Orbit CRM — User Guide

Part 1Getting oriented

1.1 What Orbit CRM is for

Orbit CRM is where sales lives — the companies you're talking to, the people at those companies, the opportunities you're chasing, and the follow-ups that keep them moving.

Delivery stays where it always was. Once you win work, the deal hands over to an Orbit project, and time tracking, billing and reporting carry on as normal.

The advantage of it living inside Orbit: a won deal becomes a project in a couple of clicks, and the money you forecast in sales shows up in the same financial reports finance already uses.

1.2 A note on Pipedrive

Pipedrive and Orbit Quotes are now marked LEGACY in the menu. We're moving to Orbit CRM gradually — nothing switches off overnight. As you work, prefer Orbit CRM for new deals and let Pipedrive wind down naturally. We'll tell you when it's fully retired.

1.3 The four things you'll work with

Everything in the CRM is one of those four, or a report about them.

1.4 Who can do what

Sales, AMs and PMs all work in the CRM. Access comes in three levels:

If a button looks greyed out, you have View but not Manage — ask Management.

1.5 Finding your way around

Left menu → Orbit CRM. Inside you'll find:

• Deals — your pipeline (this is where you'll spend most of your time)
• Organizations — companies, both clients and leads
• People — contacts
• Activities — everything you've scheduled
• Email Queue — incoming email waiting to be matched
• Reports — pipeline and performance figures
• Settings — mostly Management, but custom fields are yours (see Part 8)

Part 2Organizations and People

2.1 Clients vs Leads — read this bit

Every company in the CRM is one of two kinds:

• Client — already a client of yours in Orbit, with projects and billing.
• Lead — a company you're in conversation with that isn't an Orbit client yet.

They sit in the same list so you can search one place, and each row shows which kind it is. A lead becomes a client automatically — you never retype it (see 2.3).

2.2 Creating a new lead

CRM → Organizations → Create lead

Fill the email domain if you know it. It's how Orbit links incoming email from anyone at that company to the right place without you doing anything.

2.3 Promoting a lead to a client

A lead is converted the moment its first deal gets an Orbit project — which in practice means as soon as you create a deal for it. Every new deal immediately spawns its Orbit project (at Quote status), and a project has to belong to a real client, so Orbit converts the lead there and then.

When that happens, Orbit:

• Creates the client record, carrying over the company name, website, email domain, client type (Agency / Direct Client), sales owner and lifecycle stage
• Moves every person and every deal from the lead onto that client — nothing is retyped and nothing is orphaned
• Writes "Promoted lead «Company» to client" on the deal timeline, so there's a record of when and who

It only ever happens once. Marking a deal Won or linking a project later won't create a duplicate client.

Your contacts appear in Orbit too

At the same moment, the people you added in the CRM are folded into Orbit's client contact directory — the same contacts list Delivery and Finance use for that client. So a contact you created while it was still a lead is available to the wider business straight away, with no re-entry.

Then what is the lifecycle for?

Client lifecycle tracks where the relationship stands — for leads and clients — and keeps a Lifecycle history of every change. Use it for reporting and context. Just know that moving it doesn't convert anything.

2.4 The Organizations list

Search by name, and filter by:

• Clients only / Leads only
• Type — Agency or Direct Client
• Lifecycle stage
• Sales Owner

The Open deals column tells you at a glance where there's live activity.

2.5 The Organization page

Opening a company gives you everything about them in one place:

• Details — name, type, email domain, phone, address, sales owner, label
• People — every contact you have there
• All deals — open, won and lost
• Sales history and Lifecycle history
• Hours and Projects — the delivery side, if they're a client
• Invite to portal — give a contact access to their client login (coming soon)

Use Edit organization to change details.

2.6 Adding a person

CRM → People → Create person

2.7 The Person page

Details, their Deals, Activities, Notes, Emails and recent history — so before a call you can see everything that's passed between you.

2.8 Archiving instead of deleting

People and organizations get archived, not deleted, so history stays intact. The People list has an Active / Archived switch, and archived records can be restored.

2.9 Avoid duplicates — search first

Before creating anything, type the name or email in the search. Orbit looks up existing records as you type. Two records for one company means split history and unreliable reporting.

Part 3Deals

3.1 What a deal is

One opportunity: a title, a company, a contact, a value, and an expected close date. If you're pitching two separate pieces of work, that's two deals.

