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RevOps

Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics to Skyrocket Your Deal Flow

Learn 9 key sales metrics for gaining customers. Boost revenue with insights on conversion rates, lead velocity, and more.

Superjoin

RevOps

RevOps

Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics to Skyrocket Your Deal Flow

Learn 9 key sales metrics for gaining customers. Boost revenue with insights on conversion rates, lead velocity, and more.

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Table of Contents

Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics
Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics
Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics

In the world of sales, success isn't just about closing a deal; it's about understanding the strategies and metrics that led to potential customer acquisition. Today, we need granular data and the right metrics to get an in-depth view of our sales processes.

Imagine you have an amazing sales professional team who have the skill to acquire potential customers and close deals as much as they can. Now, here’s a scenario where your company’s revenue isn't quite hitting the mark, or your sales dream team undergoes a shakeup. In times like these, what's your lifeline? What do you turn to for insights, for guidance, for that much-needed dose of clarity? It's not the memories or the notes - it's data!

In fact, with more businesses using platforms like Shopify for eCommerce, many companies connect Shopify to Google Sheets to track sales data in real time. Integrating Shopify with Google Sheets allows you to effortlessly monitor product sales, customer data, and key performance metrics, all within a single, easy-to-use spreadsheet. This type of data synchronization can give your sales pipeline a clearer perspective on where opportunities lie and where adjustments are needed.

A business with a professional sales team should always follow certain sales timelines and monitor them, analyze what went wrong, and how to rectify it the next time. 

This is how we can monitor where our opportunities have turned to actions and follow strategies to achieve sales success. And that’s where the sales pipeline comes into the picture.

What is a Sales Pipeline?

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of the sales process, illustrating the progress of potential customers (leads) through the different stages of conversion, ultimately leading to a sale. Each stage represents a specific hurdle that a lead needs to overcome before moving on to the next stage. 

Sales Pipeline Stages

There are 6 sales pipeline stages to which each lead will pass into. These stages will decide if the prospect will turn into a potential customer.

  • Prospecting

  • Qualification

  • Needs Analysis

  • Proposal/Quote

  • Negotiation

  • Close

6 Sales Pipeline Stages


By tracking leads through each stage of the pipeline, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your sales process.

How Does a Sales Pipeline Work?

A lead enters the sales pipeline at the prospecting stage, which is a stage to identify new potential customers. As the sales team qualifies leads and moves them through the different stages, some leads will be converted into paying customers, while others will be disqualified or stall out at a particular stage. It is either this or that, but sometimes, there are a few leads that remain between these two, and it might take time to decide which side they seem inclined toward.

Maximizing the number of conversions and reducing the time taken can be achieved by:

  • Identifying and qualifying leads effectively: Not all leads are created equal. By focusing on qualifying leads that are a good fit for your product or service, you can improve your conversion rates.

  • Nurturing leads through the sales process: Once you have qualified a lead, you need to nurture them through the sales process with valuable content and information.

  • Addressing bottlenecks: By tracking your sales pipeline metrics, you can identify stages where leads are getting stuck. Once you know where the bottlenecks are, you can take steps to address them and improve the flow of leads through the pipeline.

The sales game is all about turning prospects into customers. But how do you know if your sales efforts are working well? That's why it is important to track sales pipeline metrics.

These metrics offer a window into the health of your sales funnel, revealing how effectively you're moving leads through each stage. 

Sales - GIF


By keeping a close eye on Sales pipeline metrics, you can pinpoint areas for improvement and fine-tune your sales strategy for maximum impact.

This helps organizations stay on track toward achieving their goals. So, buckle up and get ready to transform your sales pipeline into a deal-closing machine! 

Let’s look into the top 9 Sales Pipeline metrics every business should track for improving sales effectiveness.

Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics to Track

  1. Conversion Rate

It is proof of the organization's sales efficiency. It showcases the percentage of opportunities for closed deals. By continuously monitoring this percentage value, businesses can identify bottlenecks in their process and fine-tune their conversion strategies. Top 3 reasons why an organization should work on this metric,

  1. Evaluates the Success

  2. Funnel Optimization

  3. Distribution of Resource

Formula to calculate the Conversion Rate

Sales Pipeline Conversion Rate = (Total number of opportunities converted / Total leads that entered the sales pipeline) * 100

The average industry benchmark percentage for a visitor-to-lead conversion is 7%. Source: UserPilot

Who Owns the Metric

The Sales Development team lead or Sales coach is responsible for this metric calculation.

