Key takeaways
- New organizations start with six stages: New, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal, Won and Lost. You can have up to 20, each named in 60 characters or fewer.
- Leads are matched by phone number across the organization, so one number is always one lead.
- Bulk actions and CSV export each handle up to 5,000 leads at a time.
- Tags are lowercase, up to 40 characters, with at most 20 per lead.
Leads and pipeline: what it does for your team
- Your stages, not ours
- Start with New, Contacted, Qualified, Proposal, Won and Lost, or replace them with up to 20 stages that match how your team sells.
- Temperature from real calls
- A connect makes a lead warm and a second connect makes it hot, automatically, and you can always set it by hand.
- Views for every routine
- Save filtered views like “hot leads on the March list”, share them with the team, and update up to 5,000 leads at once with bulk actions.
Leads and pipeline, step by step
Leads are created as you work
Importing a list, adding a lead by hand, or logging a Callback on a manual call creates the lead. Leads are matched by phone number, so the same number never becomes two leads.
Outcomes move them forward
Custom outcome buttons can move a lead to a stage, so clicking “Booked demo” in wrap-up updates the pipeline without an extra step.
Export when you need to
Export leads to CSV (up to 5,000 rows at a time) for reporting or for importing into another system.
What it does not do
Plain limits, so you can decide before you sign up.
- This is a calling pipeline, not a full CRM: there are no deal values, email sync or marketing automation.
- HubSpot is the only native CRM sync; other CRMs connect through webhooks, the REST API or CSV, and custom fields are not included in the lead CSV export yet.
- Agents see their own leads and unassigned leads; owners and admins see everyone’s.
What stages should a cold calling pipeline have?
Use five or six stages that each describe one checkable fact about the lead, from never reached to won or lost, so lead status tracking stays honest. Outbound pipelines move fast at the top, so keep the early stages concrete: New (never reached), Contacted (spoke once), Interested (asked for information or a callback), Meeting set, then Won or Lost. Each stage should mean one thing a manager can check on a call recording. Teams with longer cycles add their own: recruiters track candidates through interviews, and real estate wholesalers track offers and contracts.
Pair stages with custom outcome buttons so the pipeline updates itself. A “Meeting set” button that maps to Connected and moves the lead to the Meeting set stage saves a click on every good call and keeps the board honest.
Saved views do the rest: one for hot leads to check for a follow-up, one for leads never called, and one per rep for weekly reviews.
How do I set up pipeline stages?
Open Settings, then Pipeline, edit the list of stages and press Save pipeline. Owners and admins edit stages under Settings, then Pipeline. Each stage has a name of up to 60 characters, a color and a type: Active, Won or Lost. You can rename, recolor and reorder stages, with up to 20 in all. The first stage must be Active, because new leads land there.
Deleting a stage is safe but not free. Leads in a deleted stage move back to the first stage, and any outcome button that moved leads into it stops moving them, so check your outcomes on the Dialing settings page afterward.
The stage types matter for reporting. In list funnels on the Analytics page, Won counts leads in a Won stage, and Qualified counts leads past your first two Active stages or already won. Put the stages in the order a deal really moves, or those numbers will mislead you.
How do I find and update leads in bulk?
Filter the Leads page, select the matching leads and pick a bulk action. The Leads page filters by stage, temperature, last outcome, list, owner, tag, “Never called” and archived leads, with a search box for names and numbers. Sort by name, temperature or last call, switch between the board and the table, and save the combination as a view.
Select leads, or every lead that matches the filters, to assign an owner, move them to a stage, add or remove tags, add them to a list for dialing, mark them Do Not Call, or archive them. Tags are lowercase, up to 40 characters each and 20 per lead.
A worked example: after a trade show, import the badge scans with a CSV dialer list, filter to the tag “expo” and “Never called”, assign them across two reps, and add them to a fresh list. Power Dial then works that list, and every Connected outcome warms the lead on its own.
What can agents do with leads?
Agents work their own and unassigned leads. They can change stages and tags, add leads to lists and mark them Do Not Call, but assigning owners, archiving, restoring and removing a Do Not Call mark are owner and admin actions. Agents can save views for themselves; only owners and admins can share a view with the team. The team roles page covers the rest.
Archiving hides a lead, cancels its open follow-ups and skips its open list rows. Restoring the lead brings it back, but those skipped rows stay skipped, so add it to a list again if you want to dial it.
How does Rapidialer handle duplicate leads?
