Pipeline & Funnel Alignment Tool

SFDC Opportunity Stage Definitions

Standardized criteria for every stage — ensuring AEs and leadership see the same pipeline. Click any stage for full entry/exit criteria, SFDC fields, and Clari bucket mapping.

📋 Universal Entry Rules

These rules apply to ALL stage progressions. A deal cannot advance without meeting these conditions:

✅Next step date is set and in the future (never blank)
✅Close date is realistic — validated with the customer or champion
✅At least one internal contact with name and title in SFDC
✅Opportunity name follows naming convention: [Account] — [Use Case] — [Quarter]
✅ARR value is populated (estimate acceptable in early stages)
✅Stage notes field updated within the last 14 days

⚠️ Stage Regression Rules

These conditions require immediate stage regression — non-negotiable regardless of prior progress:

🔴Champion leaves the company or role — regress to previous stage, rebuild
🔴Economic buyer explicitly declines to engage — immediate review required
🔴RFP issued that you were not aware of — competitive re-qualification required
🔴Budget has been removed or put on hold — remove from commit/upside immediately
🔴No contact in 30+ days at Stage 3+ — mandatory review with manager
🔴Close date has slipped more than 60 days from original — flag for pipeline review

Forecast Commit Categories

Standard definitions for Commit, Upside, Pipeline, and Omitted — aligned to Clari buckets. AEs and managers must share identical definitions to produce accurate forecasts.

ℹ️

Clari Integration Note: These categories map directly to Clari's AI-driven forecast buckets. Manual overrides in Clari should only occur when the AE has information the AI cannot access (e.g., verbal commitment, contract in review). All overrides require a note in the Clari comments field.

🔒

Commit

Clari: COMMIT | 90-100% Confidence

The AE is personally committing this deal will close in the current period. This is a professional commitment — not an estimate. Use sparingly and accurately.

REQUIRED TO COMMIT:
✓ Economic Buyer has verbally or in writing approved moving forward
✓ Legal / procurement process is underway
✓ No known competitive threats remain active
✓ Close date is within current quarter
✓ Champion is actively supporting and engaged
✓ Budget is confirmed and allocated
✓ MEDDPICC score ≥ 28/40

📈

Best Case / Upside

Clari: BEST CASE | 60-89% Confidence

The AE believes this deal could close in the current period if things break the right way. Tracking closely, active engagement, but not guaranteed.

CRITERIA FOR BEST CASE:
✓ Discovery is complete and pain is validated
✓ Technical validation passed (or in progress)
✓ Champion is engaged and supportive
✓ Economic Buyer has been identified (may not be engaged yet)
✓ Close date is within current quarter
✓ 1-2 risk factors remain (procurement, budget approval, etc.)
✓ MEDDPICC score ≥ 18/40

🔭

Pipeline

Clari: PIPELINE | 10-59% Confidence

Active opportunity being developed. Not expected in current period, but real and being worked. Tracks against next-quarter or beyond coverage targets.

CRITERIA FOR PIPELINE:
✓ At minimum: discovery conversation has occurred
✓ ICP fit confirmed (or under evaluation)
✓ Pain has been identified or hypothesized
✓ Primary contact established (not necessarily decision maker)
✓ Next step is defined with a date
✓ Close date is beyond current quarter
✗ Not appropriate for current-quarter forecast roll-up

🚫

Omitted / At Risk

Clari: OMIT | 0-9% Confidence

Deal is in SFDC but excluded from forecast. Used for deals with fundamental qualification issues, lost but not yet closed, or on hold by the customer.

WHEN TO OMIT:
✓ Customer has explicitly paused engagement ("call me next quarter")
✓ Key stakeholder departure leaves deal without a champion
✓ Budget has been confirmed as unavailable this fiscal year
✓ Competing vendor has reached contract stage before you
✓ Deal requires product capability not yet available
✓ AE has not been able to make contact in 45+ days
→ Keep in SFDC — do NOT close. Revisit monthly.

🔀 If/Then Commit Scenarios

IF

Economic Buyer says "I love it, let's move forward" verbally in a meeting

THEN

Move to Commit only if paper process is underway and close date is within 30 days. Otherwise → Best Case.

IF

Customer asks for a price quote or proposal

THEN

Move to Stage 4 (Proposal), Best Case category. A quote request is not a buying signal until there is a committed timeline from the EB.

IF

Contract is sent but not yet signed

THEN

Commit — but only if: sent to the right signer, no major legal redlines outstanding, and expected signature date is in the current period.

IF

Champion says "we just need to get final approval from my CFO"

THEN

Best Case. You do not have EB engagement confirmed. CFO approval ≠ commitment until you have spoken directly with the CFO or received written confirmation.

IF

Customer pushes close date from Q2 to Q3

THEN

Immediately remove from Q2 Commit/Best Case. Update SFDC close date. Flag in Clari. Discuss with manager. Keep in Pipeline for Q3 coverage.

IF

POV/pilot is approved and underway

THEN

Best Case if POV has agreed-upon success criteria and a committed follow-on timeline. Pipeline if POV timeline is open-ended or success criteria are undefined.

Stage Placement Simulator

Enter your deal details and get an objective stage recommendation, forecast category, and risk flags — based on MEDDPICC, SFDC standards, and Clari alignment criteria.

Deal Details

Account Name

Opportunity Name

ARR Value ($)

Target Close Date

Last Customer Contact

Days in Current Stage

MEDDPICC Status — Answer each honestly

Key Risks / Open Issues

Leadership Forecast View

What sales leadership expects to see in SFDC and Clari — standards for clean, accurate, and trustworthy pipeline reporting.

