Visual pipelines: using Kanban boards for LinkedIn sales success
There’s a reason software development teams abandoned complicated project management tools for simple kanban boards. Visual workflows work. When you can see your entire pipeline at a glance, everything changes.
The same transformation is happening in sales—specifically in how top performers manage their LinkedIn relationships. Forget the spreadsheet chaos and CRM complexity. A well-structured visual pipeline is the clarity you didn’t know you needed.
Why Visual Beats Tabular
The Problem with Lists and Spreadsheets
Most salespeople manage LinkedIn prospects in:
- Spreadsheets with dozens of columns
- CRM views that require scrolling and clicking
- Mental notes and scattered reminders
- LinkedIn’s own connection list (unsorted chaos)
These approaches share a fatal flaw: they hide patterns. You can’t spot the bottleneck in your process when everything is rows in a table. You can’t feel the flow (or lack thereof) when relationships are just entries in a database.
The Power of Seeing Everything
A visual pipeline shows you:
- Where your prospects are concentrated
- What’s moving and what’s stuck
- Whether you have enough at each stage
- Which relationships need attention today
One glance tells you more than 10 minutes of scrolling through a CRM.
Designing Your LinkedIn Pipeline
Unlike traditional deal pipelines that track buying stages, a LinkedIn relationship pipeline should track engagement stages.
Recommended Stage Structure
Stage 1: New Connections Contacts you’ve just connected with. No meaningful engagement yet.
Stage 2: Warming Up You’ve had initial touchpoints—likes, comments, or brief messages. They’re starting to recognize you.
Stage 3: Engaged Regular mutual engagement. They respond to your content, you respond to theirs. Relationship is building.
Stage 4: Conversation You’ve moved beyond public engagement to direct messages. Discussing topics of mutual interest.
Stage 5: Opportunity A clear business opportunity has emerged. Ready for a meeting or sales conversation.
Stage 6: Customer They’ve bought from you. Now it’s about maintaining the relationship.
Stage 7: Nurture Not ready to buy now, but worth keeping warm for future opportunity.
What Each Stage Means
The key difference from traditional pipelines: these stages measure relationship warmth, not buying intent.
Someone in “Engaged” might not be a buyer at all—they could be a future referral source, partner, or industry connection. The pipeline helps you manage all valuable relationships, not just active sales opportunities.
Setting Up Your Visual Workflow
Column Design
Each column should show essential information at a glance:
- Contact name and photo
- Company and title
- Last interaction date
- Engagement score or warmth indicator
- Any notes or next actions
Avoid cluttering cards with too much information. The goal is pattern recognition, not detailed record-keeping.
Card Movement Rules
Establish clear criteria for when contacts move between stages:
New → Warming Up:
- You’ve liked/commented on their content 3+ times
- They’ve responded to one of your interactions
- You’ve exchanged at least one message
Warming Up → Engaged:
- They’re now engaging with your content regularly
- You have an established back-and-forth pattern
- They respond to your messages promptly
Engaged → Conversation:
- You’ve had a substantive DM exchange
- Topics have moved beyond surface-level
- There’s clear mutual interest in staying connected
Conversation → Opportunity:
- Business need has been identified
- They’ve expressed interest in learning more
- A meeting or call is appropriate
Exit Points
Not every contact should stay in your pipeline forever. Create exit points for:
- Contacts who don’t engage after reasonable effort (archive)
- People who aren’t a fit for your business (remove)
- Connections you’re maintaining but not actively working (move to separate nurture board)
Daily Pipeline Management
A visual pipeline is only useful if you work it consistently.
Morning Review (10 minutes)
Start each day with a pipeline scan:
- Check “Opportunity” column first: Any hot leads needing immediate attention?
- Scan “Conversation”: Anyone you need to follow up with?
- Review “Engaged”: Who’s been quiet? Who’s heating up?
- Glance at overall distribution: Is your pipeline balanced?