Rapidialer prevents duplicates by phone number and flags likely ones by email, name or external ID. Adding a lead by hand with a number you already have opens the existing lead instead of creating a second one, with a note that the number is already a lead.
People who reach you on two numbers can still end up as two leads. A lead’s page lists possible duplicates that share its email (in any letter case), its first and last name together, or its external ID from your CSV. Press Review to compare, then Merge into this lead.
A merge moves calls, notes, list memberships and follow-ups onto the lead you are viewing, adds the call counts together and combines tags. The lead you keep holds its own details; the duplicate only fills blanks, and its phone number becomes an alternate number. If either lead was on Do Not Call, the merged lead is too. The duplicate is then removed.
Why can’t I find a lead?
The usual causes are ownership, archiving or a filter. Check these:
- You are an agent and the lead belongs to another rep. Agents see only their own and unassigned leads, so ask an owner or admin to reassign it.
- The lead was archived. Switch on the archived filter on the Leads page; an owner or admin can restore it.
- A saved view or filter is still on. The table says “No leads match” with “Try clearing filters.” when filters hide everything.
- The lead’s stage was deleted. Deleted stages send their leads back to the first stage, so look there.
Features that work alongside it
- Call outcomesCall dispositions in one click, with custom outcome buttons that can move a lead to a pipeline stage.
- Follow-upsCall, email and to-do follow-ups, with a queue that power-dials the calls that are due.
- Call analyticsCalls, talk time, connects, outcomes, a team leaderboard and list funnels.
Leads and pipeline: questions and answers
Do I still need a CRM for cold calling?
If you manage deals, contracts or marketing in a CRM, keep it and use Rapidialer for the calling, letting HubSpot sync or webhooks carry the results across. A team that only needs to track who to call, what happened on each call and where each lead stands can run its outbound work in Rapidialer’s pipeline alone.
Can I replace a cold calling spreadsheet with Rapidialer?
Yes, for most of what a calling spreadsheet does. Import the sheet as a CSV of up to 5,000 rows per file, and each row becomes a lead with its calls, notes, stage and next follow-up kept for you. Other columns come in as custom list columns, up to 20 per list, though custom fields are not in the lead export yet.
How do I export leads back to my CRM?
Filter the Leads page, then export up to 5,000 matching leads to CSV with name, phone, email, company, stage, temperature, owner, tags, Do Not Call, call count, last outcome and next follow-up. Import that file into your CRM, matching on phone number or external ID. HubSpot users can skip the file, since calls log on HubSpot contacts, and other CRMs can take lead.stage_changed webhooks through Zapier, Make or n8n.
Is Rapidialer’s pipeline enough for a solo founder?
For most founders doing their own outbound, yes. Rapidialer works as a lightweight CRM for cold calling: one seat at $5 a month covers the dialer, pipeline, follow-ups and analytics, and Twilio bills calls on your own account. Add a full CRM later, when you need deal values, email sync or forecasting, and move leads across by CSV.
What happens if the same number is in two lists?
It is still one lead. Rapidialer matches leads by phone number across the whole organization, so importing the same number into a second list attaches the new list row to the existing lead and keeps one timeline of calls, notes and follow-ups. The lead then shows both lists, and Power Dial can reach it from either.
Can I merge duplicate leads?
Yes. When a Rapidialer lead shares an email, a full name or an external ID with another lead, its page lists the possible duplicate with a Merge into this lead button. Merging moves calls, notes, lists and follow-ups onto the lead you keep, combines tags and call counts, and saves the duplicate’s number as an alternate phone. The duplicate record is then removed.
How does lead temperature work?
Leads start Unqualified. After each call the outcome sets temperature unless someone set it by hand: Connected or Callback makes a lead Warm, and a second connect makes it Hot; Not interested, Wrong number and DND make it Cold; a no-answer turns an untouched lead Cold. In wrap-up, “Auto” leaves it to the outcome, or you pick a temperature yourself.
What is in the lead CSV export?
Name, phone, email, company, stage, temperature, owner, tags, Do Not Call, call count, last outcome, last call time, next follow-up, external ID and created date, for up to 5,000 leads that match your filters. Sort it by last call time in a spreadsheet to find leads that have gone quiet.
Can I track deal values or forecast revenue?
No. Rapidialer’s pipeline tracks stages, temperature, owners, tags and call history, but it has no deal amount, close date or revenue forecast. Use Won and Lost stage types to count outcomes in Analytics, and keep deal values in a CRM or spreadsheet. Lead exports include the stage, so you can join the two by phone number or external ID.