Sales and growth
Sales pipeline calculator
Work backwards from a revenue target to the leads, opportunities and wins you need.
Turn a revenue goal into a sales plan: how many deals to win, proposals to send, qualified opportunities to create and leads to find, in total and per month.
You will need
- Your revenue target and period
- Average deal value
- Conversion rates between each sales stage
What you enter
- Revenue target – New-business revenue you want to win in the period, excluding GST.
- Period – How long you have to hit the target.
- Average deal value – Average revenue from one won customer or deal in this period.
- Leads that become qualified opportunities – Of every 100 enquiries or leads, how many turn into a real sales conversation?
- Opportunities that get a proposal or quote – Of every 100 qualified opportunities, how many get a proposal or quote?
- Proposals that are won – Of every 100 proposals or quotes, how many are accepted?
How it is calculated
Wins needed = Revenue target ÷ Average deal value. Proposals needed = Wins ÷ Win rate. Opportunities needed = Proposals ÷ Opportunity-to-proposal rate. Leads needed = Opportunities ÷ Lead-to-opportunity rate. Each count is rounded up to a whole number before the next stage is worked out, because you cannot win part of a deal.
Assumptions
- Conversion rates and deal value stay the same through the period. Use your own history from the last 6 to 12 months if you have it.
- Every stage feeds the next one: a lead becomes an opportunity, then a proposal, then a win.
- Per-month figures spread the totals evenly. Deals that take months to close need to enter the pipeline earlier.
Limitations
- It ignores sales cycle length, deals carried over from the last period and repeat business from existing customers.
- Small changes to conversion rates make a big difference. Try a lower win rate to see how many extra leads a cautious plan needs.