The First Red Flags of a Broken Sales Pipeline

A clean and accurate sales pipeline is key to a growing business. 

But what happens when that pipeline gets “poopy” — polluted with bad leads and inaccurate data? 

On a recent episode of B2B Business Class, host Robb Conlon spoke with Lindsay Rios, a fractional CRO and founder coach for companies like PowerChord, about how to tackle this messy problem and build a people-first sales culture.

The Cure: Honesty, Alignment, and Data

Lindsay coined the term “poopy pipeline” to describe a sales pipeline that is not filled with truly active, qualified opportunities. 

The issue, she explained, is often rooted in a desire to present an optimistic image.

“Somebody decided that instead of actually creating a pipeline… to care more about optics,” said Lindsay.

This leads to a disconnect where businesses prioritize how a pipeline looks over how healthy it actually is. 

The biggest red flag, she noted, is when leadership only focuses on updating close dates and filling out CRM fields without checking if a deal is actually real.

“You never meet your forecasts,” Lindsay said, a problem that is “very late by the time you figure that out.”

The first step to curing a poopy pipeline is admitting you have a problem. After that, Lindsay emphasized the importance of a clear, shared definition of what a “good” or “healthy” pipeline looks like for your specific organization. 

This definition must be aligned across all go-to-market functions, like marketing, sales, and even customer success.

“The active work, the protecting of the pipeline, will come more from sales. But marketing, for example, should care,” Lindsay explained.

A major part of this process is getting everyone to agree on the same definition of what a qualified lead is. 

Lindsay warned that deals often fall through because “somewhere along the way, we didn't understand that there was really this other person or this other role within the decision-making process that wasn't identified.” 

The fix, she said, is to ask questions and define what you want.

“What matters is how you guys do it, how do you define it? And then, everyone has to align on that definition,” Lindsay stated.

Bypassing the Myth of the “Sales Wizard”

A major myth Lindsay sees is the expectation that sales leaders are “wizards” who can magically forecast with 100% accuracy.

“We don't get put through some bootcamp... We don't get some magic spell put on us that magically we know this,” Lindsay stated.

Instead, sales leaders often rely on trial and error or simply guessing. 

She noted that while many of her clients have high forecasts, they are not always accurate. 

Lindsay recalled tracking this, saying, “Some people were like 50% accurate, which is common. Some people are 80, [while] some people were like 105.” 

She believes a good forecast should be at least 90% accurate to allow a business to make confident decisions.

“You then get to go to the board, and say, ‘Here's where we are. Here's why,’” Lindsay said. “And then, in three months, you get to go, ‘This is exactly what happened,’ and that's a very nice conversation.”

Taking the Leap: From Stagnation to Growth

For leaders feeling stuck, Lindsay's advice is to seek help from people who share their values. 

She warned against hiring someone who will simply agree with you.

“Expect challenge [and] expect friction. Don't look for someone who's just going to agree with everything you've already done, because... that's not working,” she advised.

Lindsay has often found that she has to find a middle ground with clients. For example, a company might agree to a new strategy but still need to work with some bad customers to survive while the new plan takes hold.

“You have to be realistic about that. [Say], ‘You know what, I understand. I'm empathetic to that,” she said.

She insists on setting a deadline for when the old habits will be completely phased out. Lindsay says that this approach allows for realistic, long-term change and helps everyone get on board to build a more disciplined business.

“We have to have an agreement as to when we've said, and we will not do that again. Otherwise you'll just keep putting one more in there.” 

For more insights from Lindsay Rios, you can listen to this episode of B2B Business Class on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.