Stage exit criteria are the conditions a deal must meet before a rep can move it to the next stage of the pipeline, ideally written as things the buyer has said or done.
Writing criteria a buyer meets
Each stage gets entry criteria (what qualifies a deal to enter) and exit criteria (what shows it is ready to move on). The test for any criterion is whether the buyer did it and whether someone else can check it. "Demo delivered" is a seller task and moves deals on activity. "Buyer named the three people who will evaluate" is evidence. Written that way, stages mean the same thing on every rep's pipeline, and forecasts built on stages stop drifting.
Criteria only work if someone checks them. The natural place is the deal review: a call where the rep walks the deal and the manager or coach asks which criterion is met and which is missing. Our deal coaching guide covers that conversation in full.
Rewriting the proposal stage
A team's "proposal" stage used to read "proposal sent". The manager rewrites the exit criteria: the economic buyer has seen the business case, the buyer agreed a decision date, and the buyer described their approval steps. In the next review, a rep brings a deal on a call and finds two of the three are missing. The deal moves back a stage, and the rep and the coach plan the call that asks the champion for an introduction to the economic buyer. (Illustrative example.)
Seller tasks and buyer evidence, stage by stage
The quickest audit is to read each stage's exit line and ask who did the thing. A starting set for a typical B2B pipeline:
| Stage | Exit written as a seller task | Exit written as buyer evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Discovery call held | Buyer stated the problem and what it costs, and agreed a dated next step |
| Solution | Demo delivered | Buyer said which part of the product answers which problem they named |
| Proposal | Proposal sent | Economic buyer has seen the business case and described the approval steps |
| Negotiation | Contract sent | Buyer named who signs, what they need to see, and the date they will sign |
The question a manager asks in a deal review follows from the right-hand column: "Which of these did the buyer do, and where is it written down?" A rep who answers with an email, a call note or a quote has met the criterion. A rep who answers with "they're keen" has not.
Related terms
FAQ
What is the difference between entry and exit criteria?
Entry criteria say what qualifies a deal to enter a stage. Exit criteria say what must be true before it leaves. In practice one stage's exit criteria are the next stage's entry criteria, so many teams write only the exit side.
What are good exit criteria for a discovery stage?
The buyer has stated the problem and what it costs them, named who else is affected, and agreed a next step with a date. Each is something the buyer said, so a manager can check it in the notes or on the call recording.
Should a CRM enforce exit criteria?
A CRM can require fields, which helps, but a filled field is easy to game. Check the criteria in the deal review too: the rep says what the buyer said, and the reviewer asks for the evidence behind it.