Sales pipeline

Also called Pipeline, Sales funnel, Forecast

Everything you are working on, arranged by how close it is to closing. Only as honest as the person maintaining it.

What it means

A pipeline lists open opportunities by stage — enquiry, qualified, proposal sent, negotiation, closed — usually with a value and an expected close date against each.

Weighted pipeline multiplies each value by the probability of its stage, producing a forecast.

Why it matters

It is the only forward-looking number most businesses have. Everything else in the accounts describes the past.

It is also the number most likely to be wrong, because the incentives push one way: opportunities are added enthusiastically and removed reluctantly.

What it looks like in practice

Define what qualifies an opportunity to move to each stage in terms of what the CUSTOMER has done, not what you have done. "Proposal sent" is your action; "customer confirmed budget and timescale" is theirs, and only the second predicts anything.

Review it weekly and take things out. A pipeline that only grows is a list, not a forecast.

Track how long deals sit in each stage. Stalled is not the same as lost, and it usually needs a different response.

What to watch out for

Zombie deals kept in for morale. They inflate the forecast and hide the fact that new activity is needed now.

Close dates that move by a month every month. That is a signal, and it is worth naming.

Where to get proper advice

This is one to design internally rather than buy. Any CRM will implement whatever definitions you agree; none of them will supply useful ones.