Pipeline Diagnostics

Framework for assessing B2B sales pipeline health and identifying problems.

Pipeline Coverage

Minimum Coverage by Quarter Week:

Week Coverage Needed Why

Week 1 4x quota Time to work deals

Week 5 3x quota Deals maturing

Week 9 2x quota Late-stage heavy

Week 13 1.2x quota Commit deals

Formula:

Coverage Ratio = Total Pipeline / Quota Target

Stage Conversion Benchmarks

Stage Benchmark If Below

Lead to Qualified 30-40% ICP targeting issue

Qualified to Discovery 60-70% Qualification criteria issue

Discovery to Demo 50-60% Discovery quality issue

Demo to Proposal 40-50% Demo effectiveness issue

Proposal to Closed 30-40% Negotiation/pricing issue

Deal Velocity

Formula:

Sales Velocity = (Deals × Win Rate × ACV) / Sales Cycle

Higher velocity = more revenue, faster

Improvement Levers:

• More qualified opportunities (volume)

• Higher win rate (quality)

• Larger deal sizes (ACV)

• Shorter sales cycles (speed)

Stage Distribution Analysis

Healthy Pipeline Shape:

Stage 1 (Qualified): ████████████████████ 35% Stage 2 (Discovery): ████████████████ 25% Stage 3 (Demo): ████████████ 20% Stage 4 (Proposal): ████████ 12% Stage 5 (Negotiation): █████ 8%

Red Flags:

• Top-heavy: Too much early stage
• Bottom-heavy: Not enough new pipeline
• Middle stuck: Conversion problem

Age Analysis

Stage Healthy Age Stale Threshold

Qualified 0-14 days

21 days

Discovery 7-21 days

30 days

Demo 14-30 days

45 days

Proposal 7-14 days

21 days

Negotiation 7-21 days

30 days

Stale Deal Actions:

• <7 days stale: Update and next steps

• 7-14 days stale: Manager review

14 days stale: Downgrade or close

Win/Loss Analysis

Win Analysis Questions:

• What was the trigger event?

• Who was the champion?

• What was the competitive situation?

• What value resonated most?

• How long was the sales cycle?

Loss Analysis Questions:

• What stage did we lose?

• Who made the decision?

• What was the stated reason?

• What was the real reason?

• What would we do differently?

Problem Diagnosis

Not Enough Pipeline

Symptoms:

• Coverage <3x in first half of quarter

• New pipeline creation slowing

• Deals closing without replacement

Solutions:

• Increase outbound activity 50%

• Run targeted campaign to ICP

• Re-engage closed-lost from 6+ months ago

• Ask for referrals from recent wins

• Partner-sourced pipeline push

Deals Stuck in Stage

Symptoms:

• Average age exceeds benchmark

• Same deals appearing in reviews

• No clear next steps

Solutions:

• Implement stage exit criteria

• Add "days in stage" to dashboards

• Manager review for stale deals

• Create urgency with limited-time offer

• Multi-thread to other stakeholders

Low Win Rate

Symptoms:

• Win rate <20%

• Losing to "no decision"

• Losing to specific competitor

Solutions:

• Tighten qualification criteria

• Improve discovery process

• Build champion enablement

• Create competitive battle cards

• Address pricing/packaging

Inaccurate Forecasts

Symptoms:

• Consistent over/under forecasting

• Deals slipping between periods

• Late-quarter surprises

Solutions:

• Define clear commit criteria

• Weekly deal-by-deal review

• Track forecast accuracy by rep

• Implement deal scoring

• Require close plan for commits