All Posts
March 25, 2026 · Louie Bernstein
Are you really inspecting the sales pipeline?
salessales pipeline
His pipeline was 3x bigger than the rest of the sales team.
His sales were the lowest. Why?
5 founder-led sales questions that reveal pipeline lies.
I had a salesperson whose pipeline always had more potential deals in it than anyone else in the group. The problem was that he also had the lowest number of closed deals.
For a while I thought this was because he was attempting to show how much positive activity he had going on. However, after several meetings with this salesperson, I discovered the sad truth; the customer was telling him one thing and the rep was hearing what he wanted to hear.
Note: this was not done to try to fool me. He actually believed what he was telling me through his pipeline until I started drilling down on each deal. I asked questions like:
· Are you speaking with the decision maker?
· Are you speaking with the person who can sign the order?
· Do they have budget, or can they get it?
· When do they want to implement our solution?
· Have we delivered a proof of concept?
After hearing the answers to these questions, I realized he was somehow convincing himself he had a good prospect. He had made the leap from hearing “I’m part of a team that’s evaluating solutions” to “I’m the decision maker.”
Your salespeople must be realistic. And as the sales leader you must implement a system that guarantees that.
Good news or bad, you have to hear…and face…the facts. Nothing will get your company into more trouble than inflated or unrealistic pipeline based on what your salesperson imagined.
P.S. Has this ever happened to you.
=======================
Want help putting together a sales pipeline you can count on?
Founders only: Book a meeting with me.
His sales were the lowest. Why?
5 founder-led sales questions that reveal pipeline lies.
I had a salesperson whose pipeline always had more potential deals in it than anyone else in the group. The problem was that he also had the lowest number of closed deals.
For a while I thought this was because he was attempting to show how much positive activity he had going on. However, after several meetings with this salesperson, I discovered the sad truth; the customer was telling him one thing and the rep was hearing what he wanted to hear.
Note: this was not done to try to fool me. He actually believed what he was telling me through his pipeline until I started drilling down on each deal. I asked questions like:
· Are you speaking with the decision maker?
· Are you speaking with the person who can sign the order?
· Do they have budget, or can they get it?
· When do they want to implement our solution?
· Have we delivered a proof of concept?
After hearing the answers to these questions, I realized he was somehow convincing himself he had a good prospect. He had made the leap from hearing “I’m part of a team that’s evaluating solutions” to “I’m the decision maker.”
Your salespeople must be realistic. And as the sales leader you must implement a system that guarantees that.
Good news or bad, you have to hear…and face…the facts. Nothing will get your company into more trouble than inflated or unrealistic pipeline based on what your salesperson imagined.
P.S. Has this ever happened to you.
=======================
Want help putting together a sales pipeline you can count on?
Founders only: Book a meeting with me.