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You’re running searches for clients, but you’re also trying to win new business. Right now those two workflows probably live in separate tools: your ATS for candidates, a spreadsheet or standalone CRM for deals and client contacts. Stardex ties both sides together so that a deal, the company behind it, the hiring contacts you’re talking to, and the search you eventually kick off all live in one place.
You can either track BD through concept of Deals, or at a company Level. You have the option of assigning statuses to deals or companies, and customizing the statuses.

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The most common path

The typical BD workflow in Stardex follows this arc: spot an opportunity on LinkedIn, create a deal for the prospect company, add your hiring contact from LinkedIn, progress the deal through your pipeline, and convert it into a search once you’ve won the business.
  1. Click CRM in the left sidebar
  2. The CRM page has three tabs across the top: Deals, Companies, and Contacts
Each tab covers one piece of the BD picture. Deals track your opportunities and pipeline value. Companies are the client organizations themselves. Contacts are the people at those companies you’re communicating with. Step 1 screenshot Step 2 screenshot

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Working with deals

A deal is a potential engagement with a client company. Each deal has a name, an amount, a win probability, and a projected close date. Stardex uses these fields to give you a forecast of your pipeline’s overall health.

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Creating a deal from the CRM

  1. Click the Deals tab
  2. Click Add Deal
  3. Enter the Deal Name (e.g. “VP of Sales — Teradata”)
  4. Select the company. If the company doesn’t exist yet, Stardex creates it as a new client company
  5. Set the Amount (your estimated fee)
  6. Set the Win Probability (%) — a number from 0 to 100
  7. Choose a Deal Status from your pipeline stages. The defaults are Prospect, Qualified, Negotiation, Won, and Lost (your team can customize these in Settings > Deal Statuses)
  8. Optionally set a Projected Close Date
  9. Click Create
There are quick settings in the Projected Close Date field to set the close date to 30, 60 or 90 days in the future.
Step 3 screenshot Step 4 screenshot Step 5 screenshot Step 9 screenshot

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Creating a deal from LinkedIn

You can also create a deal directly from a company’s LinkedIn page using the Stardex Chrome extension:
  1. Navigate to the company’s LinkedIn page
  2. Open the Stardex Chrome extension
  3. Click Create Deal
  4. Fill in the deal details (amount, status, win probability)
  5. The company is automatically added to your CRM as a client
Creating a deal from LinkedIn — screenshot 7 Creating a deal from LinkedIn — screenshot 8

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Viewing deal details

Click any deal to open its detail view. From here you can:
  • See and update the deal’s status, amount, win probability, and close date
  • Leave notes and view the activity timeline for that deal
  • Click the linked company name to jump to the company record
  • Associate a client contact with the deal so their activity (emails, notes) surfaces under the deal’s recent activity
Viewing deal details — screenshot 9

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Managing companies

Companies in the CRM represent your clients, prospects, and leads. Each company has a status — the defaults are Lead, Contacted, Interested, Active Client, Not Interested, and Inactive. When you open a company record, you can see:
  • The company’s current client status
  • All deals associated with that company
  • All active searches (jobs) in progress for them
  • All client contacts linked to that company
  • Company lists the company belongs to
Managing companies — screenshot 10

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Adding client contacts

Client contacts are the people at your client companies — the hiring managers, HR leads, and executives you’re building relationships with.

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Adding a contact from LinkedIn

  1. Navigate to the person’s LinkedIn profile
  2. Open the Stardex Chrome extension
  3. Click Mark as client in the person actions menu
  4. The person is added to Stardex as a client contact
Once added, the contact appears on the linked company’s record. Each contact has a status — the defaults are Identified, Contacted, Interested, Call Scheduled, Circle Back, Won, Lost, and Not Interested. Adding a contact from LinkedIn — screenshot 11 Adding a contact from LinkedIn — screenshot 12

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Associating a contact with a deal

Open the deal, then add the relevant client contact to it. Any emails, notes, or activity logged on that contact’s profile will also appear under the deal’s recent activity. This keeps the full conversation history visible in the context of the opportunity.
Deals, companies, and contacts are linked. Activity flows between them. Notes on a contact show up on the deal. A deal shows up on the company. When you win a deal and create a search, the search appears on the company record too. You don’t need to duplicate information across records.
Associating a contact with a deal — screenshot 13

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Viewing CRM data on LinkedIn

The Chrome extension shows your CRM data while you browse LinkedIn:
  • On a company’s LinkedIn page, you can see existing deals, add the company to a list, or create a new deal
  • On a person’s LinkedIn profile, you can see if they’re already a client contact and which company they’re linked to
Viewing CRM data on LinkedIn — screenshot 14 Viewing CRM data on LinkedIn — screenshot 15

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Running outreach from the Contacts tab

  1. Click the Contacts tab in the CRM
  2. Use filters to narrow down contacts — for example, filter by the Identified status to find contacts you haven’t reached out to yet
  3. Select contacts using the checkboxes
  4. Click Campaign in the bulk action bar at the bottom
  5. Choose or create a campaign with BD-focused content
Running outreach from the Contacts tab — screenshot 16
Once a deal moves to Won, you can create a search directly from it:
  1. Open the deal
  2. Click Actions
  3. Click Create Search from Deal (the exact label uses your team’s custom job name, e.g. “Create Search from Deal”)
  4. Stardex pre-fills the search details from the deal. Review and confirm
  5. The new search is created and your team can begin sourcing candidates
Converting a won deal into a search — screenshot 17

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FAQ

Q: Can I customize the deal pipeline stages? Yes. Go to Settings > Deal Statuses to add, rename, reorder, or remove stages. The defaults are Prospect, Qualified, Negotiation, Won, and Lost. Q: Do I need to create a company before creating a deal? No. When you create a deal and select a company that doesn’t exist yet, Stardex creates the company record automatically. Q: Where do I see my pipeline forecast? The Reports section has a CRM tab with metrics including Total Pipeline Value, Total Deals, Avg Deal Size, and Win Rate. There’s also a Deals by Status chart that shows pipeline value and count by stage. Q: Can I add a client contact from inside Stardex instead of LinkedIn? Yes. From the People page, select one or more people, then click Mark as Client Contact in the bulk action bar. Q: Will activity on a client contact show up on the deal? Yes, once you associate the contact with the deal. Emails, notes, and status changes on that contact’s profile surface in the deal’s activity timeline. Q: Can I pull LinkedIn conversations for candidates into the CRM? Yes, it pulls from https://www.linkedin.com/messaging/ threads when active and for Recruiter inbox threads, from https://www.linkedin.com/talent/inbox/

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Key Takeaway

The CRM is where your business development lives. Use Deals to track opportunities and forecast revenue, Companies to manage client relationships, and Contacts to stay on top of the people you’re selling to. When you win the business, convert the deal into a search and your team starts sourcing without switching tools.