Treat sales pipeline management as a discipline, with every sales rep at every level doing the daily work to keep the funnel strong.

Pipeline is one of the most persistent challenges sales leaders manage; it’s a topic discussed on every team call, every week, because we’re always looking to improve it. In our experience, the real issue isn’t velocity – it’s habits. At Viventium, we aim to treat sales pipeline management as a discipline, with every sales rep at every level doing the daily work to keep the funnel strong. In this GrowthBit, I’ll share our approach to pipeline management and ideas sales leaders can put into practice.

A Head of Sales’ Advice for Building Pipeline Discipline

Use a two-list system to keep prospecting balanced

At Viventium, we break down our sales pipeline building into two distinct buckets: general prospecting (or “profiling”) and appointment setting. General prospecting is the “warming up” and data-gathering motion with accounts in our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This is where sales reps dig into accounts to gather key information like employee count, systems they currently use, new contacts and decision-makers.

The lead score drives how we build prospect lists. Reps manage two lists: one with under-contacted accounts missing key information, and a smaller, targeted list of well-profiled accounts with higher lead scores. The second list is more appointment-ready because we have richer data and higher touchpoints with those accounts.

Profiling is just as important as setting appointments. Skip profiling, and your funnel could eventually stall.

Coach sales reps on consistency with prospecting tied to pipeline

It’s natural for reps to prefer high-score accounts with a higher likelihood of setting up calls, but the two lists feed each other. Profiling is just as important as setting appointments. Skip profiling, and your funnel could eventually stall. A funnel might look fine for a few weeks, until you’re recycling the same 100 accounts wondering why nothing’s landing.

For new sales reps, sometimes it takes burning through a short list or missing quota for the importance to resonate. That’s the coaching moment: ask if they’re still calling the same accounts. Usually, the answer is yes – then we show how consistent weekly profiling can help to set up the next win.

When quota isn’t met, the only thing you can do is focus on the next action.

Build habits tied to quota

We measure sales pipeline health by coverage and quality. For pipeline coverage, an example of a goal could be to have 5x of a rep’s monthly quota in the pipeline at any given time, including both marketing and self-generated leads. In some territories where demand generation is lighter, you could adjust the goal to 3x.

We also look at what we call the delta. For example, if you missed quota number last month, that’s added to this month’s pipeline target. This gives us a clear picture of which reps need support. In cases where reps are under quota, we approach focus on what they can control today or this week – not the entire quarter.

Each week, select 10 target accounts and map out a highly targeted multi-channel outreach plan.

Make pipeline building a 10-account weekly discipline

A 10-account weekly discipline can help to keep your sales reps focused. Each week, they select 10 target accounts and map out a highly targeted multi-channel outreach plan: emails, calls, LinkedIn touches or even video demos. The goal is quality, not quantity: can you identify 10 solid accounts and get outreach started on Monday?

When quota isn’t met, the only thing you can do is focus on the next action. What can you do by Friday of this week to improve? That’s the mentality we try to drive: small, focused wins, every week. If you stay consistent, those 10 weekly target accounts compound quickly: 60 in six weeks, 130 in a quarter.

Here is an example of a simple weekly sales pipeline generation tracker:

example of a weekly pipeline generation tracker

Stick to your ideal customer profile (ICP)

Every rep thinks they can win every deal. I’ve been guilty of it too. But we’ve defined our Ideal Customer Profile (“ICP”) for a reason. Your ICP is based on data: close rates by segment, competitor and software integration(s). We know what good looks like, and we push reps to stay in that lane.

Here’s the bottom line.

Pipeline isn’t a quarterly fix. It’s an ongoing discipline, and the goal isn’t perfection. Focus on coaching your sales reps to split the work between research and outreach, setting clear expectations around weekly targets and building small habits. Because pipeline isn’t just a metric. It’s a motion.