Sales pipeline template
A sales pipeline lists every open deal your company is working on, the stage each one has reached, what it's worth and what happens next. This free Excel template turns each deal's stage into a probability and a weighted value, counts how long a deal has sat in its stage, flags missed close dates and missing next steps, and keeps a log of won and lost deals that works out your win rate.
Running a company of 30 to 200 people? Documents like this are now worth money.
Use it as the one list your weekly sales meeting works from, and to check there's enough in it to meet the targets in your sales plan. A spreadsheet copes well while a handful of people update it; once several people change deals every day, move the same stages into a CRM system.
What's in the template
The workbook has a read-me, a Pipeline sheet with room for 60 deals, a Closed deals log, and an example of each. The example's open deals, with the probability and weighted value the template works out from each stage:
| Deal | Company | Stage | Value | Probability | Weighted value | Expected close | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head office refit, two floors | Housing association, 400 staff | Proposal sent | 186,000 | 50% | 93,000 | 27 Nov 2026 | Present to the property committee |
| Meeting room furniture, 12 rooms | Software company, 90 staff | Negotiation | 48,500 | 75% | 36,375 | 30 Oct 2026 | Send a revised layout for 10 rooms |
| Desks and chairs for a new office | Accountancy firm, 60 staff | Verbal yes | 72,000 | 90% | 64,800 | 23 Oct 2026 | Chase the purchase order |
| Breakout area and tea point | Engineering consultancy, 150 staff | Needs agreed | 39,000 | 25% | 9,750 | 11 Dec 2026 | Site survey with the facilities manager |
| Sit-stand desks, phase 1 | University department | Qualified | 95,000 | 10% | 9,500 | 26 Feb 2027 | |
| Reception redesign | Dental group, 8 practices | Proposal sent | 26,500 | 50% | 13,250 | 30 Sep 2026 | Call the practice manager |
| Storage wall and lockers | Insurance broker, 120 staff | Needs agreed | 31,000 | 25% | 7,750 | 20 Nov 2026 | Send budget figures |
| Furniture for a new branch | Veterinary group, 15 sites | Qualified | 22,000 | 10% | 2,200 | 15 Jan 2027 | Book a discovery call |
| Total | 520,000 | 236,625 |
The sheet also has columns for the owner, source, date added, stage entered date, days in stage, the next step's date, a flag and notes. Days in stage and the flag depend on today's date, so they aren't shown here.
The stages, and what has to be true
A stage should record something the buyer has done, not something you've done, so that two salespeople would put the same deal in the same place. The template's defaults:
| Stage | Probability | Move a deal here when |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified | 10% | A named contact has confirmed a need, a rough budget and a timescale |
| Needs agreed | 25% | You've met the person who decides and agreed in writing what they need |
| Proposal sent | 50% | They have your proposal or quote and a date to discuss it |
| Negotiation | 75% | They've chosen an option and are discussing price or terms |
| Verbal yes | 90% | The person who signs has said yes; the order or contract is on its way |
| Won | 100% | Order or contract signed |
| Lost | 0% | A clear no, or no reply after repeated follow-up |
The percentages are starting points. After a few months, compare them with what the Closed deals sheet shows and set your own.
How to run the pipeline
- Add a deal only once it's qualified. Names collected at a trade show are leads, not pipeline: keep them on a separate list until someone has confirmed a need.
- Give every deal one owner, a value and an expected close date, even if they're estimates. A deal with no value can't be weighted, and one with no date can't be forecast.
- Write the next step as a dated action agreed with the buyer, such as "site survey with the facilities manager, 20 October", never just "follow up".
- Update the stage and the Stage entered date on the day a deal moves, so Days in stage shows which deals have stalled.
- Review it weekly, in half an hour. Filter on the Flag column. For each flagged row, the owner moves the date with a reason, agrees a new next step, or closes the deal as lost.
- At month end, move won and lost deals to the Closed deals sheet with the main reason, in the customer's words where you can.
Example: reading a fictional company's pipeline
The example belongs to a fictional 60-person office furniture and fit-out company. Its eight open deals are worth £520,000, or £236,625 weighted by stage, and it needs another £150,000 of orders this quarter.
- Win rate: the Closed deals sheet shows it won four of the seven deals it closed over the summer, but only 35% by value, because it lost every deal over £50,000. That's a warning for the three large deals still open.
- Coverage: at a 35% win rate, £150,000 of orders needs about £425,000 of deals due to close this quarter. It has £403,000, and £26,500 of that is the dental group job, already past its expected close date.
- Two answers: the default stage percentages put this quarter's deals at £224,925 weighted, well above the gap, while the company's own win rate says the gap is at risk. When the two disagree, trust your own history and adjust the percentages.
- Sales cycle: closed deals took 83 days on average from first entry to decision, which is worth knowing before anyone promises a close date three weeks out.
Common mistakes
- Stages that describe your effort, such as "brochure sent" or "called twice", rather than the buyer's commitment.
- Dead deals left open. They inflate the pipeline and the coverage figure; close them as lost and record why.
- Close dates that never move, or that move every week with no reason written down.
- Reading the weighted total as a promise. With a handful of large deals the result will land well above or below it. It's a planning figure, not money in the bank.
- Counting a friendly meeting as a verbal yes. Verbal yes means the person who signs has said yes.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between a sales pipeline and a sales forecast?
The pipeline is the list of open deals. A forecast is your judgement of how much of it will close in a period, which the weighted value, your win rate and each owner's knowledge of their deals all feed into.
What is a weighted pipeline?
Each deal's value multiplied by the probability for its stage, added up. A £40,000 deal at proposal stage (50%) counts as £20,000. It's useful for comparing one month with the next, and much less useful for predicting any single deal.
Should we use a CRM instead of a spreadsheet?
A spreadsheet works while a few people update it and there are a few dozen live deals. Once several people change deals every day, or you want calls and emails logged against each deal, move to a CRM and keep the same stage definitions.