Sales methods and sales stages allow organizations to follow standard processes in order to target sales to a particular customer or opportunity.
A sales method and its stages can align to the customer buying decision process. For example, is the customer more interested in price, features, service, or delivery time? Once this is decided, then your sales method and sales stages can reflect this interest.
In a typical implementation, a single sales method has several sales stages (for example, Qualification, Negotiation, or Closed).