Tracking Frequency

A period should be defined to track the result. Generally, the period varies from industry to industry, and it could start from a month to a quarter or half yearly or even a year. The recommendation is to track every month.

Superjoin Calculator

Superjoin offers you a calculator that helps to calculate the conversion rate accurately. You can also download this conversion rate calculation template.

  1. Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio

Effective Lead Generation is a Beacon lead-to-opportunity ratio. This metric illuminates the percentage of leads successfully converting into qualified opportunities. It also gives an insight into the effectiveness of lead generation efforts. The 3 stages of a lead lifecycle are,

  1. Marketing Qualified Leads - MQL

  2. Sales Ready Leads - SRL

  3. Sales Qualified Leads - SQL

It is vital to convert MQL to SQL. This conversion helps in refining the marketing strategy and identifies the gap. Superjoin offers a calculator to convert the MQL to SQL.

Formula to calculate the Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio

Lead to opportunity conversion rate = (leads converted into opportunities / total leads) * 100

The average industry benchmark percentage for lead-to-opportunity conversion is 13%. Source: Salesforce
The average B2B Lead opportunity conversion rate across industries lies between 13%- 18%. Source:
LinkedIn

Who Owns the Metric

The Sales Development team lead is responsible for this metric calculation.

Tracking Frequency

It is recommended that Lead-to-Opportunity be tracked every quarter. The industry standard is to track once in 84 days.

  1. Pipeline Velocity

It is one of the crucial metrics. It predicts the future budget needs based on the current sales pipeline. Grasping the pace at which deals pass through each stage of the pipeline, businesses decide.

Formula to calculate the Pipeline Velocity

Pipeline Velocity = (Qualified Opportunities * Average Deal Size * Win Rate) / (Sales Cycle Length)

Who Owns the Metric

The responsibility of improving the Sales Pipeline Velocity is the responsibility of the Sales Operations team.

Tracking Frequency

Usually, businesses calculate it every month to track the speed of deal progress. However, for B2B businesses, it is recommended to calculate and track pipeline velocity every quarter or every half yearly. Reference periods of less than 3 months will be volatile, and it will be difficult to get clear trends.

Superjoin Calculator

Pipeline Velocity is one of the important metrics for evaluating and enhancing sales efficiency. This metric can help any organization to understand the speed at which it is progressing, helps in data-driven decisions, and identifies bottlenecks. Superjoin consists of a calculator to calculate Pipeline Velocity.

  1. Success Percentage

The success percentage of the businesses gauges their effectiveness in successfully closing deals from the total opportunities. This metric helps to adjust their strategies to enhance their winning percentage. This helps in assessing the market position.

Formula to calculate the Success Percentage

Sales Percentage = (Sales of an individual item / Total sales of the business) * 100

Sales Growth Percentage = (Sales Increase / Total Sales from Previous) * 100

This SaaS growth rate calculator from Superjoin streamlines the process of calculating the Success percentage. Try now for Free

Who Owns the Metric

Sales managers and the Head of the department calculate the success percentage.

Tracking Frequency

It depends on the goals of each organization, and there are no rules that are hard or fast.

  1. Deal Size

The deal size provides insights into the value of closed deals. This metric enriches the businesses to anticipate their revenue streams and allocate additional resources effectively. This metric is predominantly used for forecasting revenue.

Formula to calculate the Deal Size

Average Deal Size = Total Value of Deals / Total Count of Deals

Who Owns the Metric

The Sales Operations team usually calculates the average deal size.

Tracking Frequency

The average deal size is calculated monthly. To simplify the process of calculation every month, Superjoin offers you a best-in-class free Deal Size Calculator.

  1. Sales Cycle Duration

The duration of the sales cycle has an impact on the sales velocity. The insight businesses arrive at by examining the duration at which each deal progresses through the pipeline helps them to identify opportunities to streamline their sales process and accelerate deal closures.

