Every lead in Slokoto follows a clear lifecycle. At any point in time, a lead lives in exactly one place — and understanding where a lead is (and why) helps you stay focused on the right work.
Where Can a Lead Be?
| Location | What it means | How leads get here |
|---|---|---|
| Todo | Needs your attention right now | New inbound message, scheduled follow-up came due, AI flagged something |
| Upcoming | Scheduled for later — nothing to do yet | You completed an action and a follow-up was scheduled |
| Automation | Slokoto is running a follow-up sequence | You started an automated email/SMS cadence |
| Pipeline only | Visible in Pipeline view but no active task | Lead is on a paused stage like Invalid |
| Trash | Removed from all active views | You trashed the lead (spam, vendor, duplicate) |
A lead cannot be in more than one of these at a time. If a lead is in Automation, it won't have a pending todo. If a lead is in Upcoming, it won't appear in Todo until the scheduled time arrives.
The Pipeline Stages
Every active lead sits on a pipeline stage. Stages tell you where the deal is. Slokoto's AI manages stage transitions automatically based on email and call signals, but you can always move a lead manually.
Active Stages
These are your normal sales workflow stages (e.g. New Inquiry, In Conversation, Proposal Sent, Negotiating, Finalizing Deal). Leads on active stages appear in Todo or Upcoming depending on whether they have a pending action.
Paused Stages
Invalid — The contact exists but isn't a sales lead right now. Maybe they're an existing customer asking for support, or the inquiry was operational, not sales-related. Leads on Invalid:
- Have no todos (all pending/snoozed todos are automatically dismissed)
- Are excluded from AI processing
- Stay discoverable — if they email back with purchase intent, they can be moved back to an active stage
Terminal Stages
Won — Deal closed successfully. The lead is marked as won, all todos are dismissed, and it appears in your History.
Lost — Deal didn't close. When a lead is marked as Lost, Slokoto records the reason:
- No Budget / Too Expensive
- Chose a Competitor
- Bad Timing / Not Ready Yet
- No Need / Not a Fit
- No Response / Ghosted
- Other
Lost leads with a "no response" reason are your best candidates for future re-engagement. If they reply to an old thread, Slokoto automatically picks it up and brings them back into your pipeline.
How Leads Move Between Locations
Todo to Upcoming
When you complete a todo (send an email, log a call, send an SMS), Slokoto automatically schedules a follow-up based on the deal stage:
- Negotiation: follow up in 2 days
- Proposal: follow up in 3 days
- Demo / Consultation: follow up in 1 day
- Default: follow up in 3 days
The lead moves to Upcoming and reappears in Todo when the follow-up is due. This happens automatically — you don't need to set reminders.
Upcoming to Todo
When the scheduled time arrives, the snoozed follow-up activates and the lead appears in your Todo list. This check runs every minute, so leads appear within a minute of their due time.
If an inbound message arrives while a lead is in Upcoming, the lead jumps to the top of Todo immediately — inbound always takes priority.
Todo/Upcoming to Automation
When you start an automation on a lead, Slokoto takes over follow-up. The lead leaves Todo/Upcoming and enters the automation cadence. If the automation exhausts all steps without a reply, the lead is automatically moved to Lost with the reason "no response."
What Happens When a Rep Replies Outside Slokoto
If a rep sends an email directly in Gmail (not through the Slokoto compose screen), or makes a call via CTM, Slokoto detects the outbound activity through sync and:
- Resolves the pending todo (it's been handled)
- Creates a snoozed follow-up so the lead moves to Upcoming
- The lead reappears in Todo when the follow-up is due
This means your Todo list stays clean even when reps work directly in their email client.
Trash
Trash is for leads that should never have been leads in the first place — spam, vendors selling to you, newsletters, duplicates. Trashing a lead:
- Removes it from Pipeline, Todo, and Upcoming
- Dismisses all active todos
- Preserves the record (you can restore from Trash if needed)
Trash is not the same as Lost. Lost means the deal didn't work out. Trash means it was never a real deal.