The Shift: Fix the Funnel Before You Fill it

More pipeline won’t help if your funnel can’t convert, or your customers won’t stay.

A recent engagement commenced shortly after speaking with a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO).

“We need help filling the top of the funnel,” he said. “The board wants to see more activity.”

When I looked at the numbers, their issue was immediately apparent. Their team was converting at 11%, and churn was climbing.

I suggested:

“You’re looking in the wrong place. You don’t need more leads. You need fewer dead ends and fewer exits.”

📉 Pipeline Isn’t the Problem. Conversion and Retention Are.

When the funnel is leaky, and your customers are quietly leaving, volume doesn’t help. It masks the issue. And multiplies the cost.

Here’s what we found:

• Weak qualification: - too many wrong-fit deals, too little focus where it mattered
• Messaging was internally focused, all about the product, and buyers couldn’t connect the dots
• Sales were single-threaded, deals stalled without senior coverage and were lost to better executing competitors
• Post-sale handoffs were thin, CS was reactive, not proactive
• Communication was noisy: too many decks, PDFs, untracked threads
• Churn was rising, even in a category where switching was painful

Friction arose during the sale and persisted through the renewal.

🎯 Focus on Conversion and Retention First

Fixing the funnel means removing friction across the entire GTM system:

• Understand what triggers a switch from one vendor to another, and what breaks trust (by interviewing your best customers)
• Rebuild the qualification logic and use a strong qualification to pursue and confirm real opportunities (qualification confirmation - doing this alone will boost win rate by 25%)
• Align teams around a shared narrative, tested with real buyers (message alignment)
• Enable sales and CS to support the whole buying journey (organisational alignment and silo flattening)
• Create clarity in how value is delivered, measured, and reinforced (Identify your North Star Metric to deliver impact across the buying cycle)

🧠 What Happened Next

We didn’t chase volume. We fixed the system.

• Mapped buyer switching behaviour
• Reframed the GTM narrative to match how decisions are made
• Activated the story across sales and customer success
• Tightened qualification and account coverage
• Flagged churn risks early and addressed root causes

In 90 days, they doubled their win rate and stabilised retention. Same pipeline. Stronger conversions. Fewer losses.

You don’t need more at the top. You need clarity through the middle, and strength that persists after the sale.

Want a pipeline that converts and keeps customers?

Start by removing friction to double win rate, not by adding more leads to a leaky funnel.