Formula to calculate the Sales Cycle Duration

Average Sales Cycle Length = Total # of Days to Close All Deals / Total Number Of Deals

To calculate the Average Sales Cycle Duration, add the total number of days it took to close all the sales and divide by the total number of deals.

Who Owns the Metric

Sales Leadership owns this metric and they are responsible for bringing this value as low as possible.

The average industry standard benchmark value is 102 days. Source: Shnoco

Tracking Frequency

It is essential to track every month.

  1. Sales Forecast Accuracy

Sales forecast accuracy is a safeguard against revenue fluctuations by evaluating the precision of revenue predictions compared to actual results. By improving the accuracy of sales forecasts, businesses can minimize revenue uncertainties and make more informed strategic decisions.

Formula to calculate the Sales Forecast Accuracy

There are 3 ways in which Sales forecasts can be calculated.

  • Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE)

It is the widely used method for calculating sales forecast accuracy. It is calculated by taking the difference between your forecast and the actual value and then dividing that difference by the actual value.

  • Mean Absolute Error (MAE)

It is another way to measure the accuracy. It is calculated by taking the difference between your forecast and the actual value and then dividing that difference by the square root of your sample size.

  • Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE)

It is the square root of MAE. RMSE is usually considered a better indicator than MAPE or MAE because it can be used to compare models with vastly different lengths. MAPE and MAE values depend on actual value.

Mix accuracy of 80% is generally considered ‘world-class’. Source: LinkedIn

Who Owns the Metric

The sales manager is responsible for accurate sales forecasting. Sales representatives are the ones who work closely with customers to meet forecasts.

Tracking Frequency

This KPI is measured at the end of every week, every month, and every quarter.

  1. Sales Lead Conversion Rate

This metric measures the percentage of leads that are converted into qualified opportunities.

Formula to calculate the Sales Lead Conversion Rate

Sales conversion rate = (Total number of sales / Total qualified leads) * 100

Who Owns the Metric

The marketing Team is responsible for qualified lead generation, and the sales team is primary responsible for converting these leads.

Tracking Frequency

This KPI is measured at the end of every week, every month, and every quarter.

  1. Win Rates by Source

This metric tracks your win rate for leads generated from different sources (e.g., marketing campaigns and referrals). This information can be used to optimize the strategy and understand the relevance of the deal size.

Formula to calculate the Win Rates by Source

Win Rate = (Number of closed-won deals / Number of opportunities) x 100

Here is the simple calculator from Superjoin that can easily arrive at the report.

Who Owns the Metric

The Operations team of the Marketing and Sales department owns this metric.

Tracking Frequency

It is recommended that the Win Rates be calculated by Source every quarter.

By tracking these metrics, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your sales pipeline's health and identify areas for improvement.

Superjoin Calculators

Superjoin offers 50+ Free Comprehensive RevOps, SalesOps and Marketing metrics Calculators that can help you in preparing the metrics easily. Each of these calculators can also be downloaded and used within your Spreadsheet templates.

Free Tools to Track Sales Pipeline Metrics with Templates

1. HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template

HubSpot offers free CRM software with built-in sales pipeline tracking features. Organizations can also sign up for a free account and use hundreds of customizable sales pipeline templates. Highlights of HubSpot templates are:

  • The CRM spreadsheet template is simple to download and use in an Excel workbook or Google Sheets. Click here to download the best template of 2024.

  • Fill in the required details in the Organizations, Contacts, Opportunities, and Interactions tabs.

  • Track sales data is present on the dashboard sheet.

  • Keep all relevant data up to date for better results.


HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template - 1



HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template - 2



HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template - 3

2. Excel Spreadsheet Template

Microsoft offers this Excel spreadsheet application, which allows organizations to create simple yet powerful spreadsheets. The columns contain values for each sales pipeline stage, such as prospecting, qualification, proposal, closed-won, and closed-lost, and rows for individual deals can produce excellent insight. A spreadsheet also allows organizations to include various metrics like deal size, probability of closing, and number of days in a particular stage. 

Methods to download the free template

  • Open Microsoft Excel

  • Click on More Templates

  • Search for Sales Pipeline

  • Click to open the template and use it.

