Sales Mastery Series Part 11: CRM Systems & Pipeline Management

• Pipeline Coverage: Pipeline value ÷ Quota (target: 3-5x)
• Pipeline Velocity: (# Opportunities × Win Rate × Avg Deal Size) ÷ Sales Cycle
• Stage Conversion Rates: % moving from each stage to next
• Average Deal Size: Total closed revenue ÷ Number of deals
• Sales Cycle Length: Average days from qualification to close
• Win Rate: Closed Won ÷ (Closed Won + Closed Lost)
• Pipeline Age: Average days deals stay in pipeline

Benchmark Alert: If stage conversion drops, deals are stuck—interventions needed. If deal age increases, pipeline is stalling.

1. Frequency: Weekly for active reps, bi-weekly for managers
2. Focus Deals: Top 10 by value or closing this month/quarter
3. Questions to Ask:
   • What's changed since last review?
   • What's the next step? When?
   • Who's the champion? Decision maker?
   • What could lose this deal?
   • What do you need to move forward?
4. Action Items: Specific tasks with owners and deadlines

• Standardized Stages: Clear exit criteria eliminate subjective staging
• Historical Analysis: Use actual conversion rates per stage, not assumptions
• Deal Scoring: Weight factors beyond stage (champion strength, budget confirmation)
• Regular Scrubbing: Remove stale deals that won't close
• Anti-Sandbagging: Track rep-level accuracy; reward accuracy over sandbagging
• Verification Questions: "Would you bet your commission this closes?"

• 60-70% Attainment Target: Plan for 60-70% of reps hitting quota (stretch vs. achievable)
• Bottom-Up Validation: Sum individual quotas should exceed company target by 10-20%
• Historical Performance: Factor in prior attainment, territory potential
• Ramp Quotas: Reduced targets for new hires (0-25-50-75-100% over 4 quarters)
• Quarterly vs. Annual: Monthly/quarterly for transactional; annual for enterprise

Red Flag: If 90%+ of reps hit quota, quotas are likely too low. If <40% hit, quotas may be unrealistic.

• Lead Routing: Auto-assign leads by territory, round-robin, or capacity
• Follow-Up Sequences: Automated email/call cadences until response
• Data Enrichment: Auto-populate company data from external sources
• Activity Logging: Capture emails, meetings without manual entry
• Task Creation: Auto-create follow-up tasks based on deal stage
• Notifications: Alert reps when prospects engage (email opens, site visits)
• Document Generation: Auto-populate proposals, contracts from CRM

Objective: Design pipeline stages with clear exit criteria.

1. Map your current sales process from lead to close
2. Identify 5-7 distinct stages with clear transitions
3. Define specific, verifiable exit criteria for each stage
4. Assign probability percentages based on historical conversion
5. Identify one "must-have" data field for each stage

Deliverable: Pipeline stage document with stages, criteria, and probabilities.

Objective: Calculate and analyze your pipeline velocity.

1. Calculate: (# Opportunities × Win Rate × Avg Deal Size) ÷ Sales Cycle
2. Identify which variable has the biggest impact on velocity
3. Model: What if win rate improved 5%? Deal size 10%?
4. Identify 3 actions to improve the highest-impact variable
5. Set a velocity target for next quarter

Deliverable: Velocity calculation with improvement scenarios.

Objective: Audit and improve your CRM data quality.

1. Run query: Deals with close dates in the past that aren't closed
2. Identify deals with no activity in 30+ days
3. Check for duplicate contacts/accounts
4. List deals missing key fields (value, close date, stage)
5. Create cleanup actions with deadlines
6. Propose 3 data hygiene rules to prevent future issues

Deliverable: CRM audit report with cleanup actions and prevention rules.