PACE Sales Strategy & Pipeline Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A sales manager notices that 60% of deals stall at the proposal stage. What is the BEST corrective action?
- Increase the number of cold calls to fill the top of the funnel
- Conduct win/loss analysis on proposals to identify objection patterns (Correct answer)
- Reduce the price on all proposals by 10%
- Move deals faster through earlier stages to compensate
Correct answer: Conduct win/loss analysis on proposals to identify objection patterns
Win/loss analysis at the stall point reveals the root cause of drop-off, enabling targeted coaching and process improvements.
Question 2: Which pipeline metric best predicts whether a sales rep will hit quota next month?
- Number of new leads added this week
- Total pipeline value compared to quota (pipeline coverage ratio) (Correct answer)
- Average discount offered across all open deals
- Number of customer service calls fielded
Correct answer: Total pipeline value compared to quota (pipeline coverage ratio)
Pipeline coverage ratio (typically 3x–4x quota) is the leading indicator most closely correlated with quota attainment.
Question 3: In solution selling, the primary goal of the discovery call is to:
- Present the product's full feature list to educate the prospect
- Understand the prospect's pain points and business impact before pitching (Correct answer)
- Negotiate pricing terms early to qualify budget
- Schedule a product demo as quickly as possible
Correct answer: Understand the prospect's pain points and business impact before pitching
Solution selling centers on deeply understanding the buyer's problems so the pitch can be tailored to their specific business impact.
Question 4: A prospect says 'We already work with a competitor and are happy.' This objection is best categorized as:
- Budget objection
- Authority objection
- Need objection
- Status quo / loyalty objection (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Status quo / loyalty objection
Satisfaction with an incumbent vendor is a status quo objection, requiring the rep to establish differentiated value or uncover latent dissatisfaction.
Question 5: Which of the following is an example of a lagging indicator in sales performance management?
- Number of discovery calls booked this week
- Pipeline coverage ratio
- Closed revenue for the prior quarter (Correct answer)
- Average deal cycle time in the current quarter
Correct answer: Closed revenue for the prior quarter
Closed revenue for a past period is a lagging indicator because it measures outcomes that have already occurred and cannot be changed.
Question 6: When qualifying an opportunity using MEDDIC, 'Economic Buyer' refers to:
- The contact who will use the product daily
- The person with final budget authority and the power to approve the purchase (Correct answer)
- The individual who compares vendor pricing
- The finance department that processes invoices
Correct answer: The person with final budget authority and the power to approve the purchase
The Economic Buyer in MEDDIC is the stakeholder with discretionary authority to release funds and give final deal approval.
Question 7: A sales team is using a CRM but deal stages are inconsistently defined across reps. The FIRST step to fix pipeline accuracy is to:
- Replace the CRM with a more advanced platform
- Standardize stage definitions and entry/exit criteria in writing (Correct answer)
- Hire additional sales operations staff
- Require daily CRM updates from every rep
Correct answer: Standardize stage definitions and entry/exit criteria in writing
Without standardized stage definitions and clear entry/exit criteria, pipeline data is subjective and unreliable regardless of the tool used.
PACE Sales Strategy & Pipeline Management 2
A sales manager notices that 60% of deals stall at the proposal stage.
What is the BEST corrective action?