Sales Pipeline Growth¶

Definition¶

Sales Pipeline Growth measures the increase in the total value, volume, or number of opportunities in the sales pipeline over a specific period. It reflects the effectiveness of your marketing and sales efforts in generating and advancing leads.

Description¶

Sales Pipeline Growth is a key indicator of revenue readiness and demand generation health, showing how well your GTM engine is fueling future sales opportunities.

Its meaning varies by company stage and sales motion:

In B2B SaaS, it reflects whether top-of-funnel campaigns and SDRs are consistently feeding the pipeline.
In PLG or hybrid motions, it may come from PQLs, in-app triggers, or conversion-ready accounts.
In enterprise sales, pipeline growth ties closely to relationship-building, events, and multi-touch ABM plays.

A rising pipeline growth trend signals that your GTM strategy is working, while flat or declining growth highlights lead quality issues, outreach fatigue, or marketing-sales misalignment. By segmenting pipeline growth by rep, campaign, region, or source, you can uncover the most effective levers to double down on and identify gaps to fix.

Sales Pipeline Growth informs:

Strategic decisions, like territory planning, marketing budget allocation, and hiring forecasts
Tactical actions, such as campaign optimization or channel rebalancing
Operational improvements, including CRM cleanliness, lead routing, and SDR handoff processes
Cross-functional alignment, by keeping RevOps, sales, and marketing focused on pipeline quality—not just quantity

Key Drivers¶

These are the main factors that directly impact the metric. Understanding these lets you know what levers you can pull to improve the outcome

Lead Generation Volume and Quality: More qualified leads = more pipeline. But quality is the gatekeeper.
Opportunity Creation Discipline: Poor CRM hygiene or lax qualification can mask real growth.
Sales–Marketing Alignment: Consistent MQL → SQL conversion creates a healthy pipeline top.

Improvement Tactics & Quick Wins¶

Actionable ideas to optimize this KPI, from fast, low-effort wins to strategic initiatives that drive measurable impact.

If pipeline is flat, run a targeted outbound sprint on ICP accounts using intent or engagement signals.
Add pipeline creation goals for SDRs and AEs — not just close revenue.
Run a “dead deal recycle” campaign — resurrect deals that went cold 3–6 months ago.
Refine lead scoring to prioritize conversion potential, not vanity behaviors.
Partner with demand gen to double down on sources that lead to high-velocity deals.

Required Datapoints to calculate the metric
- Starting Pipeline Value: The total value or number of opportunities in the pipeline at the beginning of the period.
- Ending Pipeline Value: The total value or number of opportunities in the pipeline at the end of the period.
- New Opportunities Added: Opportunities created during the period.
- Pipeline Size Over Time: Data tracked for pipeline changes across specific intervals (daily, weekly, monthly).
Example to show how the metric is derived

A SaaS company has the following pipeline data:
- Starting Pipeline Value: $500,000
- Ending Pipeline Value: $650,000
- Pipeline Growth Rate = [(650,000 – 500,000) / 500,000] × 100 = 30%

Formula¶

Formula

\[ \mathrm{Sales\ Pipeline\ Growth} = \left( \frac{\mathrm{Ending\ Pipeline\ Value} - \mathrm{Starting\ Pipeline\ Value}}{\mathrm{Starting\ Pipeline\ Value}} \right) \times 100 \]

Data Model Definition¶

How this KPI is structured in Cube.js, including its key measures, dimensions, and calculation logic for consistent reporting.

SalesPipeline

cube(`SalesPipeline`, {
  sql: `SELECT * FROM sales_pipeline`,

  measures: {
    startingPipelineValue: {
      sql: `starting_pipeline_value`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `Starting Pipeline Value`,
      description: `The total value or number of opportunities in the pipeline at the beginning of the period.`
    },
    endingPipelineValue: {
      sql: `ending_pipeline_value`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `Ending Pipeline Value`,
      description: `The total value or number of opportunities in the pipeline at the end of the period.`
    },
    newOpportunitiesAdded: {
      sql: `new_opportunities_added`,
      type: `sum`,
      title: `New Opportunities Added`,
      description: `Opportunities created during the period.`
    },
    pipelineGrowth: {
      sql: `${endingPipelineValue} - ${startingPipelineValue}`,
      type: `number`,
      title: `Pipeline Growth`,
      description: `The increase in the total value or number of opportunities in the sales pipeline over a specific period.`
    }
  },

  dimensions: {
    id: {
      sql: `id`,
      type: `string`,
      primaryKey: true
    },
    createdAt: {
      sql: `created_at`,
      type: `time`,
      title: `Created At`,
      description: `The time when the record was created.`
    }
  }
});

