Start with a small set of accounts where the business stakes justify enterprise investment. Develop a specific point of view. Bring the right people into the room early. Count pipeline only when the buyer has given us evidence to count it.
Start with conditions, not a number
My repeatable playbook for any new territory, segment or book of business. These are illustrative targets and assumptions, not historical results, a forecast, or a promise of revenue. I validate the product, territory, pricing and resources with sales leadership before adopting the target.
- A mature enterprise offer whose pricing and customer outcomes support approximately $1M average ACV; validate this before adopting the target.
- An assigned territory with at least 100 plausible enterprise accounts, including existing relationships, installed-base expansion or credible partner introductions. A purely cold territory would require a different timeline.
- One seller supported by a dedicated or materially allocated SDR, shared solution architect, executive sponsor and partner lead; no assumption of a solo seller doing every workstream.
- Opportunity close dates may extend beyond day 120. The objective is buyer-validated pipeline creation, not compressing enterprise procurement into four months.
Define what counts
US$12M target. US$10M threshold. Unweighted, qualified ACV at day 120.
Estimated net annual recurring software subscription value for the first 12 months of the proposed purchase, counted once per distinct buying initiative. Excludes services, one-time fees, speculative consumption and total contract value. Uncommitted expansion is excluded. Use the conservative end of a buyer-tested scope and price range.
$10M is the eight-figure threshold; $12M provides an operating target above it. Neither amount is booked revenue. Opportunities must still satisfy the qualification gate at day 120. No probability weighting or TCV is used.
All plan amounts are in US dollars. Historical career figures are separate and are not inputs to this model.
Make the math visible
Planning assumptions, not industry benchmarks: 100 accounts in the assigned territory, led by my top 10 priority accounts → 40 accounts completing first discovery → 16 opportunities passing qualification → 12 still qualified at day 120. At $1M average ACV, that is $12M unweighted pipeline. The model allows four opportunities, or 25% of the newly qualified cohort at the assumed equal ACV, to be removed before day 120.
| Stage | Count | Planning assumption |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts in the assigned territory | 100 | Credible access; my top 10 priority accounts are pursued first |
| Accounts with completed discovery | 40 | 40% of territory accounts |
| Newly qualified opportunities | 16 | 40% of discovered accounts |
| Still qualified at day 120 | 12 | 75% retained after qualification review |
Pressure-test the target
Change the retained opportunity count and average ACV. This arithmetic scenario does not predict conversion or validate an opportunity.
At the same funnel, a $750K average ACV produces $9M. At $1M average ACV, retaining ten qualified opportunities produces $10M. If the territory cannot support the required deal size or conversion, change the target or timeline; never inflate amounts or loosen qualification.
The workload behind the funnel
Map at least three relevant roles per account: roughly 300 contacts. Plan approximately 900 relevant outreach and follow-up touches over 15 productive weeks, or 60 per week shared with the SDR. Aim for three first-discovery meetings per week after ramp, alongside four to six follow-up or validation meetings. Touches and meeting counts are capacity assumptions, not pipeline.
Every pursuit in this playbook follows my Strategic Deal Roadmap, from early alignment to executive commitment.
Four phases, with evidence at every checkpoint
Days 1–30 · Find where we can matter
Learn the product and the territory, then narrow the field to the business problems worth solving.
- Study five customer wins and five losses with sales, delivery and product. Document value realized, implementation demands, deal size and the reasons buyers moved or stalled.
- Prioritize my top 10 accounts using the proprietary framework I’ve established, which measures propensity across three factors: data volumes, annual technology investment, and competitiveness and speed to market. Build deep account plans for those 10; sequence the rest of the territory in smaller cohorts.
- Research and memorize the 10 most relevant customer success stories. For each one, know the business problem, the before-and-after metrics, the timeline and the executives who sponsored and delivered it. Then bring those stories to the C-level executives at my top 10 accounts.
- Ask for conversations with the most successful customer executives behind those stories, to hear the outcomes, the hard parts and their advice first-hand. With their permission, invite them to act as peer references and executive-dinner guests.
