How to Automate Your Sales Pipeline
in Pipedrive (Step-by-Step)

Prerequisites

• Pipedrive account (Advanced plan or higher for automations — $28/user/mo)
• Email sync configured (Gmail or Outlook)
• Optional: Zapier account for external app connections

Step 1: Design Your Pipeline Stages

Before automating, you need the right pipeline structure. Here's the framework we use for most B2B sales teams:

Stage	Purpose	Exit Criteria
New Lead	Unqualified inbound lead	First contact made
Contacted	First outreach done	Discovery call scheduled
Discovery	Understanding needs	Qualified + needs identified
Proposal	Proposal/quote sent	Proposal reviewed by prospect
Negotiation	Pricing/terms discussion	Agreement on terms
Closed Won	Deal signed	—
Closed Lost	Deal lost	—

Go to Settings → Pipelines and customize your stages. Delete default stages that don't match your process.

Step 2: Set Up Lead Capture Automation

Leads from your website, ads, or landing pages should automatically create deals in Pipedrive.

Option A: Pipedrive Web Forms

Pipedrive has built-in web forms. Go to Leads → Web Forms → Create. Add fields for name, email, phone, company. Embed the form on your website. Every submission creates a new deal in your pipeline.

Option B: Zapier Integration

If you use Typeform, Calendly, Facebook Lead Ads, or Google Ads lead forms, connect them to Pipedrive via Zapier:

• Trigger: New form submission / new lead
• Action: Create Person in Pipedrive → Create Deal linked to that Person
• Map form fields to Pipedrive fields (name, email, phone, source)

Step 3: Auto-Assign Deals to Reps

Go to Automations → Create and build this workflow:

• Trigger: Deal created
• Condition: Deal owner = "Unassigned" (or a specific default user)
• Action: Update deal → Change owner to [rep] based on round-robin or territory rules

For round-robin, use Zapier with a Formatter step that cycles through a list of rep names.

Step 4: Automated Welcome Email

Build this automation in Pipedrive:

• Trigger: Deal enters "New Lead" stage
• Action: Send email using template "Welcome - New Lead"

Write an email template that:

• Thanks them for reaching out
• Introduces yourself and your company (1-2 sentences)
• Provides a clear next step (booking link or reply prompt)
• Includes your phone number for urgency

Step 5: Follow-Up Task Automation

Create automations for each pipeline stage transition:

When deal enters...	Create this activity	Due in
New Lead	Call: "First contact attempt"	1 hour
Contacted	Call: "Schedule discovery call"	2 days
Discovery	Task: "Prepare proposal"	3 days
Proposal	Call: "Follow up on proposal"	3 days
Negotiation	Task: "Send final agreement"	2 days

Each automation: Trigger = Deal moves to [stage] → Action = Create activity (type, subject, due date, assigned to deal owner).

Step 6: Stale Deal Alerts

This is the most important automation for pipeline hygiene:

• Trigger: Deal updated (time-based) — no activity for 7 days
• Condition: Deal is not in "Closed Won" or "Closed Lost"
• Action 1: Create urgent activity: "Re-engage stale deal" (due today)
• Action 2: Send notification to deal owner

For Slack notifications, add a Zapier step: Pipedrive activity created → Post to Slack #sales channel.

Step 7: Deal Won Automation

• Trigger: Deal moved to "Closed Won"
• Action 1: Send email template "Welcome aboard" to client
• Action 2: Create activity "Kick-off call" (due in 2 days)
• Action 3: Via Zapier → Create project in Asana/ClickUp
• Action 4: Via Zapier → Post to #wins Slack channel
• Action 5: Via Zapier → Create invoice in QuickBooks

Step 8: Lost Deal Re-Engagement

• Trigger: Deal moved to "Closed Lost"
• Action 1: Add label "Lost - [month/year]"
• Action 2: Via Zapier → Add to Mailchimp "Lost Deals" segment
• Action 3: Mailchimp sends re-engagement sequence at 30, 60, 90 days

Testing Your Automations

Before going live, test every automation with a dummy deal:

1. Create a test deal with your own email
2. Move it through every pipeline stage
3. Verify each automation fires: emails sent, tasks created, Slack messages posted
4. Check timing — are emails sent immediately or delayed as expected?
5. Mark as Won and Lost — verify post-deal automations work
6. Delete the test deal when done

Maintenance Checklist

• Weekly: Check automation logs for failures (Pipedrive → Automations → Execution log)
• Monthly: Review email template performance (open rates, reply rates). Update underperforming templates.
• Quarterly: Audit all automations — remove outdated ones, add new ones based on process changes.