The Holy Trinity of Pipeline Management

Hello Predictable Revenue community,

Book update: we’re at 157 pre-orders with 2 months to go! Holy moly, I never thought I’d break 50 and now suddenly 500 seems doable if we really push. Thank you to everyone who has ordered the book already, I am so excited for you to read it. Also, check out what showed up this week!!!

Founder Sales Guide update: the latest iteration is ready and I’ve added it to the pre-sale benefits google doc. If you haven’t ordered your copy yet, you can do that on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Indigo (for my Canadian readers). For the first time, you can now pre-order the Kindle edition. The audiobook is up for pre-order on B&N but not Amazon yet.

Now to our regularly scheduled programming. Fair warning, this one’s a bit longer than usual. It’s a meaty topic and I didn’t want to split it up when the three pieces all belong together.

Your pipeline isn’t built on evidence—it’s built on hope. You’re losing sight of what actually needs attention today because your Next Actions (if you even write them down) look like “follow up.” Deals that are in very different places all sit in the same stage, what “Qualify” means depends on the day. And you’re almost certainly skipping steps or missing information without realizing it—because none of it is being tracked.

No, I didn’t hack your CRM. This is just how most founders run their pipeline.

Here’s the reality: not every deal is winnable. The real skill is figuring out which ones are worth your time.

Most founders don’t dig deep enough to make that call. They ask a few surface-level questions, then rush to the demo. The problem is, when you skip real discovery, every deal looks like a perfect fit—until it disappears. That’s why sales starts to feel like a black box, and forecasting feels like guesswork dressed up as science.

The truth is, you don’t need a bigger pipeline—you need a better system. A system that tells you:

• Where each deal really stands in the buyer’s journey

• What specific action you need to take next, and when

• How much you actually know about the opportunity versus what you’re assuming

That’s what this post is about: the three elements that transform your pipeline from hope and hunches into a system you can trust.

The Holy Trinity of Pipeline Management

To make your pipeline reliable, you need three elements working together. Each solves a different problem, but the real magic comes when you use all three consistently.

Think of them like the three legs of a stool. Take one away, and the whole thing wobbles. Most founders manage to put one or two in place, but they miss the compounding effect that only shows up when all three work in unison.

Here they are:

• Customer Verifiable Outcomes (CVOs) — pipeline stages based on customer actions, not your feelings. They answer: “Where is this deal really in the buyer’s journey?”

• Next Actions + Next Action Dates — a verb-led task you control, paired with a specific date. They answer: “What exact step will move this deal forward, and when will I do it?”

• MEDDPICC Qualification Scoring — a structured 0–2 scoring system across eight criteria. It answers: “How much do I actually know about this deal?” and exposes gaps that can quietly kill it later.

Here’s why each element matters—and how they reinforce each other when you put them into practice.

1. Customer Verifiable Outcomes (Pipeline Stages)

Most founders define pipeline stages based on what they did—sent a proposal, had a call, got a “verbal yes.” The problem is, none of that proves where the buyer actually is in their process. Customer Verifiable Outcomes (CVOs) fix this by tying stages to actions the customer has taken, not your interpretation of their interest. That way, your pipeline becomes a record of real commitment, not wishful thinking.

Bad stages (your assumptions):

• Interested

• Proposal Sent

• Verbal Commitment

• 90% Likely

Good stages (customer actions):

• Qualified: Prospect attended first call and agreed to next step

• Discovery: Key stakeholders attended discovery call

• Solution Review: Prospect confirmed “do nothing” is off the table

• Solution Validation: Prospect confirmed your solution meets their criteria

When a deal moves to “Solution Review,” you know it’s real—not because you feel confident, but because the customer explicitly said they’re committed.

2. Next Actions + Next Action Dates

A messy pipeline isn’t usually the result of too few opportunities—it’s the result of too many vague “follow-ups” that go nowhere. Next Actions fix this by forcing you to write down a specific, verb-led task you control, along with the date you’ll do it. This turns your pipeline into a daily to-do list that actually drives deals forward instead of leaving you staring blankly at your CRM.