- Build an account-specific point of view for each of my top 10 accounts and map three or more relevant roles per account. Test the message through customers, partners and executive introductions.
- Agree on the ACV definition, qualification gate and weekly inspection with the sales leader. Validate whether the territory and support can carry the $12M target.
Leading measures: top 10 accounts prioritized with my framework; 10 deep account plans with three or more roles mapped per account; 10 customer success stories researched and memorized, with the metrics and executives behind each, ready for C-level conversations; conversations requested with the customer executives behind those stories; 8 accounts completing discovery.
Exit criterion: Two opportunities meet the full qualification gate, representing approximately $2M ACV, with documented next steps. Evidence supports the $1M average ACV assumption and enough access to continue the funnel. If it does not, reset the plan with the sales leader by day 30.
Days 31–60 · Turn a point of view into a buying initiative
Move from interesting conversations to buyer-owned problems with a reason to act.
- Run discovery across business and technology roles. Establish a baseline, business consequence, desired outcome and the cost of leaving the problem unresolved.
- Ask champions to pressure-test the point of view with their leadership. Build an economic-buyer access plan and identify who can mobilize the organization.
- Bring solution architecture and the likely implementation partner into the highest-potential pursuits early. Test data, integration and adoption assumptions before promising scope.
- Use targeted executive introductions and partner sessions to open the next account cohort. Remove pursuits with no credible business case or next step.
- Host the first executive dinner: small, C-level and peer-to-peer, ideally with an existing customer executive from one of the 10 success stories at the table. Guests come from my top accounts, and the conversation is about their business, not a presentation.
Leading measures: 20 accounts with discovery completed, cumulative; 150 relevant contacts mapped, cumulative; 6 newly qualified opportunities, cumulative; 5 opportunities still qualified after review; first executive dinner hosted, ideally with an existing customer executive as a peer guest.
Exit criterion: Approximately $5M in active qualified ACV. Every counted opportunity has buyer-confirmed pain, plausible funded scope, a decision path and a dated next step. The initial model allows one of the six qualified opportunities to be removed.
Days 61–90 · Build the case with the buyer
Prove value and feasibility while widening executive and functional support.
- Co-create a concise business case with each serious buying team: baseline, value drivers, assumptions, investment range and accountable business owner.
- Run focused architecture or workflow sessions with clear pass/fail questions. Use customer references matched to the use case and implementation risk.
- Map business, technical, finance and procurement roles. Identify the economic buyer and test the path to a decision with the champion.
- Create a mutual validation plan with buyer-owned actions, owners and dates. Separate the implementation roadmap from the commercial decision process, and make both visible.
- Make executive dinners a recurring play. Host the next one for executives at accounts building a business case, with a customer executive whose story matches their use case, then follow up with peer reference calls where they help.
Leading measures: 32 accounts with discovery completed, cumulative; 240 relevant contacts mapped, cumulative; 12 newly qualified opportunities, cumulative; 9 opportunities still qualified after review; the next executive dinner hosted, with peer reference calls arranged for serious pursuits.
Exit criterion: Approximately $9M in active qualified ACV. The largest five opportunities each have a buyer-reviewed value hypothesis, a documented technical validation path and a credible economic-buyer engagement plan. The model allows three cumulative removals.
Days 91–120 · Make the pipeline defensible
Finish with a portfolio that a sales leader can inspect and a buyer would recognize.
- Inspect every counted opportunity against fresh buyer evidence. Reconfirm scope, ACV range, stakeholders, buying window and the next action; remove stalled or unsupported pursuits.
- Stress-test the largest opportunities with the sales leader, architect and partner lead. Resolve concentration risk and missing decision-maker access.
- For later-stage pursuits, document security, legal, procurement and implementation dependencies with realistic owners and dates. Do not manufacture a near-term close date.
- Host an executive dinner that brings qualified buying teams together with reference customers, and use it to test executive sponsorship on the largest pursuits.
- Present the day-120 portfolio, the conversion evidence, disqualified work and the next 90-day priorities. Make the next investment decisions explicit.
