Overview
Contact and account stages are progress labels on Apollo records that help you track where people and companies stand in your sales pipeline.
Apollo provides default stages for contacts and accounts. You can create custom stages to reflect your team's process, change a stage on a record, and use triggers to update stages automatically.
Check out the following sections to understand stages and choose your next step.
How It Works
Each contact or account has its own stage. Contact stages track progress with a person, while account stages track progress with a company. Apollo provides separate defaults for each, and you can add custom stages.
Stages can change when you edit saved records or lists, or when a configured trigger responds to activity. If you've connected a CRM, you can map stages between Apollo and your CRM.
Get Started
Set up stages, use them on saved records, then automate stage changes:
| Set Up Contact and Account Stages to Track Your Pipeline | Review default and recommended stages, then create custom stages for your team's process. |
|---|---|
| Manage Saved Records in Apollo | Review saved people and companies, and change a record's stage. |
| Use Stage Triggers in a Sequence | Configure conditions that update stages automatically. |
FAQs
| Frequently asked questions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Does changing a contact's stage change the account stage? | Do replies or email opens change a contact's stage? | How is a contact stage different from sequence status? |
Does changing a contact's stage change the account stage?
No. A contact stage tracks one person's outreach status, while an account stage tracks the company relationship. They have separate settings and triggers, so changing one doesn't automatically change the other. A sequence can still use the account stage to decide whether to send to a contact.
Do replies or email opens change a contact's stage?
A reply moves a contact to the stage mapped to Prospect replied, which is Replied by default, unless the contact is already Interested. Opens and clicks don't change stages. Adding a contact to a sequence doesn't change its stage either; by default, the first delivered email moves it to Approaching.
How is a contact stage different from sequence status?
A contact has one stage across Apollo. Sequence status describes that contact's membership in a particular sequence, so the status can differ between sequences. Pausing or finishing a sequence doesn't change the contact stage. Changing the stage doesn't stop a sequence unless you also choose to mark sequences as finished.
Learn More
Use these resources to connect stages with your CRM and lists:
| Configure HubSpot Data Mapping | Map Apollo stage values to your HubSpot fields. |
| Automatically Create and Map Stages Between Salesforce and Apollo | Connect Apollo and Salesforce stages. |
| Create and Use a List | Use stages when managing people or companies in a list. |