R
R

RedLightning

Mid-Market AE

Politicker
Catalyst
Valued Contributor
+6

How much pipeline do you need to hit targets

Hi Everyone!


We all know that you can't win every deal. But, with more and more companies standing pat given the economy, I'm curious to see where the consensus lies in terms of pipeline $ amount needed to hit targets.


We'll all have different definitions, but what I mean is if you have a target of 10k, for example, in a month, how much pipeline dollars with forecasted decision dates in that time period would make you feel comfortable about hitting target?

Pipeline $ amount to hit revenue target ratio

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🔎 Prospecting
👑 Sales Strategy
🧢 Sales Management
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28 comments

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Boudreaux
Politicker
10
Regional Manager
Quality not Quantity for me. I hate playing that game and loading bullshit to my pipeline to hit someone's metric. Find what works for you and where you are most effective.

Nothing worse than trying to manage bullshit in your pipeline so a manager looks good. I refuse!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
5
🦊
QUALITY damn it's so freaking important.
RedLightning
Politicker
0
Mid-Market AE
Agreed, but you can't account for everything. I have a few strong deals where leadership changes have impacted the timeline. Personally, I'm seeing orgs hold off on purchases or redirecting their focuses more and more.
dadasaurus
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
Amen to that!
braintank
Politicker
7
Enterprise Account Executive
I've heard 3-4x used as benchmark
RedLightning
Politicker
1
Mid-Market AE
I've historically operated along those lines, but have seen it increase recently. Not sure if it's me, my space, or more macro economic factors.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
3-4X here. Pipeline getting more difficult to generate at end of year, but that’s pretty common
jefe
Arsonist
0
🍁
+1 for 3-4x as a rule of thumb
nomdeguerre
Executive
4
Account executive
When the measure becomes the goal it stops being a good measure. Here is the thing, if you’re close rate it’s 33% you know that you need 3x pipeline. The problem is that most orgs now make that the goal, every weekly call all they talk about is if you have 3x pipeline. However, that shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should be to have good sales conversation and adding great qualified opportunities to your pipeline. The lagging indicator then is if you have 3x pipeline, but if you don’t, then the response shouldn’t be go get 3x pipeline because that’ll just lead to reps adding BS to the pipeline. The response should be, how do we get more quality sales conversions leading to qualified opps. Basically you get what you ask for. Focus on lagging indicators and you get a bunch of BS that won’t help. Focus on leading indicators and you might have a fighting chance. Unfortunately, most leadership doesn’t have a clue which is why 90% off orgs are f-ing themselves by focusing on lagging indicators.
RedLightning
Politicker
1
Mid-Market AE
I completely agree and understand where you're coming from! I may not have been clear in the prompt that this is coming from an IC perspective
Diablo
Politicker
3
Sr. AE
Historical data we have shows 3X. But by the end of the year we have to push a bit higher as the closure % comes down
saaskicker
Celebrated Contributor
3
Enterprise AE
Depends on your win/close rate.

If you close 33% of your deals, you need 3x in your pipeline - etc etc etc
salesVP80
Opinionated
3
VP Sales
You have to know more than Xx of pipeline. What are your discovery held rates? Conversion rates? Deal velocity? Close rates? Is your message resonating with the pipeline you're calling into?? Knowing the downhill stats will give you an indicator of how much pipeline you'll need.
CorporateStiff
Executive
3
Account Executive
Yes yes yes. Well said
ReadTheScript
Politicker
0
Sales Manager
This ^
FoodForSales
Politicker
1
AE
At least 3x
BlueJays2591
Politicker
1
Federal Business Dev Director
3x minimum, 4x goal
Justatitle
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
4x coverage is the golden standard. If your close rate is ~20% 4x will bring you to quota or close.
ReadTheScript
Politicker
1
Sales Manager
Wouldn’t this land you around 80%?
Justatitle
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
Hence why I said ~ 20%. this is a skewed statistic because opportunity size varies and so close rate can be different for everyone. also why I said quota or close...
HardRockfan1
Member
1
Regional Director of Sales
Transparency has become the enemy of the modern sales warrior. I have to beg now to get even the bare bones reports. Pre pandemic I used to have an appointment to close ratio of 41% but now? Heck I have no clue. Companies don’t “feel” partnered with their reps anymore so you don’t know your basic data and have to “wing it and sing it.” I try to go 4 to 1 and that’s worked for over 2 years for me
punishedlad
Tycoon
0
Business Development Team Lead
3-4x I'd say.
TheColdestColdCall
Executive
0
Enterprise Account Executive
I’ve heard 3:1 since forever - now getting 3:1 is the tough part 🥵
crushingit
Member
0
Enterprise AE
Depends heavily on win rate
PapaRo
Fire Starter
0
President
Generally 3x is a safe bet in my opinion. I presume you are only considering leads that you are actively engaged with…not just cold email prospects.

I also tend to strive for quality mover quantity and am a bit more conservative on what benchmarks I use to consider a lead in my sales pipeline.
ASP23
Good Citizen
0
Founder
3:1 has always been good for me. When I get close to 4x, I know I'm going to crush
IndianaShep
Politicker
0
Director of Sales and Marketing
More and better than I have, ever.
dadasaurus
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
I said 3:1 because across all marketplaces/industries, its a fairly well established stat that 30-40% of the deals in a salesperson's pipeline will close. 40% for the best sales people in an organization, 30%+ for the average sales people.

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