Fixing the Funnel – Building a Sales Pipeline That Actually Works

Two Tall Guys Talking Sales

Welcome back to Two Tall Guys Talking Sales with hosts Kevin Lawson and Sean O’Shaughnessey. In this episode, the tall guys dive deep into one of the most critical yet commonly broken elements in any sales organization: the sales funnel. Whether you're stuck with a clunky three-stage process that tells you nothing or overwhelmed with 35 micro-stages that only confuse your reps, Sean and Kevin offer a practical guide to rethinking and rebuilding your pipeline strategy. Packed with metaphors (yes, even superhero ones) and sharp analysis, this episode will leave you inspired to take a hard look at your funnel—and finally fix it.

Key Topics Discussed

• Why Most Sales Funnels Are Broken (00:00:45) Sean unpacks the common pitfalls in how companies define and manage their sales stages, including oversimplified or overly complex CRM setups.

• Defining Sales Stages Based on the Buyer Journey (00:04:30) Kevin emphasizes the need to align your sales stages with how buyers actually buy—not how your company wants to sell.

• How Many Sales Stages Are Too Many? (00:05:00) The guys explore the delicate balance between not enough insight and too much complexity in stage design.

• The Case for Multiple Pipelines (00:08:00) When does it make sense to separate budgetary planning pipelines from active sales discussions? Kevin and Sean explain.

• What a Healthy Funnel Actually Looks Like (00:10:45) Sean introduces a visual and mathematical approach to evaluating whether your funnel is properly shaped—and what to do if it’s not.

Key Quotes

“The Avengers became a team, not just Iron Man. You need to have a team. Even superhero salespeople like to have support.” — Sean O’Shaughnessey (00:02:50)

“Fixing the funnel starts visually. Does it fit well on one sheet of paper? If not, you’ve already lost the battle for clarity.” — Kevin Lawson (00:04:45)

“Stages should be built to qualify someone into the next step—not just to log an activity. Every transition should represent progress, not busyness.” — Kevin Lawson (00:06:15)

“If your pipeline doesn’t look like a funnel, then you’re either wasting time or losing deals. Probably both.” — Sean O’Shaughnessey (00:12:20)

Additional Resources Referenced

• Previous episodes featuring CMO Amy: Deep dives into top-of-funnel strategies, lead quality, and the marketing–sales handoff. https://sites.libsyn.com/458454/site/measuring-marketing-success-with-amy-connor-of-cmo-onloan https://sites.libsyn.com/458454/site/amy-connor-discusses-salespeople-vs-lead-generation-are-you-using-your-team-wisely

• "Chasing Butterflies vs. Building a Garden" episode: A useful metaphorical framework for thinking about inbound sales strategies. https://sites.libsyn.com/458454/site/sales-prospecting-are-you-chasing-leads-or-cultivating-success

A Significant Actionable Item from this Podcast

Audit Your Sales Funnel for Shape and Stage Effectiveness Pull a report from your CRM and visualize your current pipeline by number of deals and total revenue per stage. Does it actually look like a funnel? If it doesn’t, dig deeper. Are your stages aligned with your buyer’s journey? Are reps stuck in certain stages too long? UThis snapshot identifiesgaps and opportunities for stage redefinition or activity refinement.

Summary

Whether you’re managing a sales team or closing deals yourself, this episode of Two Tall Guys Talking Sales gives you the blueprint to diagnose and repair a misaligned funnel. Sean and Kevin combine humor, hard truths, and highly actionable insights to help you bring structure and sanity back to your sales process. If you're ready to create a pipeline that reflects how buyers buy—and helps your team win more deals—this episode is a must-listen.

🎧 Listen now and take the first step in fixing your funnel for good.

To understand if your company is doing a great job in sales, take this quick and easy assessment: https://salesxceleration.com/sales-agility-assessment/?locationid=28995327

You can reach out to Kevin at Lighthouse Sales Advisors & Sales Xceleration - [e-mail] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwlawson/

You can reach out to Sean at New Sales Expert, LLC - [e-mail] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/soshaughnessey/

You can book time on Kevin's calendar at https://lighthousesalesadvisors.pipedrive.com/scheduler/JP7rZXH3/virtual-meeting-booking-time-with-kevin

You can book time on Sean's calendar at http://newsales.expert/sean-oshaughnessey-calendar/