Stop Fake Pipe Creation in B2B Tech / B2B SaaS

Creating pipeline is the top priority for every B2B Tech / B2B SaaS company. Every tech revenue leader or sales rep has in mind the 3x coverage rule —open pipeline should be three times the target— which is pushing sales teams to generate as much pipeline as possible so that they feel good with their coverage. What if the pipe quality is bad?! You end up with an inflated pipe, artificially good coverage that is not going to translate into bookings. Garbage in, garbage out. Fake pipeline inflates forecasts, wastes sales efforts, and undermines predictability. This article explores how to stop creating fake pipe in B2B Tech / B2B SaaS by defining, implementing, and monitoring a structured pipe creation process.

Executive Summary

In this article how to stop fake pipe in B2B Tech / B2B SaaS and keep the 3x coverage rule meaningful, we will explain:

• Why lack of sales process leads to fake pipe creation
• How to distinguish Qualified vs. Not Qualified pipeline by aligning pipe creation with sales qualification framework
• How to implement a structured pipe creation process and accountability between marketing, SDR and sales, with pipe creation KPIs.

Lack of Sales Process Leads to Fake Pipe Creation

Typical Situations of Artificial Pipe Creation

Have you ever been in that situation? A SDR books a first meeting and logs a deal at 500K, excitement builds with this big deal. AE makes the initial meeting, confirms the deal at 500K, but three months later and a few additional meetings, customer becomes silent, deal is closed, pipe has disappeared. Slightly more positive: the deal initially logged at 500K is closed at 50K, everybody is very happy with this new logo but 450K of initial pipe have been destroyed. Sounds familiar to you? Deals that appear promising at first can very often disappear or shrink, leading to pipeline inflation and inaccurate forecasts.

The 3x coverage ratio becomes irrelevant

The 3x coverage ratio is based on market standard that ⅓ of your deals will be canceled by customer, ⅓ will be lost to competition and ⅓ will be won. The more fake pipe you create, the more you are going to increase the ratio of cancel deals and the less the 3x coverage ratio will be meaningful. Isolate your cancel deals and if your abandon ratio (Cancel / Cancel + Won + Lost) becomes higher than 30%, you are hitting a red mark and it’s a good sign you are creating fake pipe (struggling with your sales KPI? look at our KPI2Commit © masterclass).

Align Pipe Creation and Sales Qualification

If a deal value dramatically shrinks upon deeper discussion, it was never truly qualified. Pipeline quality starts with accurate early-stage assessment. Instead of logging deals at speculative values, Sales Playbook should define how SDRs and AEs are initializing deals and calculating the value of an early stage deal (struggling with your sales process? look at our Process2Commit © masterclass). A deal should only count toward a qualified pipeline if it has passed a pre-defined check list of a sales qualification process. Until then, it should be tracked separately in a not qualified bucket. This distinction, and the way it accounts in sales forecasting, is key to stop creating fake pipe in B2B Tech / B2B SaaS.

Distinguish Qualified vs. Not Qualified Pipe

1. Base Pipe Qualification on a Sales Framework

Back to basics. Define what constitutes a qualified deal using a structured sales qualification framework like BANT, MEDDIC, MEDPIC, SPICED or any other sales qualification framework! Any of these frameworks will help standardize early stage deal assessment across your sales force, ensure consistency in the way deals are created and stop artificial pipe creation. Translate these qualification stages into your CRM pipeline structure so that deal progression is consistent with the commercial reality of deals (struggling with your pipeline structure? look at our Process2Commit © masterclass).

2. Report Separately on Qualified vs. not qualified Pipeline Separately

Instead of looking globally at total pipeline creation, always distinguish for:

• Not Qualified pipeline creation
• Qualified pipeline creation

Apply different forecasting weights (See our article Sales forecasting in B2B Tech / B2B SaaS: Move away from activity based forecasting to get accurate numbers) to qualified and not qualified pipe. This segmentation provides a clearer picture of how your pipe creation is performing, avoids inflated expectations, and allows for more accurate sales forecasting based on pipeline strength.

Track Pipe Creation Performance

1. Clarify SDRs vs. AEs Accountability 

Clear pipeline ownership improves pipeline integrity, prevents premature pipeline inflation and ensures that sales reps engage with validated opportunities rather than chasing weak leads:

• Not Qualified pipe should primarily be owned by SDRs, focusing on early-stage deal engagement and nurturing not qualified deals that will require more evangelization before moving to a qualified stage.
• Qualified pipe only should be assigned to AEs, based on your sales qualification framework. If you pass not qualified pipe to AEs, ensure they are processed differently as AEs primary focus should be closing qualified deals.

Create a structured SDR-to-Rep transfer process and implement it in your CRM: if a deal does not meet qualification criteria, the AE should have the ability to reject it and send it back to the SDR for requalification. A well-defined loop-back mechanism ensures that only validated deals move forward, reducing wasted effort and improving sales forecast accuracy.

2. Measure Rejection Rates and De-Book Unqualified Deals

If AEs frequently reject SDR-generated deals, it signals a deeper pipeline quality issue and badly executed qualification process. Measure percentage of deals rejected by AEs and de-book rejected deals from SDR achievement metrics. This ensures SDRs stay aligned with company objective to achieve the right balance between quality and volume, preventing a pipeline filled with unqualified deals that inflate sales projections without contributing to real revenue.

3. Advanced monitoring – Track Positive and Negative Pipeline Variations

Beyond Lost / Cancel volumes and Reject rates, if your CRM has the ability to do so, track more advanced pipe variations that will give you a full picture of fake pipe creation (Struggling with sales performance monitoring in your CRM? Have a look at SnowLeopard Platform):

• Track pipeline amount variations up and down (e.g., a deal moving from $500K to $50K… or vice versa!), compare deal size value at creation vs at closing,
• Track conversion rates from Not Qualified pipe to Qualified pipe to analyze your efficiency in nurturing cold leads.

Conclusion – Implement a Pipe Creation playbook

Pipeline creation should not be a volume game whole sale would be to check the 3x coverage ratio box; it should be a structured process built for accuracy! To monitor pipe creation effectively and stop creating fake pipe in B2B Tech / B2B SaaS, companies must:

• Clearly separate Qualified vs. Not Qualified pipe using a standardized sales qualification framework,
• Define clear SDR / AE ownership of Not Qualified vs Qualified pipe
• Implement a structured SDR to AE transfer process, to prevent weak leads from entering forecasted pipeline (Struggling to produce a reliable forecast? Look at our Forecast2Commit © masterclass).
• Track every step of the process to be data driven in the way you improve your efficiency.

This requires a pipe creation playbook that sets clear definitions, CRM data capture rules, and ensures teams follow rigorously process. With the right approach, companies can move from inflated, unreliable pipeline numbers to accurate sales forecasting and predictable revenue growth.