Sales Pipeline
A Sales Pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process, organized by stages from initial contact to closed deal. It shows the quantity and value of opportunities at each stage, helping sales teams forecast revenue and prioritize their efforts.
A sales team has a $1M quarterly quota. Their pipeline shows: 20 opportunities in Discovery ($800K), 10 in Proposal ($500K), 5 in Negotiation ($300K). Total pipeline = $1.6M, giving 1.6x coverage. With historical 30% win rate, expected revenue = $480K — below quota. They need either more pipeline or higher conversion rates.
Your pipeline is either a forecasting tool or a graveyard of stale deals. The difference is hygiene.
Most pipelines are inflated with zombie opportunities — deals that haven't moved in 90 days, contacts who ghosted, "maybes" from last quarter. Reps keep them because removing deals feels like admitting defeat. Managers keep them because a bigger pipeline looks better in the board deck.
The RevOps fix: enforce stage definitions with entry/exit criteria. Build pipeline aging reports. Set automatic alerts for stuck deals. Create a culture where cleaning the pipeline is celebrated, not punished. A smaller, accurate pipeline is infinitely more valuable than a bloated, fictional one.
Define ItOther Definitions
“A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where your prospects are in the sales process. It shows you how many deals salespeople are expected to close in a given week, month, or year and how close a rep is to reaching their sales quota.”
“A sales pipeline is a visual snapshot of where prospects are in the sales process. It shows you how many deals are expected to close in a given period and how much revenue they represent.”
“A sales pipeline is a visual representation of sales prospects and where they are in the purchasing process. It provides an overview of a salesperson's accounts and their status, as well as projecting how much revenue they'll earn.”
A sales pipeline organizes opportunities by stage to visualize and forecast sales performance. Salesforce emphasizes the forecasting utility — predicting closes and quota attainment. HubSpot focuses on the revenue snapshot. Pipedrive highlights both the individual rep view and revenue projections.
Common pipeline stages include: (1) Lead/Prospect — initial contact identified; (2) Qualified — meets ICP and has expressed interest; (3) Discovery/Demo — active sales conversation; (4) Proposal/Quote — pricing presented; (5) Negotiation — terms being finalized; (6) Closed Won/Lost — deal outcome.
Key pipeline metrics: total pipeline value, pipeline coverage ratio, stage conversion rates, average deal size, average time in stage, and pipeline velocity.
MistakesCommon Mistakes
Keeping stale deals in pipeline that haven't moved in 60+ days
Inconsistent stage definitions that reps interpret differently
No stage exit criteria leading to deals moving forward without qualification
Counting pipeline value at full amount instead of probability-weighted
Focusing on pipeline quantity without tracking conversion rates by stage
Is your pipeline a forecast or a fiction?
We audit pipeline hygiene, define stage criteria, and build the reporting that separates real deals from wishful thinking.
Experience across
