# Deals

> A sale to one customer, a company or a person, from first conversation to won or lost.

Open a deal to see where a sale stands, what it is worth, and everything said about it on its
**Activity** tab.

## How it works

A deal starts as a **Lead** and moves through **Qualified** and **Proposal** to **Won** or
**Lost**. This status shows as **Stage**. You change it yourself, or drag the deal across the
**Pipeline** board. Each deal gets a
number, such as DEAL-12.

When a deal is won or lost, Continual records the day in **Closed on**. While a deal is open,
Continual keeps two marks on it:

- **Ready** when the deal has an amount, an expected close date, and at least one contact. If
  something is missing, the mark says what, such as "Needs an amount."
- **Overdue** when the expected close date has passed and the deal is still open. Continual checks
  again as the day after the close date begins, in your organization's time zone.

A won or lost deal carries neither mark. The **Closing** calendar shows open deals by their
expected close date. A [quote](/docs/apps/sales/quotes) can name the deal it prices, and the deal
lists its quotes.

<Screenshot
  src="/docs/screens/deal.webp"
  alt="The Northwind Health fleet analytics expansion deal in Proposal and marked Ready. Its Activity tab shows a comment, the Stage change from Lead to Qualified, and Continual's call summary. Customer, amount, expected close, owner, and contacts are on the right."
  caption="A deal's Activity tab: comments, changes, and Continual's call summary, newest last."
/>

<RecordReference type="sales.deal" />

## Next steps

<Cards>
  <Card title="Quotes" href="/docs/apps/sales/quotes" icon="receipt">
    Price the deal with an offer.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Send a quote" href="/docs/guides/send-a-quote" icon="receipt">
    Draft a quote, send it, and record the answer.
  </Card>
</Cards>