The Salesforce Pipeline Report You Should Start With

This guide provides practical advice on using Salesforce pipeline reports to assess pipeline coverage, forecast accurately, and identify opportunities that may be overstating the strength of your funnel.

It focuses on the most useful pipeline report for sales managers: opportunities grouped by Close Month and Opportunity Stage. It also explains the three pipeline quality metrics that can help determine whether the opportunities in your funnel are genuinely likely to close.

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Why This Matters

A large pipeline does not necessarily mean you have a healthy pipeline. Opportunities with unrealistic Close Dates, repeated date changes, or long periods without activity can inflate pipeline coverage and make forecasts look stronger than they really are. A well-structured Salesforce pipeline report gives sales managers the visibility they need to investigate individual deals, identify risks, and take action before forecast problems become sales problems.

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Key Insights

• Use Close Month and Opportunity Stage as your core pipeline view: This report shows the total and weighted value of opportunities due to close in each month, broken down by Opportunity Stage. It provides a practical starting point for forecasting and assessing whether the pipeline is strong enough to support sales targets.
• Drill into the underlying opportunities: Dashboard charts provide a useful high-level view, but the real insight comes from investigating the individual deals behind each number. Check whether opportunities are genuinely progressing through the sales process and whether their Close Dates are realistic.
• Look for stage and Close Date mismatches: If a three-month sales cycle business has a large number of early-stage opportunities supposedly closing this month, the pipeline may be overstated. Similarly, opportunities with Close Dates that have repeatedly slipped may need to be challenged or removed from the forecast.
• Use three pipeline quality metrics:Close Date Month Changes, Days Open, and Days Since Last Stage Change provide additional evidence about whether individual opportunities are healthy or at risk of slipping. Using these metrics alongside the pipeline report makes it easier to identify questionable deals.
• Pay particular attention to seasonal and past-due pipeline: Large concentrations of opportunities at year-end or open deals with Close Dates in previous months can distort pipeline coverage. Managers should investigate whether these opportunities represent genuine buying intent or simply unrealistic dates.

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How To Apply This

1. Start with Close Month and Opportunity Stage.
   Review the total and weighted pipeline due to close this month and the following months. Look at whether the distribution of opportunities across stages makes sense for your typical sales cycle.
2. Drill into questionable numbers.
   Open the underlying report and investigate individual opportunities. Ask whether the Stage and Close Date accurately reflect the customer’s buying process and whether there is evidence that the deal will close when expected.
3. Challenge early-stage deals with near-term Close Dates.
   If opportunities are still in Prospecting, Investigation, or another early stage but are due to close shortly, establish whether the Close Date is realistic or should be moved.
4. Review high-value late-stage opportunities.
   For deals in Negotiation or other advanced stages, check for evidence of a genuine Close Plan, stakeholder engagement, contract activity, and customer commitment.
5. Check the three pipeline quality metrics.
   Review Close Date Month Changes, Days Open, and Days Since Last Stage Change to identify opportunities that may be at risk of slipping from the forecast.
6. Investigate pipeline gaps and anomalies.
   Look for past-due opportunities, unusual year-end spikes, and significant drops in future pipeline. These patterns may indicate data-quality problems or a genuine need to increase pipeline generation.
7. Use pipeline coverage alongside sales targets.
   Compare the quality and value of your pipeline with the revenue target to establish whether you have sufficient coverage at the salesperson, team, region, company, or product level.

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Read The Full Article

For a deeper dive, including examples and detailed guidance, read the full blog:

The #1 Salesforce Pipeline Report to Use This Year

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Related Guidance

• Measure Sales Pipeline Size With These 4 Vital Dashboard Charts
• Master Your Pipeline Coverage with the Sales Manager Dashboard
• How To Track Whether Your Funnel Is Growing Or Shrinking
• 12 Must-Have Salesforce Dashboard Charts | With Video And Examples

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