The query that actually gets asked
Nobody opens their contacts wondering which stage a deal is in. They open it because they need a way into a company, and they are trying to remember who they already know there.
Why the answer is usually expensive
In a deal-shaped system that question requires a join you cannot make: people are attached to opportunities, opportunities belong to owners, and the person you half remember meeting at a conference is attached to nothing at all.
Put the person at the centre and the same question is a lookup. Their employer is already context on the record, and the conversation you had is already attached to them.