How to Set Up Lost Reasons

Decide the reasons your team can give when a deal is lost, so you can see later why deals did not close.

When a deal is lost, the most useful thing to know is why. Lost reasons give your team a short list to choose from, in your own words, instead of a blank box. This guide walks through setting up that list, and shows where your team meets it.

1. 1

   Open Lost Reasons in Settings

   Open Settings and choose Lost Reasons. The page is titled Lost Reasons and lists the reasons your team can pick. If you do not see it in Settings, your role does not include it, so ask an admin.
2. 2

   Choose Add

   Choose ＋ Add at the top right of the page. A box labelled New lost reason opens under the list. If the list is empty, the page tells you to click ＋ Add to create one.
3. 3

   Type the reason and choose Add

   Type the reason in your own words, for example the way your team talks about a lost deal, and choose Add. It joins the list. Choose Cancel if you change your mind.
4. 4

   Rename a reason

   Choose the pencil beside a reason. The reason turns into a box you can type in. Press Enter or choose the save control to keep the change, or press Escape to leave it as it was.
5. 5

   Reorder the reasons

   Drag a reason by its handle, on the left of the row, to a new place in the list. The new order is saved when you drop it. If it cannot be saved, the page says so.
6. 6

   Delete a reason

   Choose the cross beside a reason to delete it. If the delete does not go through, an error message appears under the list.
7. 7

   See where your team picks a reason

   When someone marks a deal as lost, a Mark as Lost window opens. It asks them to choose a reason from your list, under a prompt that reads Select a reason, and to write details of at least 10 characters. The Mark Lost button stays off until both are filled in, and Cancel keeps the deal in its stage.
8. 8

   See the recorded reason on the deal

   The lost reason is saved with the deal. The deal shows the reason category, the details your team wrote and the date it was recorded.

A few things worth knowing

The list is yours to shape, so use words your team already uses. Short, clear reasons are easier to pick from than long ones. What you can change on this page depends on your role, and an admin can tell you whether you have access.

Lost reasons belong to the pipeline. The guide on managing your pipeline shows how a deal is moved to Lost on the board, and the guide on using a pipeline template shows how to start from a ready-made pipeline.