Pipeline reports can create a sense that plenty is happening.
Opportunities are marked as active, deals are listed as “in progress”, and revenue appears to be sitting somewhere ahead.
The harder question is whether those opportunities are moving.
“In progress” can cover a lot of ground
During a recent pipeline review, we came across a deal that had been sitting in progress for ten weeks.
Nobody had called it lost.
The salesperson still considered it live and was waiting for budget confirmation.
But the last real conversation with the buyer had happened more than a month earlier.
That kind of opportunity can sit in a pipeline for a long time.
There is no clear rejection, so it remains part of the forecast even when very little is happening.
Stalled deals distort the commercial picture
When inactive opportunities stay open, the pipeline can look stronger than it really is.
Forecasting becomes less reliable, sales meetings keep returning to the same deals, and attention stays attached to opportunities that may no longer deserve it.
A useful test is whether there is a genuine next step behind the status in the CRM.
Follow-up needs somewhere to live
An opportunity can still be valuable even when the buyer is not ready to move immediately.
That is where the sales and marketing system around the deal becomes important.
A future follow-up should have a clear owner and agreed timing rather than relying on someone remembering the conversation months later.
Marketing can also keep the relationship active in the background through relevant email nurture, useful content and ongoing visibility.
The salesperson can focus on the opportunities that are ready to move now while the business stays present with those that may become relevant later.
Pipeline visibility needs movement, not labels
A healthy pipeline should show which opportunities are progressing, which need attention and which should move out of active forecasting until something changes.
That clarity improves the sales view of the pipeline and gives marketing better information about where nurture can support the buying journey.
When sales and marketing share that information, fewer opportunities are left sitting between “interested” and “lost” with nobody quite sure what happens next.
Not sure where your pipeline is leaking? Take the 3 minute sales diagnostic.
Related reading: “I just emailed the quote through” and The gap between more leads and more revenue