Sales / RevOps

Pipeline Coverage

Pipeline coverage measures how much qualified pipeline you have relative to your revenue target or quota.

Key Takeaways
  • Pipeline coverage is the ratio of total pipeline value to sales quota or target, indicating whether you have sufficient opportunities to hit your goals.
  • Common Mistakes:
  • Using unweighted pipeline instead of probability-adjusted values.
  • Not excluding stale or inactive opportunities from coverage calculations.
  • Comparing coverage across teams with different win rates or cycle times.
  • Ignoring that coverage needs vary by sales maturity and win rate.
  • Not tracking coverage far enough in advance (need forward-looking coverage).
  • Assuming all pipeline is equal quality without stage or age weighting.

Definition

Pipeline coverage is the ratio of total pipeline value to sales quota or target, indicating whether you have sufficient opportunities to hit your goals.

Coverage > 3x

Healthy pipeline; high confidence in hitting targets.

Coverage 2-3x

Adequate pipeline; standard for many B2B sales teams.

Coverage < 2x

Insufficient pipeline; targets at risk.

Formula

Pipeline Coverage = Total Weighted Pipeline Value / Quota or Target

Variables

Weighted Pipeline

Sum of opportunity values multiplied by probability/stage.

Quota

Revenue target for the period.

Examples

Quarterly pipeline coverage

MetricValue
Total pipeline value$3,000,000
Weighted pipeline (30% avg probability)$900,000
Quarterly quota$300,000
  1. 1Pipeline coverage = $900,000 / $300,000
  2. 2Coverage = 3x
Pipeline coverage = 3x quota

Track in Daymark

Data Sources

CSVgoogle sheetspostgreSQL

Required Fields

Pipeline and quota data
  • opportunity_id
  • amount
  • stage
  • probability
  • expected_close_date
  • owner_quota

Sample Questions

  • What is the current pipeline coverage?
  • Show coverage trend by month or quarter
  • Calculate coverage by sales rep or team
  • What's our coverage for next quarter?
  • Compare coverage by deal stage
  • How much pipeline do we need to generate to hit quota?
  • Show coverage by product or segment

Dashboard Template

1. metric
Coverage ratio

Current pipeline vs quota

2. line
Coverage trend

Coverage ratio over time

3. bar
Coverage by rep

Individual team coverage

4. line
Pipeline build rate

New pipeline generation vs target

Common Mistakes

  • Using unweighted pipeline instead of probability-adjusted values.
  • Not excluding stale or inactive opportunities from coverage calculations.
  • Comparing coverage across teams with different win rates or cycle times.
  • Ignoring that coverage needs vary by sales maturity and win rate.
  • Not tracking coverage far enough in advance (need forward-looking coverage).
  • Assuming all pipeline is equal quality without stage or age weighting.

FAQ

Q: What's the right pipeline coverage ratio?

It depends on your win rate. With a 25% win rate, you need 4x coverage. With 33% win rate, 3x is sufficient.

Q: Should I use weighted or unweighted pipeline?

Weighted pipeline is more accurate, but track both. Unweighted shows potential; weighted shows realistic forecast.

Q: How far ahead should I track coverage?

Track current quarter plus at least one quarter forward, adjusted for your sales cycle length.

Start Tracking Pipeline Coverage