A sales pipeline is the staged view of all potential deals currently moving through a company's sales process. Each deal is assigned to a stage (Lead, Qualified, Discovery, Proposal, Negotiation, Closed-Won/Closed-Lost) and weighted by close probability. The pipeline is used to forecast revenue, evaluate sales rep productivity, identify bottlenecks in deal progression, and drive sales-team capacity planning. It's the most-watched operational view in any sales-led B2B company.
The standard pipeline stages:
| Stage | What it means | Typical close probability |
|---|---|---|
| Lead / MQL | Marketing-qualified inbound, not yet contacted | 5-10% |
| SQL / Discovery | Qualified by sales, discovery call scheduled | 10-20% |
| Demo / Solution | Product demo comple... |