Engagement Sessions (throughout the day)
Use your pipeline to guide engagement activities:
- Work from right to left (priority to warm leads)
- Move through each column systematically
- Update cards as interactions happen
- Move contacts forward when criteria are met
Weekly Pipeline Hygiene (30 minutes)
Once per week:
- Review contacts stuck in the same stage too long
- Clear out prospects who’ve gone cold
- Add new connections to the pipeline
- Adjust stage criteria based on what you’re learning
Common Pipeline Patterns and What They Mean
Top-Heavy Pipeline
What it looks like: Lots of contacts in New Connections, few in later stages
What it means: You’re making connections but not warming them up
Fix: Reduce new connection activity, focus on engaging existing connections
Bottleneck in “Engaged”
What it looks like: Many contacts stuck in Engaged, few moving to Conversation
What it means: Your engagement isn’t creating opportunities for deeper connection
Fix: Be more proactive about moving to DMs. Find reasons to reach out directly.
Empty “Opportunity”
What it looks like: Healthy earlier stages but nothing in Opportunity
What it means: You’re building relationships but not converting to business conversations
Fix: Identify business triggers and be more direct about exploring opportunities
Too Many in “Nurture”
What it looks like: Nurture column is overflowing
What it means: You’re avoiding hard decisions about unqualified prospects
Fix: Be honest about who belongs in your pipeline. Archive contacts who aren’t going to convert.
Pipeline Metrics That Matter
Movement Metrics
- Conversion rate by stage: What percentage move from each stage to the next?
- Average time in stage: How long do contacts typically spend in each column?
- Velocity: How many contacts move to Opportunity each week?
Balance Metrics
- Stage distribution: What percentage of your pipeline is in each stage?
- Entry rate: How many new contacts enter weekly?
- Exit rate: How many leave (converted or archived) weekly?
Quality Metrics
- Opportunity conversion rate: What percentage of Opportunities become customers?
- Source effectiveness: Which activities produce the highest-quality pipeline contacts?
- Re-engagement rate: How many archived contacts return to active pipeline?
Advanced Pipeline Strategies
Multiple Pipelines for Different Goals
Consider separate pipelines for:
- Active prospects: People you’re actively trying to convert
- Partners/referrals: Valuable connections who aren’t buyers
- Content engagement: People who engage with your content but you haven’t connected with yet
- Customers: Post-sale relationship management
Tags and Filters
Within your visual pipeline, use tags to add another dimension:
- Industry vertical
- Company size tier
- Source (how you connected)
- Product interest
- Priority level
This lets you filter your pipeline view for focused work sessions.
Team Pipelines
For sales teams, consider both:
- Individual pipelines: Each rep manages their own relationships
- Shared pipelines: Key accounts visible to the whole team
Visual pipelines enable coaching conversations: managers can review a rep’s pipeline in minutes and spot issues immediately.
Tools for Visual Pipeline Management
What to Look For
When choosing a tool for visual LinkedIn pipeline management:
Must-have features:
- Kanban-style drag-and-drop interface
- LinkedIn profile integration
- Activity tracking (when did you last engage?)
- Mobile access for on-the-go updates
Nice-to-have features:
- Automatic engagement tracking
- Integration with LinkedIn
- Engagement scoring
- Team collaboration capabilities
DIY Options
You can start with general-purpose tools:
- Trello (simple and free)
- Notion (flexible but requires setup)
- Monday.com (more features, higher learning curve)
But these require manual data entry and won’t capture LinkedIn activity automatically.
The Mindset Shift
Moving to visual pipeline management isn’t just a tool change—it’s a mindset change.
From this: Managing a list of contacts To this: Nurturing a flowing system of relationships
From this: Trying to remember who needs attention To this: Seeing at a glance where to focus
From this: Measuring activity (calls made, emails sent) To this: Measuring relationship progression
The visual pipeline makes relationship building systematic without making it mechanical. You see the humans, not just the data.
Getting Started
- Define your stages: Use the template above or customize for your process
- Audit existing contacts: Where would your current LinkedIn connections fall?
- Populate your pipeline: Start with your 50-100 most important relationships
- Commit to daily review: 10 minutes every morning
- Track your movement: Weekly, note how many contacts moved between stages
Within a month, you’ll wonder how you ever managed relationships without this visual clarity.
Warmr provides visual kanban pipelines designed specifically for LinkedIn relationship management. Drag contacts through your sales process, see engagement at a glance, and never lose track of a warm lead again. Try Warmr today