If you’re running a sales team or managing a pipeline, you know the pain: deals stalling, forecasts that feel like wishful thinking, and tools that promise the moon but deliver a spreadsheet with extra steps. This guide is for anyone using Sharefable (see [sharefable.html]) to track and actually improve their sales pipeline—without the fluff or the marketing spin.
Let’s cut to the chase: predictable revenue isn’t about magic formulas or the latest buzzword feature. It’s about seeing what’s really happening in your pipeline, knowing what to fix, and building habits that stick.
Step 1: Get Real About Your Pipeline Stages
Before you even open Sharefable, ask yourself: Do your pipeline stages match how your deals actually move? Or did someone copy-paste them from a template?
Why this matters: Garbage in, garbage out. If your stages are vague or don’t fit your sales cycle, your data and forecasts will be off.
What works: - Keep it simple. Only create stages you actually use. - Be specific. “Proposal sent” is concrete; “Engaged” means nothing. - Don’t overthink it. Four or five clear stages beat a ten-step labyrinth.
Pro tip: Sit down with your team and map out a real deal from start to finish. Use those steps as your pipeline stages in Sharefable.
Step 2: Set Up Your Pipeline in Sharefable
Now, let’s get practical. Sharefable lets you build custom pipelines, but don’t get lost in the features.
How to set up:
- Create your main pipeline. Name it after your core sales process.
- Add stages based on your mapping. Use plain language.
- Define entry/exit criteria for each stage. This is key. For example:
- “Qualified” = Contact confirmed budget and timing.
- “Proposal sent” = Actual proposal sent, not just a verbal promise.
- Turn off (or ignore) features you don’t need. If you’re not tracking products, skip product fields. Less clutter, less confusion.
What to ignore: Fancy automations and AI suggestions that don’t make sense for your process. Start simple. You can always add complexity later.
Step 3: Track Your Deals—Consistently
A pipeline is only as good as what goes into it. If you or your team are skipping updates, you’ll never trust your numbers.
Make it easy:
- Log every meaningful interaction. If it moves a deal forward, note it.
- Use notes, not just stage changes. Nuance matters—why did a deal stall?
- Assign clear owners. No “shared” deals. Accountability is boring but it works.
What works: - Short daily check-ins (“What moved yesterday?”) - Weekly pipeline reviews - Making it a habit, not a chore
What doesn’t: Micromanaging every email. You want signal, not noise.
Step 4: Use Sharefable’s Reporting (But Don’t Blindly Trust It)
Sharefable’s dashboards look slick, but don’t let the charts lull you into a false sense of control. Here’s how to use reporting to actually improve your pipeline:
Start with the basics:
- Deal velocity: How long does it take a deal to move from stage to stage?
- Conversion rates: How many deals make it from one stage to the next?
- Lost reasons: Why are deals falling out? Actually write this down.
Dig deeper:
- Filter by rep, deal size, or source. Patterns will jump out.
- Flag outliers. Deals stuck for months? They’re not “active.”
What to ignore: Vanity metrics. “Number of calls” or “emails sent” rarely tells you anything useful about revenue.
Reality check: No report replaces talking to your team and understanding the story behind the numbers.
Step 5: Forecast—But Be Skeptical
Sharefable will try to forecast your revenue. Treat it as a starting point, not gospel.
What works: - Weighted pipeline. Assign a % likelihood to each stage (example: “Negotiation” = 60% likely to close). - Gut check. If a deal’s been “about to close” for months, discount it—hard. - Scenario planning. Look at best, likely, and worst-case projections, not just the rosiest number.
What doesn’t: Relying on forecasts without understanding your pipeline’s reality. Over-optimistic projections kill credibility.
Step 6: Optimize—One Bottleneck at a Time
Don’t try to fix everything. Instead, use your pipeline data to find the slowest, leakiest stage and focus there.
How to spot a bottleneck: - Deals pile up in one stage and don’t move. - Win rate drops sharply between two stages. - The same objection comes up over and over.
How to fix it: - Talk to the reps actually working those deals. - Change your process, not just your CRM labels. - Test one tweak at a time—don’t overhaul the whole pipeline.
Pro tip: Sometimes the answer isn’t more features or more data—it’s picking up the phone and asking the prospect what’s really going on.
Step 7: Review, Iterate, and Don’t Get Fancy
The most predictable pipelines aren’t the most complicated—they’re the most honest. Every quarter, review:
- Are your stages still accurate?
- Is your data up to date?
- What’s working, and what’s noise?
What works: - Quarterly pipeline reviews with the team - Killing off unused stages or fields - Keeping documentation super simple—one doc everyone actually uses
What doesn’t: Chasing the latest CRM hack or getting sucked into “AI-powered” recommendations that don’t fit your sales cycle.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Fix What Matters
Sharefable can help you track and optimize your sales pipeline, but the real gains come from getting brutally honest about your process and habits. Don’t let the tool distract you from the basics: clear stages, consistent updates, and regular reviews with your team.
Stay skeptical of features that sound impressive but don’t solve your real problems. Start simple, check your numbers, and tweak as you go. That’s how you get to predictable revenue—and a lot fewer surprises at the end of the quarter.