Why I am defining the terms now
As of September 8, 2026, this is the terminology contract for DealFlowPlugin.com documentation, examples, and support. Teams bring CRM words that sound interchangeable but point to different objects or views inside Mautic.
Name the record, name its process, and distinguish position from outcome. Any later change will carry a visible revision date.
The terminology map
| CRM term | In Mautic | In Deal Flow | Meaning here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opportunity or deal | Contacts and a Company provide the people and organization context. | A Deal is the commercial record. | One potential sale with its own value, owner, timing, stage, and status. |
| Account or company | Use the Company record and its Contact associations. | A Deal can reference a Company and associate multiple Contacts. | The organization involved in the sale, separate from the people. |
| Pipeline or funnel | Contact Stages describe movement through a marketing lifecycle or funnel. | A Pipeline contains ordered Deal Stages. | A pipeline tracks sales records; a funnel summarizes buyer progression. |
| Stage or status | A Contact Stage describes a person’s lifecycle position. | A Deal Stage is its pipeline position; status is open, won, or lost. | Stage answers where; status answers whether the sale remains active or has ended. |
Opportunity vs deal: one potential sale
At the record level, opportunity maps to deal in this contract. Both name a specific potential sale with commercial state of its own. Deal Flow uses deal as the interface and record label, so our instructions say “create a deal” when a source CRM called the same record an opportunity.
Deal Flow also uses opportunity as a value in the Deal’s separate qualification field. That value classifies the deal; it does not rename the record type. Say “opportunity record” when translating the source object and “opportunity qualification” when describing that field value.
The record keeps value, expected close date, owner, pipeline, stage, and status separate from Contact identity and engagement. That matters when one Contact participates in several sales or one sale includes several Contacts.
Account vs company: the organization
Use company for the organization record inside Mautic. The official Mautic configuration documentation, checked September 8, 2026, describes Contact links to Companies, including an option for a Contact to link to more than one. That makes Company the clearest landing place for a classic CRM’s account concept.
A Deal Flow deal can reference that Company, while its Contact associations identify the people in the sale. Role labels can distinguish a champion, decision maker, or another participant. Company answers “which organization?”; Contacts answer “which people?”; Deal answers “which potential sale?”
Pipeline vs funnel: records versus progression
A pipeline is an ordered operating view of individual deals. Each deal occupies a Deal Stage, and moving it changes the team’s view of that commercial record. A second pipeline can represent a different sales motion without changing what the word pipeline means.
A funnel is an aggregate view of progression across people or buyers. The official Mautic Stage documentation, checked September 8, 2026, describes Contact Stages as phases of the marketing lifecycle or funnel. That is why I would not label a Deal Flow Pipeline as a funnel: the first organizes sale records for action, while the second describes progression across a population.
Stage vs status: where versus whether
A stage answers where is this record now? Always qualify the object. A Mautic Contact Stage is the person’s position in the marketing lifecycle. A Deal Stage is the potential sale’s position in its selected pipeline. The same person can be in one Contact Stage while an associated deal sits in a differently named Deal Stage, because the two records answer different questions.
Status answers is this deal still active, won, or lost? In Deal Flow, those states are open, won, and lost. A deal might be in a Proposal stage while its status remains open. When it moves to a closing stage typed won or lost, Deal Flow updates the separately stored status. Keeping both fields prevents every stage name from doubling as an outcome.
One commercial record, translated
Suppose Northstar is evaluating an expansion. In classic CRM language, Northstar may be the account and the expansion may be the opportunity. In this contract, Northstar becomes the Mautic Company, each participant remains a Contact, and the expansion becomes a Deal Flow deal.
The deal belongs to the Expansion Pipeline, occupies the Evaluation stage, and remains open. The Contacts can still move through their own Mautic lifecycle stages based on engagement. Each concept has a distinct role: Company identifies the organization, Contacts identify the people, Deal identifies the sale, Pipeline supplies its path, Deal Stage marks its position, and status records its outcome state.
The writing rule: pair “stage” with Contact or Deal, reserve “status” for open, won, or lost, and use “pipeline” for the ordered path of sales records.
Frequently asked questions
Do opportunity and deal mean the same thing here?
At the record level, yes: a classic CRM opportunity maps to a Deal Flow deal. Deal Flow also uses opportunity as a separate qualification value; that value classifies the deal rather than renaming its record type.
Does a CRM account map to a Mautic company?
Yes. Use the Mautic Company record for the organization and keep people as Contacts. A Deal Flow deal can reference that Company while associating the Contacts involved in the sale.
Is a sales pipeline the same as a marketing funnel?
No. Here, a pipeline is the ordered path for individual deal records, while a funnel describes aggregate progression across contacts or buyers. The two views can inform each other without sharing a label.
What is the difference between a deal stage and deal status?
A deal stage names the record's current position in its pipeline. Deal status summarizes whether that deal is open, won, or lost. A Mautic Contact Stage still describes the person's marketing lifecycle position.
Ready to keep people, companies, and commercial records clear inside Mautic?
See Deal Flow for your Mautic pipeline