3.2 The seven stages, in plain words

Those percentages aren't decoration — they drive every forecast figure. Keeping a deal in the right stage is forecasting.

3.3 The board

CRM → Deals opens as a board: one column per stage, one card per deal. Each card shows the deal title, value, company, expected close date and owner. Watch for these markers:

Column headers show the weighted value: $5,040 · 80% weighted — what that column is realistically worth, not the raw total. Hover the figure and it swaps to show where it came from: 80% of $6,300 total.

3.4 Creating a deal

CRM → Deals → New Deal

Then Create deal.

3.5 Moving a deal through stages

Either drag the card on the board, or open the deal and change its stage. Orbit records every stage move with a date, which is what powers the velocity report ("how long do deals sit in Quoted?").

3.6 The Quote Gate at "Verbally Accepted" or "PA sent"

Moving a deal to Verbally Accepted or PA sent triggers one extra step: Orbit asks which quote version is final. Choose the version you actually sent, and optionally enter a custom final amount if you negotiated a different number. The deal value then locks to that figure.

This exists so the money in sales matches the money in the signed agreement — no guessing later about which of five quote versions the client agreed to.

3.7 The Deal page

Everything about one opportunity:

• Details — Deal amount, Expected close, Contact, Account manager, Source, Priority, Type
• Timeline — every change, note, email and activity in date order
• Notes — add context anyone can read later
• Scheduled activities — your next steps
• Quote versions — and which one is final ("Make final")
• Orbit Project — link or create the delivery project
• Custom fields — your team's own fields (Part 8)
• Inbound email — messages matched to this deal

3.8 List view, filters and saved filters

Prefer a table? Switch to the list view. You can filter by owner, stage, close date, value and more — and save any filter you use repeatedly (e.g. "my deals closing this month") so it's one click next time.

The Open / Won / Lost tabs separate live pipeline from history. Deals you want out of sight without losing can be archived.

Part 4Closing a deal

4.1 Marking a deal Won

Open the deal → Won. Orbit asks to confirm:

• Client — the organization (already converted from a lead by this point)
• Project — which Orbit project delivers this
• Finalized quote — the version agreed
• Value — the final amount
• Account manager — who owns the relationship from here

Confirm, and the linked project moves to Active — delivery can start.

4.2 Linking a deal to a project

From the deal → Create / link project. Two options:

• Link existing — search by project title or number
• Create project — Orbit creates one, and you set the title and Account Manager

You can Skip for now, but do it before delivery starts — the link is what carries the sale into time tracking, billing and every financial report.

4.3 Marking a deal Lost

Open the deal → Lost. Pick a Lost reason and add a note, e.g. "Went quiet after quote — try again next quarter."

The reason matters: the Reports page groups lost deals by reason, and that's how you learn whether you're losing on price, timing or something fixable. "Other" for everything teaches you nothing.

4.4 Reopening a deal

Clients come back. Open the lost deal and reopen it — same history, back in the pipeline, no retyping.

Part 5Activities

5.1 What they're for

An activity is your next step: call, meeting, follow-up. A deal with no open activity is a deal nobody is progressing — which is exactly what the No next step chip on the board is telling you.

5.2 Scheduling one

From the deal (best — it stays attached to the opportunity) or from the Activities page. Set the type, date and assignee, and add notes. Recurring activities are supported for regular check-ins.

5.3 Completing one

Mark it complete when done, then schedule the next one. For a recurring activity Orbit asks whether you mean Just this one or the Whole series.

5.4 The Activities page

CRM → Activities. Search across subject, notes and deal, and switch between Mine and Everyone. Use it as your day list; use Everyone when covering for a colleague.

5.5 Rotting deals

If a deal goes untouched beyond a set number of days, its card is flagged as rotting — "No activity for X+ days". It's a nudge, not a penalty: chase it, park it as On Hold, or mark it Lost honestly.

Part 6Email

6.1 How email gets in

Connected mailboxes sync into Orbit automatically, so relevant email appears against the deal, person and company without anyone forwarding anything.

6.2 How Orbit decides where an email belongs

Three separate matches:

• Person — the email address matches a person's recorded address exactly (any of them)
• Organization — that person's company, or the sender's email domain matches a company
• Deal — the message is part of a conversation already attached to a deal

Which is why Part 2 nags about recording every email address and the email domain. Those two fields do all this work for you.

