SSC Sales Process and Pipeline Management 2

Question 1

What is a 'sales forecast' and why is it important?

Accepted Answer

An estimate of expected revenue from current pipeline opportunities within a defined timeframe, used for business planning

Answer

Sales forecasts inform hiring, inventory, cash flow, and executive planning, making accuracy critical to business operations.

Question 2

Which factor most commonly causes deals to stall in the pipeline?

Accepted Answer

A lack of clearly defined next steps or an unaddressed internal obstacle on the buyer's side

Answer

Deals stall when buyers face internal hurdles (budget approval, stakeholder alignment) and there is no agreed plan to move forward.

Question 3

What does 'days to close' (sales cycle length) reveal about a sales process?

Accepted Answer

The efficiency of the sales process and where time is being lost between stages

Answer

Analyzing cycle length by stage reveals bottlenecks where deals slow down, enabling targeted process improvements.

Question 4

What is 'opportunity scoring' used for in pipeline management?

Accepted Answer

Assigning a likelihood-to-close percentage to each deal to prioritize rep effort and improve forecast accuracy

Answer

Opportunity scoring applies criteria to each deal to estimate close probability, helping reps and managers focus on the best bets.

Question 5

A salesperson has 40 opportunities in their pipeline but consistently misses quota. The most likely diagnosis is:

Accepted Answer

The deals are poorly qualified, have low close probability, or the pipeline lacks velocity

Answer

Volume alone does not drive results — poorly qualified or stagnant deals inflate the pipeline without generating revenue.

SSC - Selling Skills Certification Practice Test