Sales tenplate in Excel


  • You can also download 2024's best seven templates free Microsoft templates.

Click to download your Free templates!

3. Google Sheets Template

Like Microsoft Excel templates, Google Sheets offers various collaborative features, making it ideal for teams. Organizations have two different options.

  1. They can pick the pre-made templates within Google Sheets. It has options to create your own customized one.

  2. Use the Superjoin data connector from the Marketplace.

Superjoin is an advanced spreadsheet automation connector that caters to both low-code and no-code users. It provides a wide array of built-in features, making it a premium solution for automating tasks.

Google Workspace Marketplace



Superjoin Home page


This industry-ready connector can create wonders and magic in raw data. Analysis is made quicker and better. It is easy to obtain all kinds of metrics. Superjoin also has built-in calculators that can help you in calculating the metric information. Leveraging the power of Google Sheets and the features of Superjoin, businesses can create well-aligned customized dashboards that offer comprehensive insights. SalesOps and RevOps goals can be achieved effortlessly.

Book your free Demo and Try Superjoin for Free!

4. Trello

Trello is a famous project management tool utilized to track sales pipelines. Trello board allows you to create a list for each stage and cards for individual deals. Trello provides options to add labels for deal size and priority. The objective of Trello is to collaborate on all the tasks, every team member, and all the tools used within the organization. Trello helps to view every work in a whole new way. Trello board offers a wide range of templates. 

CRM Pipeline Template” and “A CRM & Sales Pipeline by Crmble” are the top-of-the-pick templates.

5. Airtable Base

Airtable is a flexible database tool that allows you to create customized bases for various purposes. This tool offers many pre-built templates. Airtable also offers an AI-powered create your template from scratch feature. It has more than 350 in-built templates under various categories. They offer one Sales Pipeline Template to track, analyze, and prioritize your sales target. The template has the option to customize to fit your specific sales process and metrics.

Methods to select a sales pipeline management tool

Sales pipeline management aims to optimize the flow of leads through the pipeline, maximizing the number of conversions and minimizing the time it takes to close deals.

User Interface

The software (paid or free) should be easy to understand, navigate and use. An intuitive interface ensures quick adaptation to the tool. It thereby maximizes its usage and benefits.

Lead Generation

Search for a tool that can assist the team in tracking leads through your company's sales funnel. It should allow the team to manage and monitor potential opportunities.

Lead Tracking

Like lead generation, lead tracking is also an essential feature of the software. It should be capable of tracking leads at all stages of the sales. This feature aids in understanding the stage where potential deals stand and what actions are needed to move them forward.

Sales Forecasting

The objective behind all these tools is to track the sales pipeline. But it should not just track the data. It should also be capable of predicting and forecasting. Accurate forecasts can help the organization plan resources, set goals, and make informed decisions.

Sales Automation

To match the market demand, automation in these tools is paramount. These automation features streamline repetitive tasks, such as follow-ups, reminders, and notifications. Automation improves efficiency and reduces the team's time and effort. Thereby, the team can focus on other areas.

Customer Mapping

Having a good database isn’t sufficient. However, visualizing the connections between those contacts, accounts, and deals within the pipeline is mandatory. These tools should understand the depth and breadth of buyer-seller relationships. 

Integrations

The organization is moving towards such software to reduce the work and make things quicker. So, the chosen tools should easily integrate with your existing CRM and all other essential business software used within. Seamless integration ensures data consistency and reduces manual data entry.

Activity Reporting

A comprehensive report helps to analyze the team’s performance, identify bottlenecks, and optimize the process wherever necessary. If the tool has options to generate customized and actionable reports, then it is a success for the organization.

Remember, customization, user-friendliness, and alignment with your specific sales process are also critical factors to consider when evaluating sales pipeline management tools. Choose a tool that best suits your team's needs and workflow.

In Conclusion

Effective sales pipeline management is the cornerstone of business success, and monitoring these top 9 sales pipeline metrics is foremost to navigating the ever-changing currents of the market. By vigilantly tracking and analyzing these metrics, businesses can chart a course toward sustainable growth and triumph in today's competitive landscape.

