SALES FUNNEL DEFINITION AND REVIEW TEMPLATE
Original ShowMeYourSaaS resource — 2026-10-27
Guide: https://showmeyoursaas.com/articles/sales-funnel/
Companion dataset: sales-funnel-workbook.json

REPORT CONTRACT
Question and decision:
Population and starting stage:
Person/account unit and deduplication rules:
Conversion window measured from which entry event:
Report cutoff and treatment of incomplete windows:
Required stage ordering and any optional/skipped paths:
Test-account, merge, re-entry, and missing-event rules:

FICTIONAL BRIEFBOARD EXAMPLE
Unit: one account. 20 interested accounts; all have complete 28-day windows.
Interested: describes the recurring brief-preparation problem — 20 accounts.
Qualified: job, owner, and feasible near-term evaluation confirmed — 12.
Trial: begins the agreed workflow — 8.
First useful result: completes and can retrieve one usable project brief — 5.
Paid: first workspace payment within the window — 3.
This teaching path is nested and requires trial/first result before payment.
That requirement is not universal. The workbook encodes deepest stage reached,
which implies all preceding stages in this explicitly defined example.

EXPECTED ARITHMETIC
Interested -> qualified: 12/20 = 60%.
Qualified -> trial: 8/12 = 66.67%, rounded.
Trial -> first useful result: 5/8 = 62.5%.
First useful result -> paid: 3/5 = 60%.
Interested -> paid: 3/20 = 15%.
Trial -> paid: 3/8 = 37.5%.
The different overall rates use different starting populations.
Multiplying exact nested stage fractions reconciles to 3/20. Multiplying
rounded displayed percentages can create rounding differences.

DATA CHECKS
Count distinct accounts, not messages, page views, or webhook deliveries.
Do not mix anonymous visitors with identified accounts without a stated rule.
An account still in its 28-day window is not a completed-window failure.
A pipeline snapshot of current deals is not a cohort-conversion denominator.
State stage definitions next to the report and retain lost/inactive cases.

YOUR STAGES (repeat)
Stage name:
Observable entry criterion:
Responsible owner:
Data source and identity key:
Required predecessor and conversion window:
Count reaching stage / eligible preceding count / percentage:

INVESTIGATE ONE CONSTRAINT
Observed drop-off, with counts:
Representative account evidence:
Account's stated reason:
Your interpretation and alternative explanations:
Instrumentation or identity problems to rule out:
One next question, method, owner, and review date:
What would change the decision?

Counts alone do not establish cause, closing probability, channel profit,
or future revenue. The original example is synthetic, not company results.

Sources checked 2026-10-27:
https://www.salesforce.com/sales/funnel/
https://www.salesforce.com/in/sales/pipeline/
https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.mc_pers_report_activity_funnel.htm&language=en_US&type=5