Ep 79 - My Sales Numbers Don’t Lie: What My Pipeline Is Teaching Me

<p><strong>My Sales Numbers Don’t Lie: What My Pipeline Is Teaching Me</strong></p><p>We’re nine months into 2026, so I thought it was time to take you behind the scenes of Selling in the Paddock.</p><p>In this solo episode, I’m looking back at what has already been a massive year — the agricultural businesses I’ve worked with, the travel, workshops, conferences, keynotes, launching the Selling in the Paddock book and continuing to grow the business.</p><p>But more importantly, I’m opening up my own sales pipeline.</p><p>Because I’m not standing on the sidelines teaching sales. I’m in it.</p><p>I’m prospecting. I’m following up. I’m writing proposals. I’m getting ghosted. I’m hearing no. I’m winning work. And sometimes, I’m losing it.</p><p>Recently, I sat down and properly interrogated my Pipedrive CRM and my sales numbers. I had a gut feeling about where I was strong — particularly once an opportunity reached proposal stage — but I wanted to know whether the data actually backed me up.</p><p>It did.</p><p>And it also showed me where the bigger opportunities are in my own sales process.</p><p>In this episode, I unpack:</p><ul><li>What 2026 has looked like behind the scenes at Selling in the Paddock</li><li>Why I use Pipedrive to manage my sales pipeline</li><li>What I actually track in my CRM — and what I don’t</li><li>Why every genuine opportunity needs a next action</li><li>Why I don’t assign a dollar value to every lead immediately</li><li>The difference between a genuine pipeline and a list of people you hope might buy</li><li>Why marking an opportunity as lost can actually help you sell better</li><li>What my own conversion numbers revealed about my strengths</li><li>Why closing isn’t currently the biggest opportunity in my sales process</li><li>How knowing where you’re strong helps you decide where to put your time, energy and resources</li></ul><p>One of my biggest takeaways?</p><p><strong>A pipeline isn’t a list of people you’d like to buy from you. It’s a list of genuine commercial opportunities at different stages.</strong></p><p>And when you understand those stages — and your own strengths within them — you can become much more deliberate about where you put your energy.</p><p>If this episode gets you thinking about your own sales pipeline, send me a DM. I’d love to know: <strong>where are you strongest in your sales process, and where are your opportunities getting stuck?</strong></p><p></p>