In the world of sales, success isn't just about closing a deal; it's about understanding the strategies and metrics that led to potential customer acquisition. Today, we need granular data and the right metrics to get an in-depth view of our sales processes.

Imagine you have an amazing sales professional team who have the skill to acquire potential customers and close deals as much as they can. Now, here’s a scenario where your company’s revenue isn't quite hitting the mark, or your sales dream team undergoes a shakeup. In times like these, what's your lifeline? What do you turn to for insights, for guidance, for that much-needed dose of clarity? It's not the memories or the notes - it's data!

In fact, with more businesses using platforms like Shopify for eCommerce, many companies connect Shopify to Google Sheets to track sales data in real time. Integrating Shopify with Google Sheets allows you to effortlessly monitor product sales, customer data, and key performance metrics, all within a single, easy-to-use spreadsheet. This type of data synchronization can give your sales pipeline a clearer perspective on where opportunities lie and where adjustments are needed.

A business with a professional sales team should always follow certain sales timelines and monitor them, analyze what went wrong, and how to rectify it the next time. 

This is how we can monitor where our opportunities have turned to actions and follow strategies to achieve sales success. And that’s where the sales pipeline comes into the picture.

What is a Sales Pipeline?

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of the sales process, illustrating the progress of potential customers (leads) through the different stages of conversion, ultimately leading to a sale. Each stage represents a specific hurdle that a lead needs to overcome before moving on to the next stage. 

Sales Pipeline Stages

There are 6 sales pipeline stages to which each lead will pass into. These stages will decide if the prospect will turn into a potential customer.

  • Prospecting

  • Qualification

  • Needs Analysis

  • Proposal/Quote

  • Negotiation

  • Close

6 Sales Pipeline Stages


By tracking leads through each stage of the pipeline, you can gain valuable insights into the effectiveness of your sales process.

How Does a Sales Pipeline Work?

A lead enters the sales pipeline at the prospecting stage, which is a stage to identify new potential customers. As the sales team qualifies leads and moves them through the different stages, some leads will be converted into paying customers, while others will be disqualified or stall out at a particular stage. It is either this or that, but sometimes, there are a few leads that remain between these two, and it might take time to decide which side they seem inclined toward.

Maximizing the number of conversions and reducing the time taken can be achieved by:

  • Identifying and qualifying leads effectively: Not all leads are created equal. By focusing on qualifying leads that are a good fit for your product or service, you can improve your conversion rates.

  • Nurturing leads through the sales process: Once you have qualified a lead, you need to nurture them through the sales process with valuable content and information.

  • Addressing bottlenecks: By tracking your sales pipeline metrics, you can identify stages where leads are getting stuck. Once you know where the bottlenecks are, you can take steps to address them and improve the flow of leads through the pipeline.

The sales game is all about turning prospects into customers. But how do you know if your sales efforts are working well? That's why it is important to track sales pipeline metrics.

These metrics offer a window into the health of your sales funnel, revealing how effectively you're moving leads through each stage. 

Sales - GIF


By keeping a close eye on Sales pipeline metrics, you can pinpoint areas for improvement and fine-tune your sales strategy for maximum impact.

This helps organizations stay on track toward achieving their goals. So, buckle up and get ready to transform your sales pipeline into a deal-closing machine! 

Let’s look into the top 9 Sales Pipeline metrics every business should track for improving sales effectiveness.

Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics to Track

  1. Conversion Rate

It is proof of the organization's sales efficiency. It showcases the percentage of opportunities for closed deals. By continuously monitoring this percentage value, businesses can identify bottlenecks in their process and fine-tune their conversion strategies. Top 3 reasons why an organization should work on this metric,

  1. Evaluates the Success

  2. Funnel Optimization

  3. Distribution of Resource

Formula to calculate the Conversion Rate

Sales Pipeline Conversion Rate = (Total number of opportunities converted / Total leads that entered the sales pipeline) * 100

The average industry benchmark percentage for a visitor-to-lead conversion is 7%. Source: UserPilot

Who Owns the Metric

The Sales Development team lead or Sales coach is responsible for this metric calculation.

