Many sales leaders run pipeline reviews solely to extract information for their forecast. The meeting's primary purpose should be to help the rep understand what to do next. Effective coaching leads to closed deals, which in turn creates an accurate forecast naturally.

To drive data discipline, a RevOps leader should consistently review a core set of metrics with the executive team. This forces their own team to come prepared with answers. This scrutiny trickles down, as sales leaders learn which metrics matter and begin proactively reviewing them with their own business partners.

Instead of focusing on a large quota, leaders should reverse engineer it. Calculate the number of deals needed based on win rate and average contract value, then break that down into weekly opportunity creation goals for reps.

Salespeople often keep dead deals in their pipeline out of hope. To get realistic, ask a simple question for each opportunity: "If I had to bet my own money on this closing by year-end, would I?" If the answer is no, immediately remove it from the active pipeline and replace it.

Insecure reps often avoid involving their own executives, fearing it makes them look weak. In contrast, top performers demonstrate confidence by strategically bringing in their leadership (even the CEO) to help close major deals. This is a sign of strategic maturity, not a weakness to be hidden.

To overcome the perception that ABM is just a marketing initiative, leadership considered renaming it "Account-Based Selling." This simple change in terminology helps position the strategy as a sales-centric approach, emphasizing that the AE is in the driver's seat, not just receiving leads.

Instead of a standard inputs-to-outputs funnel, structure dashboards to start with top-line results (attainment, forecast). Then, drill down into pipeline mix, pipeline generation, and finally, activities. This tells a clear story of what's driving the results.

Average reps find security in a pipeline packed with low-quality leads (a "sewer pipe"). Top performers prioritize quality over quantity, resulting in a leaner but more potent pipeline (a "water tap"). They are comfortable with fewer opportunities because they know what's in there is highly qualified and likely to close.

Have reps spend the first week of each quarter identifying 10 high-value accounts (double the average contract value) with a strong business case. This 'big rock' approach focuses efforts on deals that can cover 50% of their quarterly pipeline needs.