Short answer
A sales pipeline is the set of open, qualified deals a sales team is working, organized by the stage each has reached, from first qualified conversation to signed contract. Each deal carries a value, an owner, a stage and an expected close date. Teams use the pipeline to see what's likely to close, spot stalled deals and check there's enough in it to hit the target: at a 25% win rate, that means four times the quota.
- A pipeline holds qualified, open deals by stage; unqualified leads belong in the funnel, not the pipeline.
- Define each stage by something the buyer has done, not something the rep has done.
- Coverage needed = 1 ÷ win rate: a 25% win rate needs four times quota in pipeline.
- Weighted pipeline multiplies each deal by its stage's historical win rate; use your own rates.
- Pipeline is not a forecast: it's the raw material the forecast is built from.
On this page
This page is for sales reps, managers and founders who run or report on a pipeline. It defines the term, gives stage definitions you can adopt, the formulas that matter, and a worked example of a pipeline review that finds a real gap.
What a sales pipeline is
In sales, the pipeline is every open opportunity a team is working, grouped by stage. An opportunity enters the pipeline once it's qualified (there's a real problem, someone who owns it and a plausible timeline) and leaves when it's won or lost. Each one should record:
- Value: expected contract value, annual or total, but the same measure for every deal.
- Stage: where the buying process has reached.
- Expected close date: when the buyer, not the rep, expects to decide.
- Owner and next step: who is responsible, and the next action with a date.
Seen together, those fields answer three questions: will we hit the number, which deals need help, and do we need more opportunities?
Pipeline, funnel and forecast
The three words get used interchangeably. They shouldn't be.
| Term | What it shows | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Funnel | How many leads and prospects convert at each step, from first touch to customer | Counts and conversion rates |
| Pipeline | The qualified, open deals being worked now, by stage | Deals and their value |
| Forecast | What the team commits will close in a period | Revenue, with a confidence level |
The difference matters when you read benchmarks. The Bridge Group's 2025 study of SDR teams reports median pipeline generated per SDR of $3.78M a year, and it notes that the figure is raw pipeline created, not forecast or closed-won revenue. Pipeline is the raw material; only some of it becomes revenue.
Pipeline stages and exit criteria
Stage names vary, but every stage should end with something the buyer has done. "Sent proposal" describes the rep's activity; "buyer reviewed the proposal with us" describes progress.
| Stage | Exit criterion (what the buyer has done) |
|---|---|
| Qualified | Agreed to a discovery conversation, and fits your ideal customer profile |
| Discovery complete | Confirmed the problem, who owns it and when they need it solved |
| Evaluation | Seen the product or site and agreed the requirements it must meet |
| Proposal | Reviewed your proposal with you and named the decision makers and process |
| Negotiation | Said yes in principle and started procurement or legal review |
| Closed won or lost | Signed, or told you no (record the reason) |
For qualification questions that support the first two stages, see the BANT questions.
The formulas that matter
| Measure | Formula | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage needed | 1 ÷ win rate | How many times quota you need in pipeline |
| Pipeline coverage | Open pipeline closing this period ÷ quota for the period | Whether you have enough |
| Weighted pipeline | Sum of (deal value × historical win rate from its stage) | A rough, unbiased estimate of what will close |
| Stage conversion | Deals that moved to the next stage ÷ deals that entered the stage | Where deals stall |
| Sales velocity | (Open opportunities × win rate × average deal value) ÷ average cycle in days | Revenue the pipeline produces per day |
Use your own historical rates, from at least the last four quarters, rather than default stage percentages. The sales velocity page covers the last formula in depth.
Worked example: a pipeline review that finds a gap
Illustrative example. The company and numbers are invented to show the method.