Tracking Frequency

A period should be defined to track the result. Generally, the period varies from industry to industry, and it could start from a month to a quarter or half yearly or even a year. The recommendation is to track every month.

Superjoin Calculator

Superjoin offers you a calculator that helps to calculate the conversion rate accurately. You can also download this conversion rate calculation template.

  1. Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio

Effective Lead Generation is a Beacon lead-to-opportunity ratio. This metric illuminates the percentage of leads successfully converting into qualified opportunities. It also gives an insight into the effectiveness of lead generation efforts. The 3 stages of a lead lifecycle are,

  1. Marketing Qualified Leads - MQL

  2. Sales Ready Leads - SRL

  3. Sales Qualified Leads - SQL

It is vital to convert MQL to SQL. This conversion helps in refining the marketing strategy and identifies the gap. Superjoin offers a calculator to convert the MQL to SQL.

Formula to calculate the Lead-to-Opportunity Ratio

Lead to opportunity conversion rate = (leads converted into opportunities / total leads) * 100

The average industry benchmark percentage for lead-to-opportunity conversion is 13%. Source: Salesforce
The average B2B Lead opportunity conversion rate across industries lies between 13%- 18%. Source:
LinkedIn

Who Owns the Metric

The Sales Development team lead is responsible for this metric calculation.

Tracking Frequency

It is recommended that Lead-to-Opportunity be tracked every quarter. The industry standard is to track once in 84 days.

  1. Pipeline Velocity

It is one of the crucial metrics. It predicts the future budget needs based on the current sales pipeline. Grasping the pace at which deals pass through each stage of the pipeline, businesses decide.

Formula to calculate the Pipeline Velocity

Pipeline Velocity = (Qualified Opportunities * Average Deal Size * Win Rate) / (Sales Cycle Length)

Who Owns the Metric

The responsibility of improving the Sales Pipeline Velocity is the responsibility of the Sales Operations team.

Tracking Frequency

Usually, businesses calculate it every month to track the speed of deal progress. However, for B2B businesses, it is recommended to calculate and track pipeline velocity every quarter or every half yearly. Reference periods of less than 3 months will be volatile, and it will be difficult to get clear trends.

Superjoin Calculator

Pipeline Velocity is one of the important metrics for evaluating and enhancing sales efficiency. This metric can help any organization to understand the speed at which it is progressing, helps in data-driven decisions, and identifies bottlenecks. Superjoin consists of a calculator to calculate Pipeline Velocity.

  1. Success Percentage

The success percentage of the businesses gauges their effectiveness in successfully closing deals from the total opportunities. This metric helps to adjust their strategies to enhance their winning percentage. This helps in assessing the market position.

Formula to calculate the Success Percentage

Sales Percentage = (Sales of an individual item / Total sales of the business) * 100

Sales Growth Percentage = (Sales Increase / Total Sales from Previous) * 100

This SaaS growth rate calculator from Superjoin streamlines the process of calculating the Success percentage. Try now for Free

Who Owns the Metric

Sales managers and the Head of the department calculate the success percentage.

Tracking Frequency

It depends on the goals of each organization, and there are no rules that are hard or fast.

  1. Deal Size

The deal size provides insights into the value of closed deals. This metric enriches the businesses to anticipate their revenue streams and allocate additional resources effectively. This metric is predominantly used for forecasting revenue.

Formula to calculate the Deal Size

Average Deal Size = Total Value of Deals / Total Count of Deals

Who Owns the Metric

The Sales Operations team usually calculates the average deal size.

Tracking Frequency

The average deal size is calculated monthly. To simplify the process of calculation every month, Superjoin offers you a best-in-class free Deal Size Calculator.

  1. Sales Cycle Duration

The duration of the sales cycle has an impact on the sales velocity. The insight businesses arrive at by examining the duration at which each deal progresses through the pipeline helps them to identify opportunities to streamline their sales process and accelerate deal closures.

Formula to calculate the Sales Cycle Duration

Average Sales Cycle Length = Total # of Days to Close All Deals / Total Number Of Deals

To calculate the Average Sales Cycle Duration, add the total number of days it took to close all the sales and divide by the total number of deals.

Who Owns the Metric

Sales Leadership owns this metric and they are responsible for bringing this value as low as possible.

