[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":49},["ShallowReactive",2],{"glossary-pipeline":3},{"slug":4,"path":5,"title":6,"description":7,"term":8,"wordCount":9,"hasExample":10,"inboundLinks":11,"isPublished":10,"html":12,"data":13,"related":28,"lessons":44},"pipeline","/glossary/pipeline","What Is a Sales Pipeline? Definition and How It Works","A sales pipeline is the visible, stage-by-stage path a lead travels from first contact to a closed deal. SDRs and BDRs fill the top of it with qualified meetings; the pipeline is how a team sees what's coming and forecasts revenue.","Pipeline",267,true,58,"\u003Cp>A sales pipeline is the route a \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/lead/\">lead\u003C/a> travels from first contact to a closed deal, broken into visible stages. In most \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/crm/\">CRMs\u003C/a>, a pipeline is a list of opportunities with a stage, a value, and a date — from "new" to "qualified" to "proposal" to "won." The \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/sdr/\">SDR\u003C/a> or \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/bdr/\">BDR\u003C/a> fills the top of the pipeline with \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/qualified-meeting/\">qualified meetings\u003C/a>; the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/account-executive/\">account executive\u003C/a> moves them down it. The pipeline is the team's answer to the two questions that decide everything: what's coming, and how much of it will close.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"in-plain-english\">In plain English\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Think of the pipeline as a funnel you can look at. A new \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/lead/\">lead\u003C/a> enters the top; each stage filters out the ones that aren't real; the ones that survive become customers. The number of deals in the pipeline, times their value, times your \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/win-rate/\">win rate\u003C/a>, is roughly your future revenue. That is why a healthy pipeline matters more than any single deal.\u003C/p>\n\u003Ch2 id=\"why-it-matters-to-you\">Why it matters to you\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>As an SDR, your whole job is to keep the top of the pipeline full — every \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/qualified-meeting/\">qualified meeting\u003C/a> you book is one more lead that didn't go cold. As you move up, you'll be measured on the \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/funnel/\">funnel\u003C/a> you own, not the one you pass on. When a team says "the pipeline is dry," it means nobody is feeding \u003Ca href=\"/glossary/prospecting/\">prospecting\u003C/a> or follow-up — and that is the signal to either grind harder or question the role. The pipeline is the honest scoreboard of a sales org.\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>For knowing when a deal is not worth the effort, see \u003Ca href=\"/academy/account-executive/when-to-walk-away-from-a-deal/\">When to Walk Away From a Deal\u003C/a>.\u003C/p>\n",{"title":6,"description":7,"primaryQuery":14,"term":8,"publishedAt":15,"author":16,"reviewedAt":17,"example":18,"relatedTerms":19,"lessons":25},"what is a sales pipeline","2026-09-10","closers","2026-09-24","\"Our pipeline is healthy this month — forty qualified meetings booked, and twelve of them look ready to close.\"",[20,21,22,23,24],"funnel","lead","qualified-meeting","prospecting","crm",[26,27],"/academy/sdr/what-does-an-sdr-do","/academy/sdr/inside-vs-outside-sales",[29,32,35,38,41],{"slug":20,"path":30,"title":31},"/glossary/funnel","What Is a Sales Funnel? Definition and Stages",{"slug":21,"path":33,"title":34},"/glossary/lead","What Is a Lead in Sales? Definition and Types",{"slug":22,"path":36,"title":37},"/glossary/qualified-meeting","What Is a Qualified Meeting in Sales? Definition",{"slug":23,"path":39,"title":40},"/glossary/prospecting","What Is Prospecting in Sales? Definition and How It Works",{"slug":24,"path":42,"title":43},"/glossary/crm","What Is a CRM? Customer Relationship Management Explained",[45,47],{"path":26,"title":46},"What Does an SDR Do? The Real Job, Without the Hype",{"path":27,"title":48},"Inside vs Outside Sales: What's the Real Difference",1792888524019]