> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.reevo.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Automating Lifecycle Stage Moves
> Use Reevo's Lifecycle Stages workflow templates to automatically move account and contact stages when key events occur - like closing a deal or creating a new opportunity.
## Overview
Manually updating account and contact stages as deals progress is easy to miss and hard to scale. Reevo's **Lifecycle Stages** workflow templates automate these movements so your CRM always reflects the real state of every account and contact.
Before building lifecycle workflows, make sure your account and contact stages are configured in Settings. See [Account and Contact Lifecycle Stages](/CRM-configurations/Account-and-Contact-Stages) for setup instructions.
***
## Using Lifecycle Stage Templates
Navigate to [Workflows](https://app.reevo.ai/workflows) and click **New Workflow**. In the template picker, select the **Lifecycle stages** category to see all available templates.
| Template | Trigger | What it does |
| :------------------------------------------------ | :------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Account - Selling on First Opportunity** | Opportunity Created | Moves the linked account to "Selling" when a first opportunity is created. Includes a stage guard condition to prevent moving accounts already in a later stage (e.g., Customer) |
| **Account Stage Updates from Closed Opportunity** | Opportunity Updated | Moves the account to "Customer" on Closed Won, or to "Nurture" on Closed Lost |
| **Contacts - Selling when Opp Created** | Opportunity Created | Bulk-moves contacts linked to the opportunity to "Selling" |
| **Account Update - Contact Bulk Stage Move** | Account Updated | Cascades an account stage change down to all related contacts |
| **Contact Update - Contact Stage Move** | Contact Updated | Moves a contact's stage when the contact record is updated |
Templates include a pre-built trigger and the right action nodes in the right order. The **Deploy Checklist** - the panel on the left side of the builder - lists every required field you must fill in before deploying. Fill all checklist items before clicking **Deploy**.
Each template uses placeholder stage values - you select your org's actual stage names when configuring the workflow.
***
## Common Patterns
### When a Deal Closes: Update the Account and Its Contacts
The most common lifecycle automation is updating both the account and its contacts to "Customer" when an opportunity is marked Closed Won. This requires two separate workflows that fire on the same trigger.
**Workflow 1 - Account to Customer**
Click **New Workflow** → **Lifecycle stages** → **Account Stage Updates from Closed Opportunity**. In the Deploy Checklist, configure the condition branches to handle Closed Won and Closed Lost opportunities and target your "Customer" account stage.
**Workflow 2 - Contacts to Customer**
Click **New Workflow** → **Lifecycle stages** → **Account Update - Contact Bulk Stage Move**. In the Deploy Checklist, configure the updated account stage and target contact stage.
The workflows run independently and fire when the opportunity and account updates occur.
***
### Moving an Account to Selling on First Opportunity
Click **New Workflow** → **Lifecycle stages** → **Account - Selling on First Opportunity**. This template includes a Condition node that checks the account's current stage before moving it - preventing the workflow from accidentally regressing an account already in "Customer" or a later stage.
In the Deploy Checklist, configure:
* The **target stage** (your "Selling" stage)
* The **allowed current stages** - the stages an account must currently be in for the move to proceed (e.g., Target, Engaged). The workflow will not move accounts outside this list
***
## Building a Custom Lifecycle Workflow
If the templates don't match your exact trigger or logic, you can modify an existing template or click **New Workflow** → **Create from scratch**. Once in the builder, click **+** at any point in the workflow to open the node picker. Stage nodes are listed under the **Contact** and **Account** categories.
| Node | When to use |
| :--------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Move Contact Stage** | Move a single contact to a target stage |
| **Move Account Stage** | Move a single account to a target stage |
| **Move Opportunity Stage** | Move an opportunity to a target stage |
| **Move Many Contact Stages** | Move a list of contacts to a target stage in one step |
| **Move Many Account Stages** | Move a list of accounts to a target stage in one step |
A typical pattern for cascading a stage change from an account down to all related contacts:
1. **Trigger** - Account Updated (filter: Stage field changed to your target value)
2. **Search Many Contacts** - find all contacts where Primary Account = trigger account ID
3. **Move Many Contact Stages** - use the Search Many Contacts output as the variable input, select the target contact stage
See [Workflow Action Nodes: Complete Reference](/Automations-and-Workflows/Workflow-Action-Nodes) for full configuration details on each node.
Always use the appropriate **Move Stage** node to change a stage - not an **Update** node. Update nodes are for field updates; stage move nodes handle the stage transition logic, criteria evaluation, and change tracking.
***
## Troubleshooting / FAQs
From the main [Workflows](https://app.reevo.ai/workflows) page, click the workflow name to open its **Run History** tab, then click any individual run to see a node-by-node breakdown of inputs and outputs. The most common cause is an empty or incorrectly referenced ID field - for example, the Account IDs or Contact IDs field was left empty or pointed to a variable that returned no value. Confirm the variable path is correct and that the preceding search node actually returned results.
Stage dropdowns pull from your org's configured stage list. If the dropdown is empty, confirm your stages are set up under **Settings > Accounts** (or **Settings > Contacts**) **> Stages** tab. See [Account and Contact Lifecycle Stages](/CRM-configurations/Account-and-Contact-Stages).
Yes - chain the nodes in sequence. After a Move Account Stage node, add a Search Many Contacts node to find all contacts linked to that account, then pass the resulting list into a Move Many Contact Stages node. Both updates happen within the same workflow run.
Yes. Use the relevant meeting trigger when the workflow should react to meeting activity. You can also trigger on a Contact Updated event and add a filter on a field that updates when a meeting occurs, such as Last Meeting Date.
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