fin-sales-pipelinelisted

# Sales Pipeline ## Stage definitions — buyer-evidence based Move stages from sales activities to **actions the buyer took**: discovery → meeting held → needs agreed (documented) → pricing presentation agreed → contract review. Activity-based stages are usually front-loaded, inflating the pipeline. ## Coverage ratio Target ÷ average deal size = required number of opportunities. On new pipeline, **3x coverage** is the baseline — the longer the cycle and the lower the win rate, the more you need 4x+. Multiplying by stage conversion rates yields the required opportunities per stage. Coverage is built linearly every week, not in the final week. ## Velocity · win rate **Pipeline velocity = #opportunities × average deal size × win rate ÷ average cycle length (days)**. Use sensitivity to pick which of the 4 levers to move. Win rate requires definition consistency — removing cancelled opportunities from the denominator inflates it (keep the as-of-opportunity-creation basis). ## Sludge removal Deals with 2 consecutive non-responses, or that sit in one stage beyond 2 cycles, are auto-flagged → keep or kill decisions with rationale. A low performer's tell is not opportunity count but stage-move speed. ## Output Opportunities and conversion rate per stage table, coverage diagnosis (× vs. target), sensitivity across the 4 velocity elements, disposition of 3 sludge deals.