Pipeline and Deal Management: Stages, Amounts, and Forecasts
What this domain covers
Pipeline and deal management tests your ability to model a sales process: stages, probabilities, amounts, close dates, forecasting, and hygiene rules.
Core rules and concepts
- A pipeline is an ordered set of deal stages; each stage can carry a probability used to calculate weighted deal amount (amount multiplied by probability).
- Deal amount is the potential value; weighted amount is the forecast-adjusted value. They are not interchangeable.
- Close date drives pipeline period reporting; rotting and age rules flag deals that sit too long in a stage.
- Pipeline automation can move deals, create tasks, or set properties when a stage changes; stage properties can prompt for required data.
- Forecast categories such as Pipeline, Best Case, Commit, and Closed Won are a separate layer from stages; a deal can be in a late stage but omitted from the commit forecast.
- Products and line items can calculate deal amount; goals compare attainment against targets.
Worked example
A deal is $20,000 in a stage with 50% probability. Weighted amount is $10,000. If the rep sets forecast category to Commit, the forecast shows $20,000 in the commit view, not $10,000. Reasoning: probability affects weighted pipeline reporting; forecast category affects the forecast submission. Both can be true at once.
Traps
Treating weighted amount as the forecast; assuming stage probability is fixed across pipelines; forgetting that close-date edits change period totals; closing a deal without a closed-lost reason; letting stale deals inflate pipeline.