If you’re in sales ops, a manager, or just the person everyone asks “how’s the pipeline looking?”—you know that staring at CRM dashboards only gets you so far. You need to know what’s really happening in your sales pipeline, before you miss quota. This is where building the right custom metrics in Ambition can actually help—if you do it right.
Here’s how to analyze your pipeline health using custom metrics in Ambition, what to avoid, and a few real-world tips nobody tells you until it’s too late.
1. Get clear on what “pipeline health” even means (for you)
Before you start fiddling with metrics, ask yourself: What does a healthy pipeline actually look like for our team? That’s not a trick question. Every company has its own flavor of sales process, deal velocity, and pain points.
Don’t skip this step. If you just copy-paste someone else’s “pipeline health” dashboard, you’ll end up tracking stuff that doesn’t matter.
A healthy pipeline usually means: - Enough deals at each stage to hit your targets - Good mix of deal sizes, not just one whale - Deals are moving (not stuck in “demo scheduled” for 60 days) - Activities are happening (calls, emails, meetings—not just “touches” for the sake of it) - Few surprises (no “where did this deal go?” at end of quarter)
Ask your team: - Where do our deals die most often? - Which stages are the biggest bottlenecks? - What’s a “good” deal progression for us?
Write down your answers. You’ll use them to pick the right metrics—not just the ones Ambition’s templates suggest.
2. Pick the right custom metrics (and ignore the rest)
Ambition gives you a boatload of possible metrics, which is both a blessing and a curse. The trick is to focus on a handful that actually answer your questions about pipeline health.
Metrics that usually matter:
- New opportunities created: Are enough fresh deals entering the pipeline?
- Stage-by-stage conversion rates: Where are deals stalling or dropping off?
- Deal aging: How long do deals sit at each stage? What’s “too long”?
- Pipeline coverage ratio: Total pipeline vs. quota (aim for at least 3x, but this varies)
- Activity-to-opportunity ratio: Are reps actually working their pipeline, or just logging activity?
Metrics to be skeptical of:
- Raw activity counts: 100 calls doesn’t matter if none turn into meetings.
- “Weighted pipeline” based on gut-feel probabilities: These are often made up.
- Vanity metrics: Things like “total pipeline value” without context.
Pro tip: Start with 3-5 core metrics. You can always add more, but too many stats just create noise.
3. Set up your custom metrics in Ambition
Once you know what you want to measure, it’s time to build those metrics in Ambition. Here’s how to do it without getting lost:
3.1. Connect your CRM (if you haven’t already)
If Ambition isn’t hooked up to Salesforce, HubSpot, or wherever your data lives, do that first. Garbage in, garbage out.
- Go to Ambition’s Integrations settings
- Pick your CRM and follow the steps
- Make sure the right objects/fields are mapped (Opportunities, Stages, Activities, etc.)
Don’t just connect “everything”—sync only what you’ll use. Otherwise, you’ll be swimming in useless fields.
3.2. Define your custom metrics
- Go to the Metrics section in Ambition
- Click “Create Metric”
- Choose the data source (usually Opportunities, Activities, or custom fields)
- Build your metric logic (e.g., Opportunities created this month, Deals moved from Stage X to Y, Opportunities with “Last Activity” > 30 days)
Example: “Aged Deals” Metric - Filter: Opportunities in “Proposal Sent” stage - Condition: Last activity date is more than 14 days ago - Output: Count of aged deals
3.3. Set up metric targets and thresholds
- Don’t just track the numbers—set what “good” looks like
- Use historical data to set realistic targets (not just wishful thinking)
- Color code or flag metrics that fall outside healthy ranges
Watch out for: Overly aggressive targets. If every rep is “red” all quarter, they’ll ignore the dashboard.
3.4. Build views and dashboards
- Group metrics by team, rep, or segment
- Make it dead-simple to see what’s healthy and what’s not (charts, not just tables)
- Set up alerts or emails for when metrics go out of bounds
4. Use your metrics to spot problems early (and take action)
Here’s where the rubber meets the road: using your custom metrics to actually catch pipeline issues before they become revenue problems.
How to spot trouble: - Sudden drop in new opportunities: Top-of-funnel is drying up. Time to look at lead sources. - Deals aging in one stage: Something’s wrong with your process, messaging, or handoff. - Pipeline coverage ratio below target: Not enough in the tank to hit quota. Start prospecting, or cut your forecast. - Activity-to-opportunity ratio dropping: Reps might be sandbagging or just going through the motions.
What not to do: Don’t micromanage every blip. Look for trends over a few weeks, not daily swings.
Pro tip: Regularly review these metrics as a team. The best insights come from reps telling you why deals are stuck, not just that they’re stuck.
5. Iterate and improve—don’t chase “perfect” metrics
No metric is perfect, and your pipeline isn’t static. Reps get creative. Markets change. Someone forgets to update a field. That’s life.
How to keep improving: - Review your metrics every quarter. Are they still answering your real pipeline questions? - Kill off any metric nobody looks at or acts on. - If a metric creates weird incentives (like reps stuffing the pipeline with junk deals), fix it or drop it. - Ask for rep feedback: Does this dashboard help, or just create more work?
What to ignore: Shiny new “AI-powered” metrics that nobody on your team understands. If you can’t explain it to a new hire in 30 seconds, it’s probably not helping.
6. Pitfalls to watch out for
- Measuring activity, not outcomes: Don’t confuse busywork with real progress.
- One-size-fits-all metrics: Your enterprise team and SMB team probably need different thresholds.
- Overcomplicating things: If your dashboard needs a full-time analyst to explain, it’s too complex.
- Ignoring context: Sometimes a low pipeline is just seasonal. Sometimes it’s a real problem.
Remember: A good metric answers a real question, and points you to the next action.
Keep it simple and keep tweaking
You don’t need a 20-metric dashboard or a PhD in data science to keep tabs on your pipeline. The right 3-5 custom metrics in Ambition will tell you what you need to know, if you’re honest about what’s working and what isn’t.
Start small, review your metrics regularly, and don’t be afraid to throw out what’s not useful. Pipeline health isn’t magic—it’s just good tracking, clear thinking, and a bit of common sense.