Sales professionals. Go into your pipeline right now and take stock in the opportunities you have in there. All of them. Are there a few that you simply know won’t close? Does having 19 opportunities in there just kind of “look better” than having 14?

I get it, I do, but do yourself and your manager a favor and kill off a few of those opportunities that you know won’t close.

You may worry about how small your pipeline will look, but THAT’S REALITY, and it’s better than mis-setting expectations for leadership.

As a “recovering” sales leader, I’d much rather see a small(er) pipeline that’s realistic vs. a large one filled with vapor deals. Then you can stop wasting everyone’s time discussing deals that won’t ever come in, and you can develop as a sales professional by strategizing with your manager in the meeting in the following way:

— Addressing the root cause of a small pipeline and focusing on building up REAL pipeline

— Spending time building a plan for those opportunities with a legitimate chance to close

Oh and if you’re someone who hangs onto old opportunities, hoping they’re going to close, I’ll let you in on a secret – it’s not going to happen. Most of them are probably already lost, you just either haven’t been told directly or you hoping to revive it somehow. If you do revive it 6 months from now it should be a new opportunity anyway.

Go ahead and put a couple of them out of their misery and do it today. You (and your manager) can thank me later.