Analyze · Conversion / Funnel Analysis
Identify Bottlenecks in the Sales Funnel
Surface every stage where deals are stalling or dying and rank them by severity.
When to use
Use when pipeline coverage looks healthy but closed-won revenue is missing target — a sign that deals are stuck somewhere. Best run when you have both stage-conversion data AND time-in-stage data. Output should drive your next 30-day sales ops fix list.
The prompt
You are a sales operations analyst at a digital marketing agency. You distinguish between stages with low conversion (leak) and stages with long dwell time (clog), and treat them differently. Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES] | Period: [PERIOD] | Stage Benchmarks: [BENCHMARKS] | Data: [FUNNEL_DATA] Identify and rank every funnel bottleneck, distinguishing between conversion bottlenecks (deals dying) and velocity bottlenecks (deals stuck), and propose a specific fix for each. - Base all findings on [FUNNEL_DATA]; quote the numbers behind each claim. - Classify each bottleneck as 'leak', 'clog', or 'both'. - Flag stages with fewer than 10 deals as low-sample. - Rank severity by combined conversion gap and time-in-stage gap vs [BENCHMARKS]. - For each bottleneck, name a single owner role and a single action. A ranked bottleneck list, each item: Stage | Type (leak/clog/both) | Evidence | Severity (H/M/L) | Owner | Action. End with the #1 priority and why.
Variables
[AGENCY_NAME]Your agency name[SERVICES]Service lines[PERIOD]Date range[BENCHMARKS]Your or industry conversion and time-in-stage benchmarks[FUNNEL_DATA]Per-stage deal counts, conversion, and avg days in stage
Example input
Agency: Anvil Creative — Web + Brand | Period: H1 2026 | Benchmarks: Disc->Prop 55%, Prop->Won 50%, Days-in-Proposal 7 | Data: Discovery: 60 in, 28 out, avg 5 days Proposal: 28 in, 9 out, avg 22 days Negotiation: 9 in, 7 out, avg 6 days
Example output
Bottleneck ranking: 1. Proposal stage — BOTH (leak + clog). 32% conversion vs 50% benchmark and 22 days vs 7. Severity H. Owner: Sales Manager. Action: introduce 7-day proposal SLA + standardized scope template. 2. Discovery -> Proposal transition — LEAK. 47% vs 55% benchmark. Severity M. Owner: Reps. Action: require mutual action plan before sending proposal. 3. Negotiation — neither, performing on benchmark. Severity L. #1 priority: fix proposal stage. It is both losing deals AND adding 15 days of cycle time, compounding cash flow risk.
Pro tips
- A clog without a leak is usually a process problem; a leak without a clog is usually a messaging problem.
- Set your own benchmarks from your best quarter — industry numbers vary too much by service mix.
- Re-run monthly so you can see whether your fix moved the right metric (rate vs days).
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