Learn about the different lifecycle stages of a client in Socket, from initial prospect to active billing, and how proposal statuses drive these changes.
In Socket, understanding the status of your clients and their proposals is key to managing your pipeline and ensuring your billing is accurate. This guide explains what each status means and how they interact.
Client Statuses
A Client Status represents the overall relationship you have with a company or individual. You can use filters to segment and view specific groups of clients from the Clients dashboard. The Client Statuses in Socket are:
Prospect: This is potential new client, otherwise known as a 'lead' in your pipeline. They are not yet billable, they may not have a proposal yet, or their proposals is still in the Draft or Pending stage.
Active: A current, billable client. When a client accepts a proposal they move to Active status, enabling automated billing and indicating an ongoing professional relationship.
Ad-hoc: Used for clients you work with on a one-off basis rather than a recurring subscription or retainer.
Closed: A former Active client or a Prospect that you are no longer engaging with. Closed clients are hidden from your main active list but can be found using filters for historical reference.
Proposal Statuses
While the Client Status tells you who they are, the Proposal Status tells you the state of a specific deal or engagement. You can use filters to segment and view specific groups of proposals from the Proposal dashboard. The Proposal Statuses in Socket are:
Draft: The proposal is being built and has not yet been sent to the client.
Pending: The proposal has been sent and is awaiting the client's signature.
Won: The client has accepted the proposal but billing has not yet started.
Active: The client has accepted the proposal and billing has started for this proposal.
Lost: The client declined this specific proposal or you have marked this as lost manually.
Superseded: A newer version of this proposal has been created, making the older one void.
How Statuses Work Together
A client must be marked as Active in order to trigger one-off invoices or recurring billing.
Your subscription includes a set number of Active clients. Once you reach that limit:
You will not be able to create proposals for new clients until you either close existing clients or upgrade your subscription.
You will not be able to activate billing for new Active clients.
Using Filters to Manage Your Client List
You can easily segment your view on the Client screen by clicking the Filter icon. This allows you to:
Identify all Prospects that need following up.
Audit your Active list for billing accuracy.
Review Closed clients for re-engagement opportunities.
Filtering on the Proposal Dashboard
You can also segment your view on the Proposal screen by clicking the Filter dropdown. Filtering on the Proposal Dashboard allows you to:
Identify drafts that need completing before sending.
Track outstanding proposals that are awaiting signature.
Monitor accepted proposals to ensure onboarding or billing has started.
Review declined proposals to understand patterns or pricing objections.