How demoralizing is it when we hit our pipeline targets and forecast a great quarter—just to watch it all fall apart at the 11th hour? Deals get pushed. The forecast is missed. And worst of all, it happens quarter after quarter.

This is exactly what happened to one of our customers, a $400M B2B SaaS company. They had the pipeline coverage they needed to hit their number. Forecasts were shared with the board. Sales reps were keeping Salesforce up to date. Everything looked great.

Unfortunately, they still missed their forecast. Deals were stalling for months and Close Rates had plummeted. They wanted to know why. More importantly, they wanted to fix it!

Here’s what we did.

(Spoiler alert: these changes resulted in a 25X increase in MQLs to Closed Won!)

Zombie Pipeline

Once we took a closer look, the problem became obvious. The pipeline wasn’t healthy—it was filled with deals that were never going to close. (We call this “Zombie Pipeline”)

There was more than $12M in pipeline that was over two sales cycles old, and another $10M that had been sitting in the same stage for more than 90 days. Reps weren’t closing these deals out, even when it was clear they weren’t progressing.

Not because they didn’t know better—but because their compensation and management dashboards emphasized pipeline volume and win rate. Closing a deal out would lower both.

So they left the deals open. The pipeline appeared full. The numbers looked safe.

Yet the deals never closed.

Why Does This Happen So Often?

When companies track the wrong pipeline metrics, they create the wrong incentives.

If reps are measured on how much pipeline they own and how often they win, the safest option is to leave everything open. Hope it comes back. Hope something changes. Hope the number works out by the end of the quarter.

But hope isn’t a strategy. And bloated pipeline is one of the biggest reasons sales teams can’t deliver on their forecast.

It also makes it impossible to coach reps effectively, which means deals that could be won are also lost.

When everything looks alive on paper, it’s hard to spot what’s actually real. Managers don’t know which deals to prioritize, which ones to let go, and which reps are really working their pipeline versus just hanging onto deals.

For CROs, it gets even worse. Because now, your entire GTM planning function is built on a pipeline that you can’t trust.

How We Fixed It

This company didn’t need more pipeline. They needed better pipeline management.

We helped them implement a simple but rigorous pipeline hygiene process which included:

• Manager enablement for running effective pipeline reviews
• Rules for aging by stage, with rep and manager accountability
• Forecasting dashboards that emphasized conversion and velocity over volume
• Regular pressure-testing of every opportunity based on sales cycle benchmarks

Within 60 days:

• Forecast accuracy dramatically improved
• Pipeline older than two sales cycles dropped by 57%
• Close Rates increased significantly, from 5% to over 21%
• Lead Conversion Rates also increased from 4% to over 20%
• MQL to Closed Won increased by over 25X(!) from 0.2% to 4.3%

No new leads. No new reps. Just a cleaner pipeline, higher quality opportunities, and better decisions across the board.

What Can You Do Now If You’re Facing This

Start by running a simple audit:

• What percentage of your pipeline is older than two sales cycles?
• What percentage hasn’t moved stages in over X days?
  • Longer sales cycles dictate longer stage cycles.
  • You have to look at past Closed Won deals to determine X
• What’s your pipeline-to-close conversion rate by stage?
• Do managers have the tools to coach reps on disqualification?
• Are your forecasting tools emphasizing volume or deal health?

If you can’t answer these questions confidently, the problem isn’t your pipeline coverage. It’s your pipeline integrity. Until that’s fixed, your revenue plan isn’t grounded in reality.

Need help developing your own pipeline hygiene process? Let’s talk.