More pipeline can actually destroy your best deals.
Because in most sales orgs, pipeline is treated like oxygen.
But from a seller’s perspective, pipeline creates a hidden
tax:
attention fragmentation.
Here’s what happens in reality.
You start the month with 12 good deals.
Then leadership says: “Build more pipeline.”
Your calendar becomes chaos:
• follow-up emails
• random demos
• internal deal updates
• pipeline reviews
• rescheduling stalled meetings
Your day is now reactive.
They quietly lose momentum.
Because big deals don’t close with occasional attention.
They close with intentional deal leadership.
I saw this happen with a seller I coached last year.
One of the strongest reps on the team.
But their numbers suddenly dropped.
When we looked at their pipeline, the problem was obvious.
He had 54 open opportunities.
So we tried something unusual.
We didn’t ask him to build pipeline.
We asked him to protect 5 deals.
Five strategic opportunities.
Every week they focused on moving those deals forward:
• mapping stakeholders
• preparing discovery
• sending internal summaries
• aligning on decision criteria
• building mutual action plans
Three months later: 4 out of 5 deals closed.
The rest of the pipeline barely moved.
Which proves something most sellers eventually learn:
Deals don’t close because you opened them.
They close because you lead them.
And deal leadership requires time, focus, and preparation.
So the real question isn’t:
“How much pipeline do you have?”
It’s: “Which deals are you actually running?”
Because the best sellers don’t manage pipeline.
They orchestrate a handful of deals extremely well.
Alan "Modern Seller" Ruchtein
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