Questions About Coverage Quality
Coverage is an input, never an answer. Ask what the ratio is built from before deciding it is adequate.
- What is our coverage against the goal, and how much of it sits in the top three deals? - Which segments and reps hold the coverage, and do their historical win rates support it? - How does the average deal size in the pipeline compare with the average closed-won deal?
That last question matters more than it looks. The gap can be wide. A pipeline carrying an $80,000 average deal size against $40,000 average closed-won deals is prescribing twice the coverage the deals will actually deliver. Coverage of 3x to 5x is the standard range and most ORM customers sit near 3.5x, but a ratio built on inflated amounts is a ratio built on nothing. Pipeline coverage and the 3x pipeline coverage rule is wrong go deeper on the composition problem.
Questions About Aging
- Which opportunities have had no change to stage, close date, or amount in the last ninety days? - What are we still carrying that has not been touched in twelve months? - For each aged deal, what is the specific event that would restart it?
ORM applies a twelve-month rule for most customers, and 10% or more of a typical pipeline crosses that line. ORM also groups opportunities with a machine learning model and predicts a close curve for each group. Those curves span one to eighty weeks, with most of the expectation landing before week twelve. A deal sitting well past its group's curve is not slow. It is finished.
Questions About Stage Integrity
- What evidence moved this deal into its current stage? - Which deals have skipped a stage, and what was missed? - How many opportunities carry a close date inside the period purely because the date was never updated?
ORM data shows that roughly 20% of the pipeline carrying in-quarter close dates on day one of the quarter actually closes in that quarter. The other 80% either slips or dies, so treat day-one close dates as claims that need testing.
Questions About What Comes Next
End forward, not backward. Ask how much new pipeline the rep will create this period, where it comes from, and which accounts are on the list. A book that reviews well today and generates nothing this month fails next quarter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should you ask in a pipeline review?
Ask what percentage of the book has moved in the last thirty days, which deals have not been touched in a year, how much of the coverage sits in the top three opportunities, and how much new pipeline the rep will create before the period closes.
How is a pipeline review question different from a forecast call question?
Forecast call questions test individual deals in the current period. Pipeline review questions test the shape of the whole book, including deals that will close next quarter and deals that should be removed entirely.
How do you ask about aged pipeline without killing rep morale?
Make it a rule rather than a judgment. Set a written aging threshold, apply it to every rep identically, and treat closing out a dead deal as a positive action rather than a loss of pipeline.
Should reps prepare answers in advance?
Yes. The coverage number, the aging list, and the concentration figures should come from a report the rep reviews before the meeting. The meeting is for the deals where the numbers look wrong.
Put these metrics to work
ORM builds custom revenue forecast models that turn concepts like pipeline review questions into prescriptive action for your team.
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