Ledgerline Q3 sales pipeline
Sales funnel diagram slide with conversion rates on the rail
A sales funnel diagram slide shows how many opportunities survive each stage and the rate at which they pass to the next, so a sales team can see where deals are lost. This one tracks one quarter at Ledgerline, a fictional software company, from 1,200 leads to 38 signed deals.
What is on the slide
- Title
- Ledgerline Sales Funnel, Q3. 1,200 leads became 38 signed deals. Each rate is the share of the stage above.
- Lead
- 100%. 1,200 inbound and outbound.
- Qualified
- 40%. 480 met the fit criteria.
- Proposal
- 33%. 160 sent, 70 to negotiation.
- Won
- 24%. 38 signed, 54% of negotiations.
When this is the right slide
Choose this slide when a sales review must show both the shape of the pipeline and the conversion rate at every handover, with stage names identical on the rail and the funnel.
What to swap it for
Grouping: Funnel Stages. Swap to the plain funnel stages layout when the audience needs the process and its stage definitions without conversion numbers, such as onboarding new sales staff.
What this slide shows
A title reads Ledgerline Sales Funnel, Q3, with a framing line: 1,200 leads became 38 signed deals, and each rate is the share of the stage above. On the left, under the label Stage Conversion, four tinted rows each carry a large percentage, the stage name and a one line note. 100%, Lead, 1,200 inbound and outbound. 40%, Qualified, 480 met the fit criteria. 33%, Proposal, 160 sent, 70 to negotiation. 24%, Won, 38 signed, 54% of negotiations. On the right a four band funnel narrows from Lead at the top through Qualified and Proposal to Won, each band carrying its stage name and count: 1,200 leads, 480 qualified, 160 proposals, 38 won. The rates reconcile: 480 is 40% of 1,200, 160 is 33% of 480, and 38 is 24% of 160 and 54% of the 70 negotiations. The layout takes exactly four stages, so negotiation sits in the Proposal note rather than as a fifth band.
When this is the right slide
Use it in a quarterly sales review, a board pack, a pipeline planning session or a sales kickoff, wherever the question is where deals are being lost. It is strongest when stages are defined by events in the CRM and the rates can be traced to records. It is the wrong slide for a marketing audience interested in channel performance, which a funnel by source or a traffic chart serves better. It is also the wrong slide when stage definitions are still disputed, because the rates will be argued rather than used. When the room only needs the shape of the process without numbers, for example in onboarding new sales staff, a plain funnel stages layout without a rail is clearer.
How to adapt it
First, define each stage by an event and write the definitions in the notes before you count anything. Second, choose stage to stage rates or rates from the top, state which in the framing line, and check every percentage against the counts. Third, use the notes to carry what the bands cannot: a hidden stage, a segment split or the size of the biggest leak. For an inbound business, replace Lead with Trial and Qualified with Activated; for a services firm, Proposal may become Scoping call. Whatever the labels, keep them identical on both sides of the slide and limit the funnel to four bands, because the rates are only useful if the room can find the stage they belong to. When the team asks what to fix first, the answer should already be on the slide in the lowest rate. Keep the quarter in the title, too. A funnel slide without a period is often reused in the next review with fresh numbers but the old notes, and a rate that was the problem last quarter can quietly become the explanation for a different problem in this one.
What makes this slide work
Stage names match on the rail and the funnel
Lead, Qualified, Proposal and Won appear identically in the metric column and on the four funnel bands, in the same order. The eye can move sideways from a rate to its band without translating. Funnels that call a stage SQL on one side and qualified on the other make the audience do work the slide should have done.
The rates reconcile with the counts
480 of 1,200 is 40%. 160 of 480 is 33%. 38 of 160 is 24%, and 38 of 70 negotiations is 54%. Every percentage on the rail can be checked against the counts in the notes and on the bands. A funnel whose numbers do not divide is the fastest way to lose a finance audience.
The hidden stage is in a note, not dropped
Negotiation does not have its own band, because the layout takes four stages, but the Proposal note reads 160 sent, 70 to negotiation, and the Won note gives 54% of negotiations. The fifth stage stays visible, and the biggest leak, proposals that never reach negotiation, is still on the slide.
Questions people ask
Should a sales funnel slide show stage to stage rates or rates from the top?
Stage to stage rates tell the team where to act, because each one belongs to a handover they control. Rates from the top, 40% then 13% then 3%, show overall efficiency but hide which step is weak. Pick one, say which in the framing line, and never mix the two on the same rail, or the numbers will look inconsistent.
How should each stage be defined?
By an observable event, not a feeling. A lead is a contact with a known company; qualified means it meets written fit criteria; a proposal means a priced document was sent; won means a contract was signed. Put the definitions in the speaker notes. Without them, two regions will report the same funnel with different meanings and the rates will not compare.
What if the pipeline has more stages than the layout?
Fold the extra stage into the note of its neighbour, as this slide does with negotiation: 160 sent, 70 to negotiation. That keeps the rail and the funnel identical, which matters more than showing every stage as a band. If the extra stage is where most deals are lost, use a five stage funnel on a separate slide instead.
When should the funnel be split into two slides?
When the team needs to compare periods or segments. A single funnel shows one quarter; comparing Q2 with Q3, or inbound with outbound, needs a grouped bar chart of the stage rates side by side. Keep this slide as the snapshot and put the comparison on the next one, so neither has to carry two sets of numbers.
Is a funnel diagram drawn to scale?
Usually not. The bands narrow evenly for readability, so the width of each does not represent the count. That is why the numbers belong on the slide. If the audience needs to see true proportions, a horizontal bar chart of stage counts is honest about scale, though it loses the familiar funnel shape.
How should a sales funnel slide be presented?
Start at the bottom: 38 won. Then go to the weakest rate and explain it. Here proposal to won is 24%, and the note says only 70 of 160 proposals reached negotiation, so the loss happens between sending a price and getting a reply. That is a specific problem the team can work on next quarter.
Build your own in about a minute
The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.
Make one like thisOther slide examples
Hub and spoke slide with one ledger at the centre
A hub and spoke slide shows one central system and the connections that feed it, so the audience sees that everything flows through a single place. This one puts Brindell Ledger, a fictional accounting platform, at the hub with six integrations around it, each saying what it posts.
Flywheel slide where every stage has a number that moved
A flywheel slide shows a loop in which each stage makes the next one easier, so growth compounds instead of having to be bought again each quarter. This one maps Harrowshare, a fictional marketplace where farmers hire machinery from neighbours, with a number at every stage.
McKinsey 7S slide with the current state in every cell
A McKinsey 7S slide checks whether an organisation's seven internal elements fit together, with shared values at the centre binding the other six. This one records where Elderbrook Shire Council, a fictional local government, stands before its 2027 restructure, one line per element.
Want the steps in the builder? Read Add charts, maps and diagrams to slides, then Change your presentation's theme, fonts and colours. For everything this generator can do, see the slide maker.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .