The state changes when the evidence changes
Keep target, contacted account, interested conversation and accepted opportunity distinct. Each state should have evidence and a responsible owner. This lets researchers and sellers contribute without overstating what they know.
Qualification depends on your sales process, but it should include a credible problem, relevant buyer participation and an owned next action. Unknown timing or budget can remain visible; inventing them is worse than acknowledging an early opportunity. A meeting booking alone should not automatically create pipeline value.
| Decision | Evidence to use | What changes next |
|---|---|---|
| Researched target | Operational fit and a sourced hypothesis | Seller decides whether and how to approach |
| Interested conversation | A relevant reply or held discussion | Validate problem and buying context |
| Accepted opportunity | Agreed evidence, next step and receiving seller | Track progression and unresolved risks |
Work through the decision
Illustrative record: an account matches the ICP and has a named engineering contact. It is a researched target. The contact replies asking for information; that is interest. Discovery then confirms a current access-management project and an evaluation conversation with the project owner.
At that point, a commercial owner can accept the opportunity under the defined rules. The record still needs to state what is unknown, such as budget authority. This progression prevents the research team from being asked to produce evidence only a buyer conversation can establish.
Verification of a contact is mistaken for qualification
A deliverable email address tells you something about reachability, not relevance or demand. Keep contact validity as one field in the research record. Qualification requires evidence about the buyer's problem and decision.
A concrete next step
Audit ten records labeled qualified. For each, identify the buyer evidence and owner. Reclassify unsupported records without deleting the research that remains useful.
Sources and research notes
- GitLab sales development handbookCompany operating handbook
- GitLab commercial opportunity stagesCompany operating handbook
Primary sources reviewed October 6, 2026. The operating recommendations and worked scenarios are Daavid’s analysis. Illustrative numbers are assumptions, not measured client results. Company marks identify sources and prior experience; they do not imply a customer relationship or endorsement.
Schematic