Cain And Abel Showed Up In My Last Pipeline Review

I sit in pipeline reviews with CEOs/VPs/CROs all the time. Two of them stick in my head because they happened a week apart at the same company, with the same CRO.

One was real. The other was a story the CRO was telling himself.

The Abel Review

“Why does the Abel account want to buy?”

“Their current system is costing them about $400k a year in wasted time. They’ve tried to fix it internally twice. Didn’t work. The CFO is tired of the problem and committed to solving it this quarter.”

“Who are we talking to?”

“We’ve met with the CFO, the COO, and the VP of IT. The CFO makes the final call. We understand their buying process. Three vendors. Two rounds of meetings. Decision by end of month.”

“Have we discussed price?”

“Yes. We quoted $150k. They didn’t flinch. They’re comparing us to two competitors but we’re differentiated on implementation time.”

“What’s next?”

“Final presentation next Tuesday to the executive team. We’re walking through implementation timeline and ROI. If that goes well, contracts go out Wednesday.”

I looked at the deal. I looked at the VP. I nodded. That’s qualified.

The Cain Review

Same week. Different deal.

“Why does the Cain account want to buy?”

“They’re looking to upgrade their system.”

“Why now?”

“I think…”

“What’s it costing them if they don’t upgrade?”

“I don’t know.”

“Who’s making the decision?”

“My contact says she’ll bring it to the team.”

“Have we discussed money?”

“Not specifically. We sent over some general pricing.”

“What’s next?”

“I’m following up next week.”

The Pattern

The difference between the two reviews wasn’t the deal. It was the information.

The Abel deal had specifics. Numbers. Names. Decision criteria. Timeline. Money discussed.

The Cain deal had hope. The CRO was using the words “I think” and “looking to” and “they seem.” Those are the words reps use when they’re filling in gaps with assumptions.

A deal you can describe with “I think” is not a qualified deal. It’s a conversation.

What This Costs You

Your forecast is built on these reviews. If half the deals in your pipeline look like Cain and you’re treating them like Abel, your forecast is fiction.

You’re hiring against revenue that isn’t coming. You’re committing to spend you can’t cover. You’re walking into board meetings telling a story your numbers won’t back up.

The fix is uncomfortable but it’s not complicated. Every deal in your forecast gets the same questions. 

Why do they want to buy it? 

What’s it costing them? 

Who decides? 

Have we discussed money? 

What’s next and when.

If your rep can’t answer those questions clearly, the deal isn’t qualified. It gets restaged on the spot.

Reps push back at first. They think you don’t trust them. After a few weeks they stop forecasting deals they can’t defend. The pipeline shrinks. What’s left is real.

That’s when the forecast finally gets boring. And boring is the goal.

I wrote a full chapter on what real pipeline reviews sound like in The Four Pillars of Your Sales Engine. 

Click here to grab it

Adam