What Is Sales Pipeline Analysis and Why Do You Need It?

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A sales pipeline analysis is where you study your sales pipeline to find what’s going on with your leads. We’ll explain more below, including why you should conduct a sales pipeline analysis and six of the best sales pipeline metrics to track. Read on to learn more!

If you find that you’re not driving as many sales as you’d like — or even if you are — it pays to perform a sales pipeline analysis to figure out how you can improve it. But what is a sales pipeline analysis, and why do you need it?

Keep reading to find out more. Also, check out this video about sales funnels:



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What is sales pipeline analysis?
Sales pipeline analysis is the process of examining your sales pipeline to figure out what’s happening with your leads and why.

What does sales pipeline analysis tell you?
Sales pipeline analysis helps you learn valuable info about your leads. For the leads that convert, what convinces them to do so? For the ones that don’t, what drives them away? And of the two, which happens more often?

The exact way you conduct your analysis is entirely up to you, but it’s usually helpful to look at various key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you see what kind of results you’re driving.

Why conduct sales pipeline analysis?
The reason for conducting a sales analysis is simple — it helps you learn how to improve your sales process. It shows you what you’re doing well, allowing you to better repeat those successes down the road. Likewise, it shows you the weak spots in your sales, like where you’re losing leads.

By taking the information you get from your sales pipeline metrics and using it to revise your sales process as a whole, you can steadily increase the number of sales you drive, earning you a higher return on investment (ROI) over time.


6 sales pipeline metrics to track and analyze
We’ve mentioned a couple of times now that one of the best ways to conduct a sales analysis is to track different pipeline KPIs, but what KPIs are those?

Here are six sales pipeline metrics to analyze.

1. Conversion rate per stage
Your conversion rate simply refers to what percentage of your leads convert. Of course, the word “convert” can mean different things. In earlier stages of the sales funnel, it might simply mean signing up for your email list. But at the end of the pipeline, it means making a purchase.

That’s why you should track your conversion rate separately for each stage of the pipeline. That lets you identify where you’re losing the most leads. If you have a high conversion rate at the end of the pipeline, but a low one at the beginning, that tells you it’s your top-of-funnel sales process that needs work.