⚠️

Pipeline Trust Equation: Forecast credibility = Stage accuracy × Commit discipline × Hygiene compliance. A single sandbagged deal or inflated Commit destroys leadership trust in the entire pipeline view. The standards below are non-negotiable.

📊 Expected Pipeline Coverage Standards

Timeframe	Commit Target	Best Case Target	Total Coverage	Clari AI Alignment	Manager Review Cadence
Current Quarter	≥ 70% of quota in Commit	Additional 30-50% of quota in Best Case	1.5-2x quota	Clari call within ±10% of Commit	Weekly 1:1 + Monday forecast call
Next Quarter	Minimal (early stage only)	Building — target 30%+ of quota	2-3x quota	Track Clari Pipeline bucket	Monthly QBR review
Q+2 and beyond	N/A	N/A	3-5x quota	Territory coverage metric	Quarterly territory review

🔴 Red Flags — Leadership Escalation Triggers

🚨Any deal in Commit with no next step date in SFDC
🚨Commit deal where AE hasn't spoken to EB in 30+ days
🚨Close date slipped for a 3rd time — requires manager call review
🚨Deal at Stage 4+ with no Economic Buyer identified in SFDC
🚨Clari AI score and AE forecast category differ by more than 2 tiers
🚨Pipeline coverage below 2x for current quarter by Week 4 of quarter
🚨AE has added >30% of quarter Commit in final 3 weeks of quarter

✅ Green Signals — Healthy Pipeline Indicators

✅Clari AI call within 5-10% of AE Commit — high forecast trust
✅All Commit deals have recent (< 14 days) SFDC activity
✅Stage distribution balanced — deals at multiple stages
✅Economic Buyer identified and engaged in all Stage 3+ deals
✅Close date accuracy: < 15% of deals have slipped in current quarter
✅Win rate: closed-won / closed-all > 25% (enterprise benchmark)
✅Average deal age by stage within expected cycle time ranges

📅 Forecast Submission Timeline — Weekly Cadence

${['Monday\nForecast Due','Tuesday\nManager Review','Wednesday\nDeal Reviews','Thursday\nClari AI Sync','Friday\nPipeline Update'].map((d,i)=>{ const descs = [ 'AE submits weekly forecast in Clari by 9am. Commit, Best Case, and Pipeline categories updated.', 'Manager reviews Clari dashboard vs. AE forecast. Flags discrepancies. 1:1 coaching on at-risk deals.', 'Deal-level reviews for Stage 3+ opportunities. MEDDPICC validation on Commit deals.', 'Clari AI runs weekly forecast model. AEs review AI call vs. their submission and note overrides.', 'Pipeline hygiene check: update close dates, stages, next steps, and activity notes before EOW.' ]; const colors = ['var(--blue)','var(--teal)','var(--navy)','var(--purple)','var(--amber)']; const [day,action] = d.split('\n'); return `

${day}

${action}

${descs[i]}

`; }).join('')}

Pipeline Hygiene Standards

Required SFDC field completion and maintenance rules for a clean, trustworthy funnel that leadership can rely on for accurate forecasting.

📝 Required SFDC Fields by Stage

SFDC Field	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4+
Account	✅	✅	✅	✅
Opportunity Name	✅	✅	✅	✅
Close Date	✅	✅	✅	✅
ARR Amount	Est. OK	✅	✅	✅
Primary Contact	✅	✅	✅	✅
Economic Buyer	—	Identify	✅	✅
Decision Criteria	—	✅	✅	✅
Competitor	—	✅	✅	✅
Next Step Date	✅	✅	✅	✅
Next Step Description	✅	✅	✅	✅
MEDDPICC Notes	—	Start	✅	✅
Forecast Category	Pipeline	Pipeline	Pipeline/BC	BC/Commit

⏱ Stale Deal Thresholds — Action Required

When a deal hasn't progressed, the AE and manager must take one of the defined actions below. "No action" is not an option.

Stage 1-2 · Stale after 21 days

Action: Re-engage or close. If no response after 3 attempts — mark as Closed Lost (Disqualified) to keep funnel clean.

Stage 3 · Stale after 30 days

Action: Manager review required. Either re-engage at executive level, regress stage, or move to Omit. Must be discussed in next 1:1.

Stage 4+ · Stale after 14 days

Action: Immediate escalation. Late-stage deals stalling almost always mean a qualification gap. MEDDPICC review + senior leadership engagement.

🔧 Clari-Specific Hygiene Rules

AE Responsibilities in Clari

📅

Weekly Forecast Submission

Every Monday by 9am — update Commit, Best Case, and Pipeline buckets. Clari stores history so every change is auditable.

💬

Override Comments Required

Any AI override (moving a deal up or down from Clari's AI recommendation) must have a comment explaining why. "I know my customer" is not sufficient.

🔄

SFDC Must Match Clari

SFDC is the system of record. If Clari shows something different from SFDC stage, fix SFDC first. Never use Clari to paper over SFDC inaccuracies.

What Clari AI Flags (And Why)

🤖

Clari "Called" vs. AE "Commit"

If Clari AI calls a deal at <50% and you have it in Commit — you need to explain this to your manager in writing before the Monday forecast call.

📊

Activity Signal Gaps

Clari tracks email/calendar activity. If there are no customer-facing activities in 14+ days on a Stage 3+ deal, Clari will flag it as "engagement risk."

⏰

Close Date Velocity

Clari tracks close date changes. Multiple date pushes on a single deal will cause Clari to lower its confidence score — impacting your forecast call.