If you’re running B2B sales, you know the pipeline is everything—but actually tracking it (and making it better) is a whole other story. CRM dashboards are noisy, reps fudge data, and “advanced analytics” often means “another tab to ignore.” This guide is for sales managers, ops folks, and revops teams who want to get a real handle on their pipeline—and maybe even improve it—using Ocean and its analytics tools. No fluff, no sugarcoating, just practical advice and a few hard truths.
What Actually Matters in a B2B Sales Pipeline (and What Doesn’t)
Before you jump into any analytics tool, get clear on what you’re trying to achieve. A lot of teams track too much, or the wrong things, and end up with spreadsheets full of “insights” that never move the needle.
What matters: - Deal velocity: How quickly deals move from stage to stage. - Conversion rates: Percentage of deals moving forward at each stage. - Pipeline coverage: How much pipeline you have vs. your target. - Stalled deals: Where and why things get stuck. - Rep activity vs. outcomes: What actually drives wins, not just activity for activity’s sake.
What doesn’t matter much: - Number of calls or emails sent (unless you know it’s tied to results). - Vanity metrics like “touchpoints” or “engagement scores” that don’t connect to revenue. - Tracking every tiny field in the CRM “just in case.”
Pro tip: If your team can’t explain why a metric matters, stop tracking it. You’ll save everyone time and make your analytics far more useful.
Step 1: Clean Up Your Pipeline Data (Even If It Hurts)
Analytics is only as good as your data. If your CRM is full of junk, Ocean won’t magically fix it.
Here’s what to do: - Standardize stages: Make sure everyone uses the same pipeline stages, and they actually mean something. - Purge old deals: Close out anything that’s been sitting untouched for months. If it comes back, you can always reopen it. - Check required fields: Make sure reps can’t move deals forward without filling in key info (like amount, close date, next step). - Audit recent deals: Spot-check a handful of closed-won and closed-lost deals. Is the data accurate? If not, you’ve got a process problem.
What to ignore: Don’t get caught up “perfecting” every data field. Focus on the 3-5 pieces of info you actually need to track progress and forecast.
Step 2: Connect Ocean and Pull in Your Data
Ocean integrates with most major CRMs. The setup isn’t rocket science, but you’ll want to pay attention to how your data flows.
Checklist: - Connect your CRM: You’ll usually need admin access. Ocean supports Salesforce, HubSpot, and others—check what’s available. - Map fields: Make sure your deal stages and fields line up with Ocean’s analytics models. - Import historical data: If you want to spot trends, bring in at least 6-12 months of pipeline history (if you have it). - Test the sync: Pull up a few deals in both systems. If things don’t match, fix it now before your team starts relying on the dashboards.
Honest take: If your CRM data is a mess, Ocean will just surface that mess more clearly. Don’t skip step 1.
Step 3: Set Up Your Core Pipeline Views
This is where Ocean’s analytics are genuinely helpful—you can slice, dice, and visualize your pipeline far better than in most CRMs. But don’t go overboard with custom dashboards nobody uses.
Recommended views to create: - Pipeline by stage: Shows where deals are in the process, and how that’s trending over time. - Deal velocity: Tracks average days in each stage. Look for bottlenecks. - Conversion rates: % of opportunities making it from stage to stage. - Forecast roll-up: How much is likely to close this month/quarter, based on stage and historical conversion.
Optional, but useful: - Stalled deals: Anything sitting X days in the same stage. - Rep-level performance: Not just win rates, but how quickly reps move deals, and where they get stuck.
Skip this: You don’t need a dashboard for every metric under the sun. Focus on the ones your team will actually act on.
Step 4: Diagnose Where (and Why) Deals Get Stuck
Ocean’s analytics can show you where deals pile up, but you still need to dig into the “why.” Don’t just accept the numbers at face value.
How to approach it: - Look for patterns: Are deals stalling at the proposal stage? Is a particular rep struggling? Is a certain industry or segment not moving? - Ask your team: Data is a starting point—talk to reps and managers about what’s happening. - Check for process issues: Are you missing follow-ups? Are approvals slow? Is pricing too complex? - Use filters: Ocean lets you break down data by segment, product, or deal size. Use this to see if problems are widespread or isolated.
What doesn’t work: Relying on averages alone. One giant deal can skew the numbers. Always look at the shape of the pipeline, not just the totals.
Step 5: Take Action—and Track If It Works
Analytics are useless if you don’t actually change anything. Here’s how to go from “insight” to improvement:
Make a change: Pick one bottleneck to address—say, speeding up deal velocity at the contract stage.
Examples: - Set up an auto-reminder for reps if deals sit more than 7 days in a stage. - Add a required “next step” field in the CRM. - Run a quick training on objection handling for the team.
Track results: Use Ocean to watch the relevant metric over the next month. Did deal velocity improve? Are fewer deals stalling?
Iterate: If it worked, keep it. If not, try something else. Don’t make five changes at once—you won’t know what moved the needle.
Pro tip: Share the results with your team, even if it’s not all good news. Transparency builds trust and actually helps people buy into the process.
Step 6: Forecast Smarter (But Don’t Trust “AI” Blindly)
Ocean offers forecasting tools, some of which are genuinely useful—especially if you’re tired of sandbagged spreadsheets. But don’t let the machine do your thinking for you.
What works: - Historical conversion-based forecasting: Predicts likely outcomes based on past stage-by-stage conversions. - Weighted pipeline: Values deals at different percentages depending on stage (e.g., 10% at “Discovery,” 70% at “Contract”). - Scenario planning: See what happens if you win or lose a key deal.
What to ignore: - “AI magic” that promises to read every email and tell you which deals will close. These models are only as good as your data, and they’re often just old-school regression with a new label. - Forecasts that ignore real-world changes (like a sudden market downturn, or a key rep leaving).
Honest take: Use Ocean’s forecasts as a starting point, then apply your own judgment. The software can show you trends, but you still need to know your business.
Step 7: Build a Cadence—Don’t “Set and Forget”
The biggest mistake teams make with analytics is treating it as a one-off project. If you want lasting improvements, make pipeline reviews a regular thing.
How to do it: - Weekly pipeline review: Look at the dashboards with your team. Focus on stuck deals, upcoming close dates, and any surprises. - Monthly deep dive: Analyze conversion rates, deal velocity, and rep performance. Adjust your approach as needed. - Quarterly process review: Revisit your stages and metrics. Cut what’s not useful. Add what’s missing.
Pro tip: Keep meetings focused. Don’t review every deal—spot-check problem areas, celebrate wins, and move on.
What to Watch Out For (And What to Skip)
Not everything about analytics is rosy. Here’s what to keep an eye on:
- Garbage in, garbage out: Analytics tools can’t fix bad data. Keep your CRM clean.
- Over-measuring: Tracking too many things leads to dashboard fatigue. Less is more.
- Blaming the tool: Ocean can help you see what’s happening, but it won’t fix your sales process for you.
- Ignoring context: Numbers are helpful, but talk to your team. The “why” matters as much as the “what.”
Keep It Simple, Ship Fast, Iterate Often
You don’t need to build the perfect analytics setup on day one. Start with the basics, fix obvious issues, and use your tools to spot what’s working (and what isn’t). Ocean’s analytics can be genuinely helpful—as long as you focus on actionable insights and don’t drown in dashboards. Keep it simple, act on what you learn, and don’t be afraid to change things up as your sales process evolves.
The best pipeline is one you actually use—so get started, and keep it moving.