Pipeline bloat occurs when your pipeline is full of deals that will never close. Sure, there are deals that will close … but not a very high percentage. This happens when you fail to completely qualify the prospect. Your gut tells you that the deal is good, but you never asked them for a time-frame. Or you think they have enough money to complete the deal, but you never actually asked. They have told you that the deal is being reviewed by management, but you don’t know how long that will take or whether management is on board with the purchase. There are many other scenarios, but the essential point is that in each of these cases the prospect is not properly qualified. We don’t know if there is a compelling reason to buy. Or we don’t know if there is any urgency to buy now. When pipelines are bloated your forecasts are inaccurate and unreliable, your closing rates are low, and you waste too much time chasing the deals that will never close. Qualifying harder is like taking an antacid for the pipeline. The bloat disappears.
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