Demandgen · 2019-09-29
· 2440d
Pipeline Management Strategy: Prioritizing Next-Quarter Pipeline Over Rolling Forecasts
Dave Kellogg argues that startups should stop obsessing over annual pipeline coverage and instead focus on quarterly pipeline metrics, particularly next-quarter pipeline generation. He contends that marketing should ensure each quarter begins with 3x pipeline coverage and provides frameworks for tracking this-quarter, next-quarter, and all-quarters pipeline to enable accurate forecasting and course correction.
Metrics in this report
Average Sales Cycle Length
90days
example
Used in article examples
Forward-Four-Quarter Pipeline Coverage
2x to 4xmultiple
range
Sales targets across industry
Next-Quarter Pipeline Coverage Acceptable Minimum
1.5xmultiple
p50 threshold
By week 3 of current quarter
Next-Quarter Pipeline Surplus Slippage Rate
35%%
empirical
Of this-quarter surplus carrying to next-quarter
Quarter-Start Pipeline Coverage Target
3.0xmultiple
recommended
Quarterly pipeline to plan ratio