Leading measures: 40 accounts with discovery completed, cumulative; 300 relevant contacts mapped, cumulative; 16 newly qualified opportunities, cumulative; 12 opportunities still qualified after review; executive dinners running as a recurring play, with reference-customer guests.
Exit criterion: $10M minimum threshold; $12M target in unweighted, currently qualified ACV, ideally across 12 independent accounts. Every opportunity passes the same gate, has a buyer-owned next step, and has been reviewed within 14 days. Four cumulative removals are allowed in the planning model; actual amounts and survival rates will vary.
What earns a place in the pipeline
All six conditions must be evidenced. A meeting, demo or enthusiastic contact is insufficient.
1. A business problem the buyer owns
The buyer confirms a material problem, its consequence and a measurable desired outcome. A baseline or explicit plan to establish it is documented.
2. A plausible purchase
There is a fit between the initiative and the product. Scope and an indicative price range have been tested with the buyer, with a credible funding source or budget-approval path.
3. People who can move it
An engaged sponsor has taken a concrete internal action. The economic buyer and relevant business and technical roles are identified, with a credible path to access.
4. A reason and window to act
A buyer-confirmed trigger or priority supports an expected decision within 12 months. Longer-term account potential stays outside this 120-day pipeline count.
5. A decision and validation path
Known decision criteria, competing priorities and material technical or implementation risks are recorded, with a plan to resolve the gaps. Full MEDDPICC maturity is not assumed on first qualification.
6. A mutual next step
The buyer agrees to a specific action, owner and date within 14 days. The record includes evidence, a conservative ACV estimate and the latest qualification review.
Keep the plan honest
Protect selling capacity
Keep at most 20 accounts in deep active pursuit and approximately 12 qualified opportunities active at a time. Sequence or disqualify new work when the weekly load exceeds roughly nine substantive customer meetings. Escalate requests for extra technical support before adding parallel evaluations.
Avoid a one-deal plan
Target at least ten independent accounts. Keep any one account at or below 20% of counted ACV and the largest three at or below 40%. Report any exception openly rather than changing the amount to meet a ratio.
Keep the count clean
Review weekly. Count each distinct initiative once and exclude overlapping phases of the same purchase. Show gross creation, removals and net active ACV separately. An unsupported next step or outdated buyer evidence moves a pursuit out of the qualified total until reconfirmed.
Use AI to improve preparation
Use approved AI tools to organize public research, test account hypotheses and draft questions. Verify every external claim. Keep confidential customer data in approved systems and leave qualification decisions with the seller and buyer evidence.
The executive dinner play
Small, hosted dinners build executive conviction in a way meetings rarely do. I run them as a recurring play from days 31 to 120, and they are part of milestone 4 of my Strategic Deal Roadmap: executive commitment.
- Hosted. I host with a senior leader from my company. The invitation comes from a person, not a campaign.
- Small. One table, so every guest is part of the conversation.
- C-level and peer-to-peer. Executives from target accounts talk with each other about shared problems.
- Anchored by a customer. Ideally, an executive from one of the 10 success stories shares what changed, what was hard and what they would do differently.
- No presentation. The follow-up is a working session, not a deck.
A weekly operating rhythm
- Monday: inspect qualification, evidence, next steps and the largest risks; update gross, removed and net ACV.
- Tuesday through Thursday: protect discovery, executive access, buyer working sessions and partner introductions.
- Friday: review conversion by channel, disqualification reasons and time spent; improve the point of view and choose next week's account cohort.
What I validate before committing to the target
Ambitious and conditional. The plan uses my experience of account prioritization, executive engagement, early architecture and partner collaboration. The numeric funnel and USD pricing are proposed assumptions, not verified benchmarks. The playbook is not built on any specific company’s product, territory, historical conversion rates or resource commitments.
I adapt the account list, buyer hypothesis, value case and operating targets to the actual product and territory before treating this as a territory plan.
Approach informed by my banking deal experience and Brandon Fluharty’s Strategic Selling Teardown. Funnel numbers, USD pricing and milestones are original planning assumptions, not sourced benchmarks.