Is Your Pipeline Active or just Full?
The non-negotiables of a pipeline that actually converts
Most sales pipelines look healthier than they are. They're filled with opportunities that haven't moved in weeks, deals with no clear next steps, and prospects who stopped responding months ago. The pipeline might be full, but it's not active — and an inactive pipeline doesn't convert.
The inconvenient reality is that most pipelines are stuffed with poor quality or stale opportunities. This happens for multiple reasons: lack of prospecting, weak qualification, poor CRM hygiene, and deals that only surface to management when they're about to close — or fall apart.
The good news? It's never too late to fix it. A healthy pipeline needs to be both active and balanced. This post focuses on what makes a pipeline active.
So what do we mean by active? An active pipeline is one where opportunities are moving, qualified, and progressing through defined stages with clear actions. It's dynamic, not static.
Here are the non-negotiable attributes of an active pipeline:
Opportunities are getting off the starting block
Leads that never move past the early stages are wasted investment. When opportunities advance beyond initial qualification, it signals that your salespeople are doing the work — understanding the customer's business, validating the opportunity, and converting marketing's investment into genuine prospects. If deals are stuck at the starting line, something is broken.
Opportunities are progressing
Nothing should sit in one stage indefinitely. When deals stall, the likelihood of closing drops sharply. There are many reasons opportunities get stuck — poor CRM hygiene, lack of follow-up, or simply weak selling skills — but whatever the cause, stagnant deals are dying deals.
How long is too long? That depends on your sales cycle. If your average time to close is over a year, you might allow up to 180 days in a single stage. If your cycle is 30 days, anything beyond 5 days in one stage should raise a flag. Define what's reasonable for your business, then monitor it.
Opportunities are qualified
Qualification means establishing early whether this prospect is real. Do they have a genuine need? Are they ready to buy? Whether you use BANT, MEDDPICC, or your own framework, the principle is the same: don't waste time on opportunities that were never going to close.
At a minimum, a qualified opportunity should have:
- One or more products defined
- A credible monetary value
- An identified opportunity team
- More than one prospect contact, including at least one decision-maker and one influencer
If these basics aren't in place, the opportunity isn't qualified — it's a placeholder.
Opportunities have recorded activities
Activity is the pulse of a deal. If there's no record of calls, emails, meetings, notes, or next steps, one of two things is true: either nothing is happening, or it's happening off the books. Neither is acceptable.
Recorded activities give leaders visibility, keep salespeople accountable, and ensure nothing slips through the cracks. If a deal has gone quiet, that silence should be visible — so someone can act on it.
Opportunities are controlled
Control means the salesperson is driving the deal, not chasing it. One key indicator of control is close date stability. If an opportunity's expected close date has shifted more than three times, control has likely been lost.
Slipping close dates aren't just a forecasting problem — they're a symptom. Either the deal was poorly qualified, the buying process wasn't understood, or the salesperson isn't in the driver's seat. Catch this early.
Late-stage opportunities have a close plan
By the time a deal reaches the final stages, there should be a mutual close plan in place — a shared roadmap between seller and buyer outlining the specific steps to get the deal done. This isn't just a salesperson's to-do list; it's an agreed sequence of actions on both sides.
A close plan should cover procurement steps, legal reviews, sign-off requirements, and any other hurdles between now and closed-won. Without one, late-stage deals often stall at the worst possible moment — when the finish line is in sight but the path to it is unclear.
Active pipelines are the lifeblood of any sales organisation. From first touch to signed contract, opportunities need continuous attention, clear next steps, and honest assessment. These six attributes aren't optional extras — they're the baseline for a pipeline that actually delivers.
If you're struggling to get a true read on the health of your pipeline — or you know it needs work but aren't sure where to start — reach out to us today.