Bad Next Actions (vague):

• Follow up

• Send proposal

• Check in next week

Good Next Actions (specific):

• Booked technical demo with John and Sarah for next Tuesday

• Send ROI calculation showing 15% cost savings by Friday 

• Booked follow up call for next Tuesday

The key is to set your Next Action right after every interaction, while the context is fresh. Do it before you close your laptop, and you’ll never have to reload the entire deal from memory again.

3. MEDDPICC Qualification Scoring

Founders get lost in their pipeline when they assume a deal is solid without knowing enough about it. MEDDPICC scoring fixes this by giving you a simple 0–2 framework for how much information you’ve actually gathered. It’s not about predicting the odds of closing—it’s about showing you exactly where your gaps are, so you know what to ask next.

Here’s what MEDDPICC covers:

• Metric — What is the measurable business impact your solution delivers?

• Economic Buyer — Who controls the budget and can sign off?

• Decision Criteria — What factors will they use to decide?

• Decision Process — How will the decision be made, step by step?

• Paper Process — What procurement/legal steps are required to finalize?

• Identified Pain — What critical problem must be solved?

• Champion — Who inside the account is selling on your behalf?

• Competition — Who else are they evaluating (including “do nothing”)?

Scoring system:

• 0 = No information gathered

• 1 = Partial knowledge, gaps remain

• 2 = Complete understanding with actionable insights

A 14/16 score doesn’t mean an 88% chance of winning—it means you’ve collected 88% of the information you need to manage the deal well. High scores = trustworthy forecasts. Low scores = you’re guessing.

Where to Start

The temptation is to overhaul everything at once—but that almost always leads to inconsistency. Sales systems only work if you can execute them every time.

The smarter approach is to pick one element, implement it completely, and build momentum before layering on the others. That way, the process sticks.

Here’s where to start, depending on your biggest pain point:

• Start with Next Actions if your biggest issue is daily chaos about what to do next.

• Start with Customer Verifiable Outcomes if your forecasts are constantly off.

• Start with MEDDPICC if you keep losing deals you thought were “sure things.”

Simple processes followed consistently beat complex systems applied sporadically.

The Complete System

The Holy Trinity builds the foundation, but it’s only one piece of running a predictable sales machine. On their own, CVOs, Next Actions, and MEDDPICC give you pipeline discipline—but they don’t cover how to run conversations, manage different funnels, or keep yourself consistent day to day.

That’s where the complete methodology comes in. It ties everything together:

• The Selling V conversational framework to guide discovery and demos

• The Four Funnels system to manage different opportunity types separately

• Advanced qualification techniques to sharpen deal evaluation

• Systematic prospecting approaches to keep the top of the funnel full

• Daily productivity systems to make sure nothing slips through the cracks

Individually, each piece helps. Together, they create a repeatable system for founder-led sales success.

I’ve documented everything in the Founder Sales Guide—but it’s only available to founders who’ve pre-ordered the main book. Why? Because I’m greedy and I want you to pre-order the book 😛. Here’s that link again.  

If you want the complete guide—including CRM templates, qualification frameworks, conversational scripts, and daily management systems—send me your pre-order receipt. 

The Bottom Line

Most pipeline problems aren’t pipeline problems—they’re systems problems. Deals are managed on hope instead of evidence, follow-ups are vague instead of specific, and stages are based on feelings instead of customer actions. That’s why forecasts collapse, deals slip, and sales feels unpredictable.

The Holy Trinity fixes this. Customer Verifiable Outcomes give you evidence-based stages, Next Actions keep momentum moving, and MEDDPICC exposes the gaps that derail deals. Together, they create objective criteria for every part of deal management.

When you know exactly where each opportunity stands, what needs to happen next, and how much information you actually have, sales stops being guesswork and starts being execution.

Stop managing your pipeline like a wish list. Your deals deserve better than hope and prayers.

Collin

PS - I’ll be in SF next month and am considering hosting a small meetup (possibly bring some books to share), hit me back with SF if you’re interested. I’m in town for the Clay conference so the meetup will likely be on the 18th.