{"id":116491,"date":"2026-11-10T13:03:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T13:03:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glossary\/sales-pipeline\/"},"modified":"2026-11-10T13:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T13:03:44","slug":"sales-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/sales-pipeline\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A sales pipeline is a visual representation of your open sales opportunities, organized by the stage of the sales process each one is in.<\/p>\n\n

Picture a board with columns: “first contact”, “meeting”, “proposal sent”, “negotiation”. Each potential customer is a card that moves from column to column.<\/p>\n\n

At a glance, you know how many deals are in progress, how much they’re worth and where they get stuck.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The word pipeline<\/em> literally refers to a pipe, which is why it’s also used in IT and industry. Here we’re talking about the sales pipeline, the one that lives in your CRM<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

What is a sales pipeline and what is it for?<\/h2>\n\n

It’s the sales team’s working tool. It doesn’t measure how many people visit your website, but which specific opportunities exist, who is handling each one and what the next step is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

It tells you what to do today: who to call, which proposal to follow up on, which contract to close. It also lets you forecast revenue for the coming months with more than just gut feeling.<\/p>\n\n

And, above all, it helps you spot the stage where deals are lost and share out the work so that no opportunity gets forgotten.<\/p>\n\n

In a small business, it can be a spreadsheet or a board with cards. Once you have more than a few dozen opportunities, it’s usually managed in a CRM, especially if you sell to businesses (B2B<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

What are the stages of a sales pipeline?<\/h2>\n\n

Every company defines its own, but almost all follow a structure similar to this one:<\/p>\n\n

Stage<\/th>What happens<\/th>How email helps<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Prospecting<\/a><\/td>A prospect<\/a> is identified and first contact is made<\/td>A personalized first email or a well-segmented cold email<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Qualification<\/td>You check whether they have the need, the budget and the authority to decide<\/td>Useful content to gauge their interest: guides, case studies, a newsletter<\/td><\/tr>
Meeting or demo<\/td>The solution is presented, tailored to their case<\/td>Meeting confirmation and reminder, with the agenda<\/td><\/tr>
Proposal<\/td>An offer with pricing and terms is sent<\/td>Sending the proposal and a follow-up email<\/a> a few days later<\/td><\/tr>
Negotiation<\/td>Terms are adjusted and objections are addressed<\/td>Answers to questions, testimonials, comparisons<\/td><\/tr>
Close<\/td>The deal is won or lost<\/td>A welcome<\/a> email if it’s won; if it’s lost, a follow-up later on<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

What matters isn’t copying these stages, but making sure each one has a clear entry criterion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

For example: an opportunity moves to “proposal” when the customer has asked for a quote, not when the salesperson thinks they’re interested.<\/p>\n\n

\"Infographic:<\/figure>\n\n
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Make sure no opportunity goes without follow-up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automate the emails for each stage with Mailrelay and connect it to your CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Create a free account<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

Sales pipeline vs. sales funnel: what’s the difference?<\/h2>\n\n

They’re often used as synonyms, but they look at the process from different angles. The sales funnel<\/a> counts how many people<\/strong> move from one phase to the next, from the moment they discover you until they buy.<\/p>\n\n

The sales pipeline tracks each specific opportunity<\/strong>, with its value and its owner.<\/p>\n\n

In other words: the funnel is marketing’s snapshot, with volumes and conversion rates; the pipeline is sales’ to-do list.<\/p>\n\n

At the top of the funnel are the leads<\/a> who haven’t spoken to anyone yet, the result of your lead generation<\/a>. The pipeline begins when a lead becomes an opportunity.<\/p>\n\n

Along the way, the lead usually goes from MQL<\/a> (of interest to marketing) to SQL<\/a> (ready for sales). That’s when it enters the pipeline.<\/p>\n\n

How do you build a sales pipeline step by step?<\/h2>\n\n

If you’re starting from scratch, these steps give you a pipeline that works from the first week:<\/p>\n\n

    \n
  1. Describe how you sell today.<\/strong> Go over your last ten sales and note the steps that repeat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Define between four and seven stages<\/strong>, with an entry criterion for each one.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Choose where you’ll manage it.<\/strong> A spreadsheet is fine to start with; a CRM once the volume grows. If you don’t want to pay, check out these free CRM<\/a> options.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Load your open opportunities<\/strong> with their estimated value, their owner and the date of the next step.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Review it every week<\/strong> with the team: what has moved forward, what has been stalled for a while and what should be dropped.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    A pipeline full of dead opportunities is misleading. Marking a deal that isn’t going to happen as lost is also part of managing the pipeline well.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

    Which sales pipeline metrics should you measure?<\/h2>\n\n

    These five metrics give you a fairly complete picture:<\/p>\n\n

    Total value.<\/strong> The sum of the amounts of all open opportunities.<\/p>\n\n

    Weighted pipeline.<\/strong> The value of each opportunity multiplied by its probability of closing based on its stage. It’s a more realistic forecast than the gross value.<\/p>\n\n

    Conversion rate by stage.<\/strong> The percentage of opportunities that move from one stage to the next. It tells you where the process gets stuck.<\/p>\n\n

    Sales cycle length.<\/strong> The average number of days it takes an opportunity to close.<\/p>\n\n

    Sales velocity.<\/strong> It’s calculated by multiplying the number of opportunities by the average value and the close rate, and dividing the result by the cycle length. It shows how much money moves toward closing each day.<\/p>\n\n

    A simple example: an agency has 20 open opportunities with an average value of \u20ac3,000, closes 25% of them and takes 40 days on average.<\/p>\n\n

    Its velocity is 20 \u00d7 3,000 \u00d7 0.25 \/ 40 = \u20ac375 per day. If it manages to close 30%, that rises to \u20ac450 without needing any more opportunities.<\/p>\n\n

    These figures are your sales KPIs<\/a>. Together with customer acquisition cost<\/a> and customer lifetime value<\/a>, they tell you whether the business is profitable.<\/p>\n\n

    \"Infographic:<\/figure>\n\n

    Common mistakes when managing a pipeline<\/h2>\n\n