A customer journey model is the shape you assume your customers follow: a straight line from enquiry to sale, a loop that brings clients back for repeat work, or a web where referrals and returning clients feed new enquiries. Pick the wrong shape and your reports will measure the wrong things. This article answers which model fits a firm of 10 to 250 people, and how to build the chosen shape into pipelines and reports in the levelpartner.ai platform.
The three shapes that matter
The linear model runs one way: aware, interested, deciding, bought. It suits one-off sales such as a property purchase or a single consulting project. Its weakness is that it treats a won client as the end.
The loop model adds a return path: bought, onboarded, renewed, bought again. It suits retainers, annual reviews and anything with a renewal date. Mortgage brokers with a product expiry date and agencies on monthly retainers both live in a loop.
The referral model adds an outbound path from happy clients to new prospects. It suits firms where most new work comes from introductions, which describes many consultancies and estate agencies.
Choosing your model
Ask where last year's revenue came from. If most came from new clients buying once, use linear. If most came from existing clients buying again, use the loop. If most new clients arrived by introduction, add the referral path. Many firms need a loop with a referral branch.
The model should follow the money, not the marketing team's preference. A firm that earns most of its revenue from renewals but measures only new enquiries is optimising the smaller half.
Before you start
- Last year's revenue split by new clients, repeat clients and referred clients.
- Access to Opportunities, Payments and Dashboard.
- Agreement from leadership on which revenue type matters most this year.
How to set it up
- Split last year's revenue into new, repeat and referred, using payments history.
- Choose the model that matches the largest share, adding a referral branch if introductions matter.
- Build a sales pipeline in Opportunities for the linear part of the model.
- For a loop, build a second pipeline for client lifecycle with onboarding, active and renewal due stages.
- Add an Opportunity Status Changed workflow with a Create/Update Opportunity action.
- For the referral branch, add a source value for referrals and a field naming who referred.
- Use a Custom Date Reminder trigger timed from the renewal date.
- Add a Won Opportunity Value widget per path: new, repeat and referred.
Suppose the brokerage earned an illustrative 1.4 million last year: 600,000 from first-time clients, 550,000 from product transfers and remortgages, and 250,000 from referrals. With a linear pipeline only, more than half that revenue would sit outside the pipeline. Adding a lifecycle pipeline, with a stage for each client's product expiry triggered six months ahead, would bring the model in line with where most of the money is.
How the model shows up in your reports
Each path in the model deserves its own number on the dashboard. A linear model needs enquiry volume and win rate. A loop adds renewal rate and the value of repeat work. A referral branch adds the count of introductions per active client.
If your dashboard shows only the first of these, your team will chase new enquiries even when the loop is where the revenue sits. Reports shape behaviour, so build them to match the model you chose.
What it replaces
The model replaces the generic funnel diagram that came with a marketing course, and the reporting that counts leads as the only measure of growth. It also replaces renewals handled from a separate spreadsheet that sales never sees.
Time it takes each week
Choosing the model takes an afternoon with the revenue numbers. Building the second pipeline and the handover workflow takes one to two days. Ongoing, the extra paths add about 20 minutes a week of review, mostly checking renewal opportunities due in the coming month.
The mistake most people make
Using a linear model for a business that earns from repeat work. The pipeline ends at won, renewals fall out of view, and the firm keeps buying new leads to replace clients it let drift away.
When the model is not the problem
If every stage in your current model is broken, a new shape will not help. Fix the basics first: stages with clear definitions, a pipeline that is kept current, and sources recorded on every contact. The customer journey framework guide covers definitions. Once those are sound, the shape is worth revisiting. For a broader view of the topic, the customer journey guide is a good place to start.
Troubleshooting
Won opportunities do not create lifecycle records
The handover workflow trigger is set on a tag rather than the won status. Trigger it on the opportunity status changing to won.
Referral revenue looks too low
Staff are not recording referrals as a source. Make the referral field required on the intake form and check it in the weekly review.
Renewals appear twice
Someone created a renewal opportunity manually as well as the workflow. Agree that renewals are created only by the workflow.
Frequently asked questions
Can we run more than one model?
Yes, if you sell genuinely different things. A consultancy selling one-off audits and annual retainers can run linear for audits and a loop for retainers. Keep shared stage definitions where you can.
Is the model the same as the map?
No. The model is the shape. The map fills that shape with touchpoints, questions and pain points. See customer journey mapping for that step.
How often should we revisit the model?
Annually, when you review where revenue came from. Change it only if the revenue mix has shifted.