Note: This is a reference implementation and should be used as a starting point. You’ll need to adapt it to match your own data model and schema

Positive & Negative Influences¶

Negative influences

Factors that drive the metric in an undesirable direction, often signaling risk or decline.
- Poor Lead Quality: A high volume of low-quality leads can clog the pipeline, reducing its overall growth potential.
- Inefficient CRM Practices: Lax CRM practices can lead to inaccurate data and missed opportunities, negatively impacting pipeline growth.
- Misalignment Between Sales and Marketing: A lack of coordination between sales and marketing can result in poor MQL to SQL conversion rates, hindering pipeline growth.
- High Lead Drop-off Rates: A significant drop-off rate at any stage of the pipeline can reduce the overall growth of the sales pipeline.
- Economic Downturns: External economic factors can reduce the number of viable opportunities, negatively affecting pipeline growth.
Positive influences

Factors that push the metric in a favorable direction, supporting growth or improvement.
- Lead Generation Volume and Quality: An increase in the volume and quality of leads directly contributes to Sales Pipeline Growth by providing more qualified opportunities for conversion.
- Opportunity Creation Discipline: Strict adherence to CRM hygiene and qualification processes ensures that only genuine opportunities are added to the pipeline, enhancing its growth.
- Sales–Marketing Alignment: Effective alignment between sales and marketing teams ensures a smooth transition from MQL to SQL, positively impacting the pipeline's growth.
- Effective Lead Nurturing: Consistent and targeted lead nurturing efforts increase the likelihood of leads progressing through the pipeline, thus contributing to its growth.
- Market Expansion Initiatives: Entering new markets or segments can increase the number of opportunities, thereby positively influencing pipeline growth.

Involved Roles & Activities¶

Involved Roles

These roles are typically responsible for implementing or monitoring this KPI:

Marketing
Revenue Operations
Sales Manager
Activities

Common initiatives or actions associated with this KPI:

Sales Enablement
Lead and Demand Generation
ICP Outreach
Campaign-Driven Leads

Funnel Stage & Type¶

AAARRR Funnel Stage

This KPI is associated with the following stages in the AAARRR (Pirate Metrics) funnel:

Acquisition
Type

This KPI is classified as a Lagging Indicator. It reflects the results of past actions or behaviors and is used to validate performance or assess the impact of previous strategies.

Supporting Leading & Lagging Metrics¶

Leading

These leading indicators influence this KPI and act as early signals that forecast future changes in this KPI.
- Product Qualified Leads: Product Qualified Leads (PQLs) reflect users exhibiting high intent and engagement, often directly fueling Sales Pipeline Growth by increasing the pool of high-converting opportunities.
- SQL-to-Opportunity Conversion Rate: A higher SQL-to-Opportunity Conversion Rate means more Sales Qualified Leads are progressing into pipeline opportunities, serving as a precursor to overall pipeline growth.
- Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs): Growth in MQLs increases the top-of-funnel volume, directly impacting the future growth of the sales pipeline by feeding more qualified leads into the process.
- Unique Visitors: Increases in Unique Visitors to the website expand the potential lead pool and signal higher top-of-funnel activity that can translate into pipeline growth.
- Deal Velocity: Faster Deal Velocity indicates opportunities are moving more quickly through the sales process, often accelerating pipeline growth and signaling strong sales momentum.
Lagging

These lagging indicators confirm, quantify, or amplify this KPI and help explain the broader business impact on this KPI after the fact.
- Pipeline Value Growth: Pipeline Value Growth quantifies the monetary impact and validation of prior Sales Pipeline Growth, allowing recalibration of leading indicators based on actual value creation.
- Conversion Rate: The Conversion Rate on pipeline opportunities shows how effectively the pipeline is turning into closed deals, helping calibrate the quality of pipeline growth and future forecasting.
- Trial Sign-Up Rate: Measures how many prospects are entering trials, providing feedback on whether pipeline growth is translating into meaningful product engagement and informing adjustments to lead generation tactics.
- Activation Rate by Source: Shows how well leads from each source reach activation, helping assess the quality of pipeline growth and refine lead sourcing strategies.
- Percent of Accounts Completing Key Activation Milestones: Tracks the progression of accounts through crucial onboarding steps, offering feedback on the effectiveness of pipeline growth in driving real product engagement and informing future pipeline quality improvements.