Pipeline Hygiene: Why Your Forecast Is Lying

Your CRM is telling you that you will close $2.5M this quarter. Your bank account says you closed $400k.

Where is the gap? It is in the "Rotting Middle."

Sales Ops teams often focus on "New Leads" (getting them in) and "Closed Won/Lost" (getting them out). But they ignore the sticky, messy middle where 90% of deals go to die.

We call this Zero-Hygiene Selling.

The "Hope" Strategy vs The "Clean" Strategy

In a "Hope" Strategy (Standard):

• A deal stays in "Proposal Sent" for 3 months because the rep "feels good about it."
• Forecast is based on rep sentiment ("He really liked the demo!").
• The CRM is a graveyard of ghosted opportunities.

In a "Clean" Strategy (System-First):

• Deals have an Expiration Date per stage.
• Forecast is based on Behavioral Evidence (e.g., "Contract Redlined").
• The system kills deals, not the manager.

3 Systems to Fix Your Pipeline

1. The "Stale Deal" Automaton

Stop asking reps during the Monday Morning Meeting: "What's happening with Acme Corp?" Let the system ask.

Build this rule:

• IF Deal Stage = "Proposal Sent"
• AND Time in Stage > 14 Days
• AND Last Activity > 7 Days
• THEN: Move Deal to "Stalled / Nurture" (Automatically)

This is terrifying for sales reps. They want to hoard deals. But hoarding creates false forecasts. If a deal moves back to "Stalled," it comes out of the weighted pipeline. The truth hurts, but it saves your cash flow projections.

2. The "Upward-Only" Rule

A deal should never move backwards. If a prospect says, "Actually, we aren't ready, call us in 6 months," do not move them from "Negotiation" back to "Discovery."

Close them Lost. Reason: "Timing."

Why? Because your conversion rates need to reflect reality. If you keep recycling deals, your "Velocity" metric becomes useless. Close them Lost, put them in a dedicated "Re-engagement Pool," and let the zombie-lead system bring them back to life later.

3. Evidence-Based Entry Gates

Reps love to move deals to "90% - Verbal Commit." But "Verbal Commit" is not data. It is a feeling.

Change your CRM stages to require Evidence:

• Stage 1 Example: "Discovery" -> Exit Criteria: Pain Point Documented in Field X.
• Stage 3 Example: "Proposal" -> Exit Criteria: Decision Maker attended the call.
• Stage 4 Example: "Negotiation" -> Exit Criteria: Legal has successfully redlined the doc.

If the field isn't filled, the stage cannot change. The button is greyed out. Now, your forecast isn't an opinion. It is a calculated sum of verified steps.

Summary

A clean pipeline is smaller than a dirty one. This scares CEOs. They want to see the big $10M potential number.

But a clean, small pipeline is predictable. And in a scaling business, predictability is worth more than potential.

Trash the clutter. Trust the system.

DJC System is designed with all these in mind.