Pipeline
Pipeline explained — the value of in-progress deals. In 2026, most of the B2B journey happens before pipeline even starts.
Updated July 2026.
The total value of open opportunities moving through your sales process — the forward-looking measure of potential revenue from active deals.
Formula
Sum of (Open Deal Value × Probability to Close)
Benchmark range
Marketing-influenced pipeline and pipeline coverage (pipeline vs. quota) are common B2B health metrics; targets are organization-specific.
Why it matters
Pipeline links marketing activity to revenue potential, but it lags — today's ad spend shows up as pipeline weeks or months later. Track marketing-influenced pipeline to connect the two.
2026 update
Dreamdata's 2026 data reframes the funnel: 81% of the B2B buying journey now happens outside the formal pipeline (up from 70%), across ~272 days and ~10 stakeholders. So pipeline captures only the visible tail of demand — pair it with full-journey, multi-touch measurement to value upper-funnel channels like LinkedIn fairly.
Where it applies
- CRM Platforms