The average industry standard benchmark value is 102 days. Source: Shnoco

Tracking Frequency

It is essential to track every month.

  1. Sales Forecast Accuracy

Sales forecast accuracy is a safeguard against revenue fluctuations by evaluating the precision of revenue predictions compared to actual results. By improving the accuracy of sales forecasts, businesses can minimize revenue uncertainties and make more informed strategic decisions.

Formula to calculate the Sales Forecast Accuracy

There are 3 ways in which Sales forecasts can be calculated.

  • Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE)

It is the widely used method for calculating sales forecast accuracy. It is calculated by taking the difference between your forecast and the actual value and then dividing that difference by the actual value.

  • Mean Absolute Error (MAE)

It is another way to measure the accuracy. It is calculated by taking the difference between your forecast and the actual value and then dividing that difference by the square root of your sample size.

  • Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE)

It is the square root of MAE. RMSE is usually considered a better indicator than MAPE or MAE because it can be used to compare models with vastly different lengths. MAPE and MAE values depend on actual value.

Mix accuracy of 80% is generally considered ‘world-class’. Source: LinkedIn

Who Owns the Metric

The sales manager is responsible for accurate sales forecasting. Sales representatives are the ones who work closely with customers to meet forecasts.

Tracking Frequency

This KPI is measured at the end of every week, every month, and every quarter.

  1. Sales Lead Conversion Rate

This metric measures the percentage of leads that are converted into qualified opportunities.

Formula to calculate the Sales Lead Conversion Rate

Sales conversion rate = (Total number of sales / Total qualified leads) * 100

Who Owns the Metric

The marketing Team is responsible for qualified lead generation, and the sales team is primary responsible for converting these leads.

Tracking Frequency

This KPI is measured at the end of every week, every month, and every quarter.

  1. Win Rates by Source

This metric tracks your win rate for leads generated from different sources (e.g., marketing campaigns and referrals). This information can be used to optimize the strategy and understand the relevance of the deal size.

Formula to calculate the Win Rates by Source

Win Rate = (Number of closed-won deals / Number of opportunities) x 100

Here is the simple calculator from Superjoin that can easily arrive at the report.

Who Owns the Metric

The Operations team of the Marketing and Sales department owns this metric.

Tracking Frequency

It is recommended that the Win Rates be calculated by Source every quarter.

By tracking these metrics, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your sales pipeline's health and identify areas for improvement.

Superjoin Calculators

Superjoin offers 50+ Free Comprehensive RevOps, SalesOps and Marketing metrics Calculators that can help you in preparing the metrics easily. Each of these calculators can also be downloaded and used within your Spreadsheet templates.

Free Tools to Track Sales Pipeline Metrics with Templates

1. HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template

HubSpot offers free CRM software with built-in sales pipeline tracking features. Organizations can also sign up for a free account and use hundreds of customizable sales pipeline templates. Highlights of HubSpot templates are:

  • The CRM spreadsheet template is simple to download and use in an Excel workbook or Google Sheets. Click here to download the best template of 2024.

  • Fill in the required details in the Organizations, Contacts, Opportunities, and Interactions tabs.

  • Track sales data is present on the dashboard sheet.

  • Keep all relevant data up to date for better results.


HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template - 1



HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template - 2



HubSpot Sales Pipeline Template - 3

2. Excel Spreadsheet Template

Microsoft offers this Excel spreadsheet application, which allows organizations to create simple yet powerful spreadsheets. The columns contain values for each sales pipeline stage, such as prospecting, qualification, proposal, closed-won, and closed-lost, and rows for individual deals can produce excellent insight. A spreadsheet also allows organizations to include various metrics like deal size, probability of closing, and number of days in a particular stage. 

Methods to download the free template

  • Open Microsoft Excel

  • Click on More Templates

  • Search for Sales Pipeline

  • Click to open the template and use it.

Sales tenplate in Excel


  • You can also download 2024's best seven templates free Microsoft templates.

Click to download your Free templates!

3. Google Sheets Template

Like Microsoft Excel templates, Google Sheets offers various collaborative features, making it ideal for teams. Organizations have two different options.

