A B2B aviation services company, ground handling and charter brokerage, had a healthy volume of inbound enquiries and a pipeline that looked strong on paper. But deals routinely stalled once they reached the negotiation stage, and the board had lost confidence in the sales forecast, because so few of the deals marked "likely to close" were actually closing on time.
What the audit found
There was no real stage-gating in place. A deal was marked "in negotiation" the moment a client asked a single follow-up question, with no defined criteria for what actually needed to happen for a deal to move toward close. Once a proposal went out, there was no consistent follow-up cadence, deals simply sat in the pipeline until the client happened to respond. The forecast was effectively a list of hopes rather than a measured view of what was likely to land.
What changed
- Rebuilt the pipeline stages around real, observable buyer actions rather than vague labels
- Introduced a mandatory, structured follow-up cadence for every proposal sent
- Put a weekly pipeline review in place, specifically targeting anything stuck in negotiation for more than two weeks
The takeaway
A pipeline that looks full isn't the same as a pipeline that's healthy. Once deals had real stage definitions and a follow-up cadence that didn't depend on a rep remembering to chase, the forecast became something the board could actually trust again.