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Blog · Forecast and pipeline · Sales teams

Meeting conversion on ten first meetings: the whole arithmetic on one page

The complete meeting-to-opportunity conversion calculation on ten first meetings from two reps, small enough to check by hand: the first-meeting rule, the source per account, the pipeline's opportunity created dates, the thirty-day window, converted or not per meeting, the follow-up check, conversion per rep and per source, the no-follow-up list, the meeting whose opportunity came outside the window, and the assertion that first meetings equal converted plus followed-up plus no-follow-up, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own activity log and pipeline.

By CoviragePublished 17 September 20263 min read
The short answerTen first meetings, two reps, three sources. A first meeting is a logged meeting on an account with no meeting in the prior ninety days and no open opportunity. A meeting converts if a qualified opportunity is created on the account within thirty days. Four convert; three have follow-up activity but no opportunity; three have no follow-up at all. Rep R-1 converts one of six, R-2 three of four. By source, referrals convert two of two, inbound two of four, cold none of four. One opportunity was created forty-five days after its meeting and does not count. First meetings equal converted plus followed-up plus no-follow-up. Every number can be reproduced by hand.

Meeting conversion is a join between the activity log and the pipeline with a window, and on ten meetings it can be done by hand. This page works the first-meeting rule, the window, the states, the rates by rep and source, the list and the assertion. Window: 30 days.

The ten first meetings

Each passes the first-meeting rule: no meeting on the account in the prior 90 days, no open opportunity at the time.

Meeting Rep Account Source Meeting date Opportunity created Days after Follow-up activity in 30 days
1 R-1 A Cold 1 Aug none None
2 R-1 B Cold 4 Aug none Call 12 Aug
3 R-1 C Inbound 6 Aug 20 Aug 14
4 R-1 D Cold 8 Aug none None
5 R-1 E Inbound 11 Aug 25 Sep 45 Email 20 Aug
6 R-1 F Cold 13 Aug none None
7 R-2 G Referral 15 Aug 22 Aug 7
8 R-2 H Inbound 18 Aug none Call 25 Aug
9 R-2 I Referral 20 Aug 3 Sep 14
10 R-2 J Inbound 22 Aug 10 Sep 19

The state per meeting

Converted: opportunity within 30 days. Followed up: activity within 30 days, no opportunity. No follow-up: neither.

Meeting State
1 No follow-up
2 Followed up
3 Converted
4 No follow-up
5 Followed up; opportunity at 45 days, outside the window, shown
6 No follow-up
7 Converted
8 Followed up
9 Converted
10 Converted

The assertion

first meetings = converted + followed up + no follow-up = 4 + 3 + 3 = 10

Conversion per rep

Rep First meetings Converted Conversion No follow-up Source mix
R-1 6 1 17% 3 (50%) 4 cold, 2 inbound
R-2 4 3 75% 0 2 referral, 2 inbound

Conversion per source

Source Meetings Converted Conversion
Referral 2 2 100%
Inbound 4 2 50%
Cold 4 0 0%

The no-follow-up list

Rep Account Meeting Days since
R-1 A 1 Aug 47
R-1 D 8 Aug 40
R-1 F 13 Aug 35

Three accounts met and never contacted again. All cold-sourced; all R-1's.

Reading R-1 fairly

R-1's meetings are mostly cold, and cold converts at zero on this page and at about one in eight on a full quarter. Source explains some of the gap to R-2. The three accounts with no follow-up explain the rest, and that is process, not source.

Where it goes wrong, even at ten

Meetings counted, not converted. R-1 held the most meetings and leads the dashboard.

No source split. R-1 is blamed for the cold source; R-2 is credited for the referrals.

Window unstated. Meeting 5 counts and R-1's rate reads 33 percent.

Second meetings counted as first. A meeting on account G a week after meeting 7 would double-count G's cycle.

From ten to ten thousand

The same rule, window and states per meeting, per rep and source, every week. Covirage runs it on the activity log and the pipeline snapshots. The meeting conversion guide covers the measure, and the revenue operations guide covers where it sits among the four handoffs.

Questions people ask

Why the ninety-day rule for a first meeting?

Because a meeting on an account met last month is a second meeting in a cycle already running, and counting it as a first meeting double-counts the cycle. Ninety days with no meeting and no open opportunity marks the start of a new one. The rule is stated.

Why does the forty-five-day opportunity not count?

Because the window is thirty days, stated, and an opportunity six weeks later may be a different conversation. It is shown on the row as converted outside the window, so the reader can see it, and it is not in the rate.

What is the reading for R-1?

Four of R-1's six meetings were cold-sourced, which converts at one in eight for everyone, and three of the six had no follow-up. Source explains part of the one-in-six; the no-follow-up list explains the rest, and it has three account names on it.

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