CRM stages: entry and exit, not vibes

NEW — Entry: a form, a logged call, or a GBP inquiry is in the CRM with a phone or email. Exit to CONTACTED: a human has two-way contact (answered call, SMS reply, or email reply). A sent SMS is not CONTACTED. CONTACTED — Entry: two-way happened. Exit to BOOKED: a calendar slot exists with a window and an address (HVAC) or a named appointment time the desk will hold (dealer). “Sounded interested” is not an exit. BOOKED — Entry: the slot is on the board. Exit to SHOWED: the tech arrived on site (HVAC) or the shopper walked onto the lot (dealer). A confirmation SMS is not SHOWED. SHOWED — Entry: they are physically there. Exit to SOLD/CLOSED: HVAC = completed ticket or signed estimate; dealer = deal written / unit sold. A maybe and a leftover quote PDF are not closed. If you cannot name the lock, the stage is decoration.

At Cedar & Stone, BOOKED means a dispatchable window: a tech who can take the job, a truck, and a service area that is not Baltimore. Saturday morning is already tight — if the eight techs plus two overflow are full, you stay CONTACTED and offer Monday. Marking BOOKED without a slot is how 40 “appointments” become 22 real ones. At Northfield, BOOKED means the lot desk holds a Saturday time and a closer will be there; SHOWED means the shopper arrived; SOLD means a deal. Dana can recover a no-show by walking the next person to a car. Priya cannot invent a truck. When you write exit criteria, write the physical proof, not the CRM dropdown label.