Exit criterion

A verifiable fact a deal must have before entering a pipeline stage: a contact with the economic buyer role, an attached dated proposal, a signed order form. Mapped to a CRM field so the stage can be audited weekly. Stage probabilities are then derived from history, not set in a workshop.

DefinitionA verifiable fact a deal must have before entering a pipeline stage: a contact with the economic buyer role, an attached dated proposal, a signed order form. Mapped to a CRM field so the stage can be audited weekly. Stage probabilities are then derived from history, not set in a workshop.

Fact, not judgement

"Customer is interested" is not a criterion. "Proposal attached, dated" is.

Versioned

A criterion tightened in April makes the stage smaller from April. The version on the report says it is the definition, not the pipeline.

How it is used

A fact that can be checked in the record before a deal enters a stage: a named economic buyer with logged contact, a dated next step agreed with the customer, a budget figure stated by the customer.

Example

To enter proposal stage a deal needs a contact with the economic buyer role and a meeting logged with them. Thirty-one of seventy deals in proposal fail the test.

Where it goes wrong

Stages defined by what the rep did, such as sent a proposal. Progress is what the customer did.

Articles that use this term

Forecast and pipeline

Pipeline stage definitions: exit criteria that make a weighted forecast mean something

Why a stage-weighted forecast is only as good as the stage definitions, what an exit criterion is, five stages with criteria a rep can verify and a manager can audit, how to check from the CRM that deals in a stage actually meet its criteria, the stage probabilities derived from the team's own history rather than set in a workshop, and the versioning that keeps last year's pipeline comparable.

16 Sept 20262 min read