  1. They can pick the pre-made templates within Google Sheets. It has options to create your own customized one.

  2. Use the Superjoin data connector from the Marketplace.

Superjoin is an advanced spreadsheet automation connector that caters to both low-code and no-code users. It provides a wide array of built-in features, making it a premium solution for automating tasks.

Google Workspace Marketplace



Superjoin Home page


This industry-ready connector can create wonders and magic in raw data. Analysis is made quicker and better. It is easy to obtain all kinds of metrics. Superjoin also has built-in calculators that can help you in calculating the metric information. Leveraging the power of Google Sheets and the features of Superjoin, businesses can create well-aligned customized dashboards that offer comprehensive insights. SalesOps and RevOps goals can be achieved effortlessly.

Book your free Demo and Try Superjoin for Free!

4. Trello

Trello is a famous project management tool utilized to track sales pipelines. Trello board allows you to create a list for each stage and cards for individual deals. Trello provides options to add labels for deal size and priority. The objective of Trello is to collaborate on all the tasks, every team member, and all the tools used within the organization. Trello helps to view every work in a whole new way. Trello board offers a wide range of templates. 

CRM Pipeline Template” and “A CRM & Sales Pipeline by Crmble” are the top-of-the-pick templates.

5. Airtable Base

Airtable is a flexible database tool that allows you to create customized bases for various purposes. This tool offers many pre-built templates. Airtable also offers an AI-powered create your template from scratch feature. It has more than 350 in-built templates under various categories. They offer one Sales Pipeline Template to track, analyze, and prioritize your sales target. The template has the option to customize to fit your specific sales process and metrics.

Methods to select a sales pipeline management tool

Sales pipeline management aims to optimize the flow of leads through the pipeline, maximizing the number of conversions and minimizing the time it takes to close deals.

User Interface

The software (paid or free) should be easy to understand, navigate and use. An intuitive interface ensures quick adaptation to the tool. It thereby maximizes its usage and benefits.

Lead Generation

Search for a tool that can assist the team in tracking leads through your company's sales funnel. It should allow the team to manage and monitor potential opportunities.

Lead Tracking

Like lead generation, lead tracking is also an essential feature of the software. It should be capable of tracking leads at all stages of the sales. This feature aids in understanding the stage where potential deals stand and what actions are needed to move them forward.

Sales Forecasting

The objective behind all these tools is to track the sales pipeline. But it should not just track the data. It should also be capable of predicting and forecasting. Accurate forecasts can help the organization plan resources, set goals, and make informed decisions.

Sales Automation

To match the market demand, automation in these tools is paramount. These automation features streamline repetitive tasks, such as follow-ups, reminders, and notifications. Automation improves efficiency and reduces the team's time and effort. Thereby, the team can focus on other areas.

Customer Mapping

Having a good database isn’t sufficient. However, visualizing the connections between those contacts, accounts, and deals within the pipeline is mandatory. These tools should understand the depth and breadth of buyer-seller relationships. 

Integrations

The organization is moving towards such software to reduce the work and make things quicker. So, the chosen tools should easily integrate with your existing CRM and all other essential business software used within. Seamless integration ensures data consistency and reduces manual data entry.

Activity Reporting

A comprehensive report helps to analyze the team’s performance, identify bottlenecks, and optimize the process wherever necessary. If the tool has options to generate customized and actionable reports, then it is a success for the organization.

Remember, customization, user-friendliness, and alignment with your specific sales process are also critical factors to consider when evaluating sales pipeline management tools. Choose a tool that best suits your team's needs and workflow.

In Conclusion

Effective sales pipeline management is the cornerstone of business success, and monitoring these top 9 sales pipeline metrics is foremost to navigating the ever-changing currents of the market. By vigilantly tracking and analyzing these metrics, businesses can chart a course toward sustainable growth and triumph in today's competitive landscape.

FAQs

What is a sales pipeline?

What is a sales pipeline?

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How often should sales pipeline metrics be tracked?

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What key metrics should be monitored in a sales pipeline?

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Top 9 Sales Pipeline Metrics to Skyrocket Your Deal Flow

Learn 9 key sales metrics for gaining customers. Boost revenue with insights on conversion rates, lead velocity, and more.