Your past clients open doors
Tell Stage 1 who your firm has served. It marks standing accounts and spots the people who bought from you at a past client.
· 3 min read
Your firm's best pipeline is the work it already did. The accounts you served and the people who signed those deals are worth more than any cold list. But nobody on a sales team remembers every logo, and nobody notices when a buyer from four years ago turns up in a new seat.
Stage 1 now keeps a past clients list, and it checks every account and every person on your Board against it.
What goes on the list
Open Settings, then Workspace. Under Past clients there's a box for the companies your firm has served. One per line. Save it, and the Board checks everything against it.
The list isn't the only source. Clients you named in the Brain, in your proof, count too. If your proof says you rebuilt claims intake for Westvale Insurance, Westvale is a past client without you typing it twice. Vague names like "a large regional bank" are skipped. Stage 1 only counts a client it can match by name.
Only the workspace owner can change the list.
Two things it detects
The first is a standing account. When a company on your Board is on the list, Stage 1 marks it as an account your firm served. That changes the way in. Instead of a cold opener built on research, the door is The Standing Account. The logo owes this reader nothing, and the draft is written for someone who never signed your last deal.
The second is a former buyer. Stage 1 reads each person's LinkedIn work history. When someone used to work at one of your past clients and has since moved on, they show as a likely former buyer at their new company. The line under their name names the evidence.
Was at Westvale Insurance, a past client, 2017 to 2022
That person gets The Former Buyer door. Same kind of problem, bigger seat. The past is the door, not the reason to write.
One thing outranks the list. If you worked alongside the person yourself, Stage 1 reads that first and marks them a former colleague.
Where you see it
Open an account on the Board. A standing account shows a section called History with your firm, with the evidence and a Detected tag. A former buyer shows a chip under their name with the work history behind it.
Detection is a best guess, and you have the last word. Tap Not right and it clears. Tap Change to set it yourself. What you set always beats what Stage 1 detects. A small question mark beside each one opens help on the topic.
Why it matters in services
Services firms sell on trust, and trust travels with people. A VP who hired your team at her last company already knows how you work. When she lands somewhere new, she inherits a backlog and a budget, and she's the warmest buyer you'll ever have. Most firms find out a year late, from a press release. More on that in a new leader from a company you served.
Standing accounts cut the other way. The person reading your note at a past client usually wasn't in the room when the deal was signed. Writing as if they owe you something is how a renewal turns into a review. Expansion pipeline from existing clients covers how to work them.
Spend five minutes on the list. Paste in every client from the last ten years. Stage 1 remembers the rest.