Open pipeline value is the total amount on opportunities that are still open. Won and lost deals are excluded — it is what is still to play for, not what you have achieved.
What it is not
- Not a forecast. It does not weight anything by probability — a deal at 10% counts the same as one at 90%.
- Not revenue. Nothing here has been sold. The Sales tab on an account is what actually happened.
- Not filtered by date. A deal with a close date two years out is in the number.
The funnel
The funnel splits those open deals across your stages. Read the shape rather than the numbers.
| Shape | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Narrows steadily | Healthy. Deals are progressing and being closed out. |
| Bulges in the middle | A step nobody owns — quotes that never go out, approvals nobody chases. |
| Thin at the top | Nothing new coming in. Today looks fine; in two months it will not. |
| Everything at the first stage | Nobody is updating stages, rather than nobody selling. |
Making the number trustworthy
- Close the dead deals as lost. Half of an inflated pipeline is usually deals nobody has touched in six months.
- Keep close dates current, so period views mean something.
- Agree what each stage requires, so two reps mean the same thing by it.
A GROWING PIPELINE IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY GOOD NEWS
It grows just as fast when nobody closes anything. Watch it next to what is being won, not on its own.