Mesa Ridge Colocation (mesaridge.example) sells data-center space with an average first-year contract of $180,000. Its team's quarterly quota is $1.8M, and its historical win rate is 25%, so it needs 1 ÷ 0.25 = 4 times quota, or $7.2M, in pipeline closing this quarter. Here are the deals expected to close this quarter:
| Stage | Deals | Value | Win rate from this stage | Weighted value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualified | 14 | $2,520,000 | 10% | $252,000 |
| Discovery complete | 9 | $1,620,000 | 20% | $324,000 |
| Evaluation | 6 | $1,080,000 | 35% | $378,000 |
| Proposal | 3 | $540,000 | 55% | $297,000 |
| Negotiation | 1 | $180,000 | 80% | $144,000 |
| Total | 33 | $5,940,000 | $1,395,000 |
Coverage is $5.94M ÷ $1.8M = 3.3 times, short of the 4 times needed. The weighted figure says the same thing another way: $1.395M against a $1.8M quota.
Then the manager asks one question of each deal: when did the buyer last do something? Five of the qualified deals haven't responded in over 30 days. Removing them takes out $900,000 of value and $90,000 of weighted value. The honest pipeline is $5.04M (2.8 times coverage), weighted at $1.305M: a gap of $495,000.
The gap tells the team what to do. Deals in the qualified stage close 10% of the time, so filling a $495,000 weighted gap from new deals takes about $4.95M of new qualified pipeline, roughly 28 new opportunities at $180,000 each. With a sales cycle that runs most of a quarter, much of that will land next quarter, which is exactly why pipeline has to be built a quarter ahead. A gap like this is a prospecting problem: Bebop finds companies that match a plain-language description and researches each one, so new opportunities start from a reason to talk.
Weekly pipeline review checklist
- Every deal has a next step with a date in the future.
- Every deal's close date is the buyer's, not the end of the quarter.
- Deals with no buyer activity in 30 days are moved back a stage or closed.
- Stage changes match the written exit criteria.
- Coverage for this quarter and next is calculated, not guessed.
- Lost deals have a reason recorded.
Common mistakes
- Counting unqualified leads. A pipeline full of first meetings looks big and closes small.
- Stages defined by rep activity. Sending something isn't progress until the buyer responds.
- Default probabilities. CRM default percentages rarely match your history.
- End-of-quarter close dates. If half the pipeline closes on the last day, nobody actually knows when it closes.
- Never closing deals out. Old deals inflate coverage and hide the need to prospect.
Next step: turn the pipeline into a number you can commit to with the sales forecast template.
Sources
- Sales Development Models, Metrics & Compensation: 2025 Research Report (10th ed.), The Bridge Group, 6 February 2025
Written by the Bebop team at Blackpearl Group. Last updated .
Questions people ask
What is a pipeline in sales?
A sales pipeline is the set of qualified, open deals a sales team is currently working, organized by stage, from first qualified conversation through to a signed contract. Each deal records its value, stage, owner, next step and expected close date. The pipeline shows whether the team has enough opportunities to hit its target and which deals need attention.
What is the difference between a sales pipeline and a sales funnel?
A funnel measures conversion: how many leads and prospects move from one step to the next, from first touch to customer, shown as counts and rates. A pipeline is the list of qualified opportunities being worked right now, by stage and value. The funnel tells you how efficiently you convert; the pipeline tells you what's in play and whether it's enough to hit the number.
How much pipeline coverage do you need?
Divide one by your win rate. If you win 25% of qualified opportunities, you need four times your quota in pipeline that is expected to close in the period; at a 33% win rate, about three times. Calculate it from your own closed deals over at least the last four quarters, and only count deals whose expected close date falls in the period you're measuring.
What are the stages of a sales pipeline?
Common stages are qualified, discovery complete, evaluation, proposal, negotiation and closed won or lost, though names vary by company and sales process. What matters more than the names is that each stage ends with something the buyer has done, such as confirming the problem or reviewing your proposal with you, so deals can't advance on the rep's activity alone.
What is weighted pipeline?
Weighted pipeline is the sum of each open deal's value multiplied by the probability of winning it, usually the historical win rate from the deal's current stage. A $100,000 deal at a stage that wins 40% of the time counts as $40,000. It gives a rough estimate of what the pipeline will produce, but only if the stage rates come from your own history.