6.3 Where to read it

On the deal (Inbound email / Timeline), on the person, and on the organization. Same messages, three angles.

6.4 The Email Queue

CRM → Email Queue holds mail Orbit couldn't confidently match. Skim it occasionally — usually the fix is adding a missing email address to a person, after which matching works permanently.

Part 7Reports and forecasting

7.1 The CRM Reports page

CRM → Reports answers:

7.2 Pipeline value vs weighted value — the number people misread

• Pipeline value = every open deal added up. Optimistic by definition.
• Weighted value = each deal multiplied by its stage's win probability.

$10,000 in Discovery (20%) is not the same as $10,000 at PA sent (90%). Weighted value is the honest figure — it's what the board's column headers show and what feeds forecasting.

7.3 Deals Forecasting on the Monthly Earnings page

KPI Report → Monthly Earnings carries a Deals Forecasting card next to Total Actual and Total Forecasting. It answers: "How much new business will realistically land this month?"

It takes deals at Verbally Accepted and PA sent whose expected close date falls in the month, weights each by its stage probability, then takes the 50% we invoice on signing.

Worked example:

Click the ⓘ on the card and it shows this arithmetic using the current month's real deals. Where the deal amount comes from: the finalized quote version if there is one, otherwise the lowest quote version, otherwise the deal's own value.

7.4 Revenue per client

An organization's page shows what's actually been invoiced to them — lifetime and rolling last 12 months — so you can see a client's real value beside their open pipeline.

7.5 Five habits that keep the numbers honest

1. Expected close dates reflect reality. They decide which month a deal forecasts into.
2. Stages are current. A signed deal sitting in Quoted under-forecasts by half.
3. Every deal has a next step. No activity means no progress.
4. Lost deals get marked lost, with a real reason. Dead deals inflate the pipeline.
5. Values get updated when scope changes. Don't leave the first guess in.

Part 8Settings

Most of CRM → Settings is handled by Management — you don't need to touch it, and can ask them for changes:

• Pipeline stages — names, order, and win probability. ⚠️ Changing a stage's probability changes every forecast figure, so it's deliberately Management-only.
• Lost reasons — the list you pick from
• Email capture — which inbox syncs, and senders to ignore
• Bulk operations — reassigning deals when someone joins or leaves

Custom fields — this part is yours

Settings → Custom fields is available to Sales, AMs and PMs directly. No need to go through Management.

Add your own fields to a Deal, a Person or a Lead/Organization — useful for things Orbit doesn't ship, e.g. "Contract length", "Referral source", "Tech stack". Choose:

The field then appears in the Custom fields section of that record for everyone.

Part 9How it looks day to day

9.1 A new enquiry arrives

1. Search Organizations for the company. Not there → Create lead (include the email domain).
2. Create person for whoever emailed you (all their addresses).
3. New Deal — title, organization, contact, rough value, you as owner. Behind the scenes: the lead becomes a client, its people move across into Orbit's contact directory, and a Quote-status project is created and linked.
4. Schedule the first activity: "Discovery call Thursday".
5. Leave it in Discovery. Their emails now attach to it automatically.

9.2 A deal progresses to signed

1. Quote sent → move to Quoted. Value updated to the quoted figure.
2. They're negotiating → Refine/Discussion. Note what's being discussed.
3. "Yes, send the paperwork" → Verbally Accepted (now forecasting at 80%).
4. PA sent → PA sent. Orbit asks which quote version is final — pick it.
5. Signed → Won. Confirm client, project, finalized quote, value, AM.
6. Project goes Active; delivery begins; the revenue appears in finance's reports.

9.3 A deal goes quiet

1. No reply after the quote. Activity logged: "chase call — voicemail".
2. Two weeks silent → Unresponsive (30 Days), so it stops inflating the forecast.
3. They confirm "not this year" → Lost, reason Timing, note the detail.
4. Six months later they're back → reopen the same deal. History intact.

9.4 Month-end, half an hour

1. Deals list → filter to deals closing this month. Are the dates still true?
2. Anything at Verbally Accepted or PA sent that actually signed → mark Won.
3. Anything genuinely dead → mark Lost with a reason.
4. Board → check every open deal has a next step.
5. Monthly Earnings → look at Deals Forecasting. It's now telling the truth.

Part 10Reference

Common questions

Glossary