source_docs:
- raw/2025-11-04-sales-standup-98998334.md
tags:
- hubspot
- crm
- lifecycle-stages
- sales-ops
- mql
- sql
- bant
layer: 2
client_source: null
industry_context: null
transferable: true
---

# HubSpot Lifecycle Stage Definitions

Standardized definitions for each Lifecycle Stage in HubSpot, established during a sales ops alignment session between Mark Hope and Jacob Jones. These definitions provide clear, objective criteria for contact classification and progression through the funnel.

## Overview

The **Lifecycle Stage** property is the primary mechanism for managing contacts in HubSpot. Clear stage definitions prevent misclassification, reduce database noise, and enable automated workflow triggers (e.g., auto-promoting a contact to SQL when all BANT fields are checked).

As of this alignment, the database contains ~40,000 contacts — many poorly categorized — with a goal to convert, enrich, or remove contacts that don't meet stage criteria.

---

## Stage Definitions

### Subscriber
- **Criteria:** Opted into the newsletter or a list, but minimal profile data is available.
- **What we know:** Email address only (or very little beyond that).
- **What we don't know:** Title, company, phone, LinkedIn, intent.
- **Action:** Nurture or enrich; do not treat as a sales target until promoted.

---

### Lead
- **Criteria:** Known email address, but missing key qualifying information.
- **What we know:** Email address; some partial data.
- **What we don't know:** Job title, company, phone number, or other profile fields needed for outreach.
- **Action:** Enrich via [[knowledge/hubspot/data-enrichment-and-cleanup]] (Clay + Xero Bounce) to promote to MQL, or remove if unresolvable.
- **Current volume:** ~28,000 contacts — goal is to convert or purge this cohort.

---

### MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead)
- **Criteria:** Sufficient profile data exists for targeted outreach, but no direct conversation has confirmed fit or intent.
- **What we know:** Email address, phone number, LinkedIn profile, and company/title.
- **What we don't know:** Budget, authority, need, or timeline (BANT) — these have not been confirmed through direct conversation.
- **Action:** Pursue outreach to qualify; promote to SQL upon BANT confirmation.

---

### SQL (Sales Qualified Lead)
- **Criteria:** All four BANT criteria have been confirmed through direct conversation or qualification activity.
- **BANT Fields (custom checkboxes on the Contact object):**
  - ☐ **Budget** — Contact/company has confirmed budget available.
  - ☐ **Authority** — Contact has decision-making authority (or confirmed access to it).
  - ☐ **Need** — A clear, confirmed need for the product/service exists.
  - ☐ **Time** — A defined or near-term timeline for a decision exists.
- **Promotion logic:** When all four BANT checkboxes are checked, the contact should be promoted to SQL (manually or via automated workflow).
- **Action:** Hand off to active sales pursuit; move to Opportunity when deal activity begins.

---

### Opportunity
- **Criteria:** Actively working to close a deal with this contact/company.
- **What we know:** Full BANT qualification; a deal is in progress.
- **Action:** Manage via Deals pipeline; track in CRM deal stages.

---

### Customer
- **Criteria:** Deal has been closed; contact is an active paying customer.
- **Action:** Exclude from prospecting outreach; manage via customer success workflows.

---

### Churn *(newly added)*
- **Criteria:** Was previously a Customer but is no longer active.
- **Rationale:** HubSpot's default stages do not include a post-customer exit state. "Churn" was added as a custom stage to distinguish former customers from active ones and prevent inappropriate outreach.
- **Action:** Exclude from standard outreach; may be targeted with win-back campaigns separately.

---

## Stage Progression Summary

```
Subscriber → Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Customer → [Churn]
```

| Stage       | Email | Phone + LinkedIn | BANT Confirmed | Deal Active | Closed |
|-------------|-------|-----------------|----------------|-------------|--------|
| Subscriber  | ✓     |                 |                |             |        |
| Lead        | ✓     | Partial         |                |             |        |
| MQL         | ✓     | ✓               |                |             |        |
| SQL         | ✓     | ✓               | ✓              |             |        |
| Opportunity | ✓     | ✓               | ✓              | ✓           |        |
| Customer    | ✓     | ✓               | ✓              | ✓           | ✓      |
| Churn       | ✓     |                 |                |             | Former |

---

## Related

- [[knowledge/hubspot/data-enrichment-and-cleanup]]
- [[knowledge/hubspot/bant-qualification-fields]]
- [[knowledge/hubspot/email-verification-process]]