Using Conversion and Stage Duration to Spot The Mid-Funnel Drop-Off

Why the mid-funnel matters more than you think

Early stages get the attention. Late stages get the pressure.

The mid-funnel – the discovery, qualification and validation stages where deals should be taking shape – often sits in the middle, quietly turning healthy-looking pipeline into disappointing results.

On the surface, you may have plenty of new opportunities entering the pipeline and a reassuring number sitting in proposal or negotiation. But somewhere in between, deals stall, disappear or quietly drift into “no decision”.

That hidden leak is the mid-funnel drop-off – and if you’re not actively looking for it, it’s easy to miss.

In our pillar blog, How to Spot Pipeline Imbalance Across Stages (Before It Wrecks Your Quarter), we explored how imbalances show up across the whole funnel using Value, Volume and Velocity. You can read it here: https://www.mentorgroup.com/sales-training-insights/how-to-spot-pipeline-imbalance-across-stages

This supporting article zooms in on the middle: how to use conversion and stage duration to reveal the mid-funnel problems your headline reports are hiding.

What counts as mid-funnel?

Labels vary by organisation, but mid-funnel typically includes stages such as:

• Discovery
• Qualification
• Evaluation / Solution Fit
• Business Case / Internal Review

Whatever you call them, mid-funnel stages share some common characteristics:

• You’ve moved beyond first contact – there is at least some interest and engagement.
• You’re trying to understand the customer’s world and shape a solution.
• Multiple stakeholders are (or should be) getting involved.

It’s also where seller behaviour matters most. This is where questioning, listening, challenge, stakeholder mapping and next-step setting either move the deal forward – or leave it stuck in a comfortable-but-going-nowhere conversation.

That’s why the mid-funnel is one of the most important places to look for pipeline imbalance.

Two lenses for mid-funnel health: conversion and stage duration

While Value, Volume and Velocity give you a whole-pipeline view, the mid-funnel is particularly sensitive to two metrics:

• Conversion – the percentage of opportunities that move from one mid-funnel stage to the next.
• Stage duration – how long opportunities spend in each mid-funnel stage before progressing or dropping out.

Look at these together, and you start to see where intent is real – and where it’s just polite interest.

Conversion: where good-looking pipeline quietly dies

Start by mapping the journey of opportunities through your mid-funnel stages. For each step (for example, Discovery → Qualification, Qualification → Evaluation), calculate:

Conversion rate = Opportunities that move to the next stage ÷ Opportunities that entered this stage (over a defined period).

You’re looking for patterns such as:

• Sharp drop-offs between specific stages (for example, many opportunities move into Discovery, but very few progress into a formal Evaluation or Business Case stage).
• Inconsistent conversion between teams, territories or segments.
• High no-decision rates linked to certain mid-funnel stages.

What healthy mid-funnel conversion looks like:

• Conversion doesn’t have to be high, but it should be predictable.
• Some drop-off from Discovery to Qualification is normal – that’s where weak opportunities should be filtered out.
• Once an opportunity has passed through a strong qualification stage, you should see more consistent progression through the rest of the funnel.

Red flags for mid-funnel imbalance:

• A stage where a large proportion of opportunities enter, but very few move on – and most do not close as a clear “no”. Instead, they sit, stall or disappear.
• Big differences in conversion between teams running ostensibly the same process.
• A high percentage of no-decision outcomes that can be traced back to poorly managed mid-funnel conversations.

Stage duration: how long is too long?

Conversion tells you how often opportunities progress. Stage duration tells you how long it takes – and where they get stuck.

For each mid-funnel stage, calculate:

• Average days in stage – the average time opportunities that passed through this stage spent there.
• Median days in stage – to avoid a few extreme outliers skewing the picture.
• Ageing profile – how many current opportunities in each stage have been there longer than your normal range (for example, more than twice the average).

What healthy stage duration looks like:

• Most opportunities move through each mid-funnel stage within a relatively tight band of time.
• You can explain naturally longer stages – for example, a formal evaluation or proof of concept.

Red flags for mid-funnel imbalance:

• One or two mid-funnel stages where opportunities stay far longer than the rest of the pipeline.
• A long tail of aged opportunities in those stages that never quite progress, but also never get closed out.
• Deals that win quickly moving through mid-funnel in a fraction of the time it takes your average deal – suggesting that your normal motion is bloated or unfocused.

If you see a stage where time stretches out and opportunities age quietly, you’ve found the mid-funnel swamp – a classic source of hidden imbalance.

Putting conversion and duration together

The real insight comes when you combine these two lenses:

• Low conversion + long stage duration
  This is your biggest warning sign. Opportunities sit for a long time, then fail to progress. That usually points to poor discovery, weak qualification, or a lack of clear next steps.
• Low conversion + short stage duration
  Here, opportunities move through quickly – but most are filtered out. This can be healthy if the stage is designed to act as a strict gateway. If not, it may mean the criteria are unclear or being applied too aggressively.
• High conversion + long stage duration
  This suggests deals eventually move, but only after prolonged effort. Often, this points to messy stakeholder engagement, unclear value or internal customer delays that are not being addressed.
• High conversion + short stage duration
  This can look attractive, but be careful. If almost everything sails through a mid-funnel stage, it may not be doing any real work – it’s a box-ticking exercise, not a meaningful filter.

By plotting both metrics for each mid-funnel stage, you can quickly see where to focus attention.

A practical mid-funnel diagnostic you can run this month

To get a clearer view of your mid-funnel health, you don’t need an army of analysts. Use a 3-step diagnostic over the last 90 days:

1. Map the stages
   • List the stages you consider mid-funnel (for example, Discovery, Qualification, Evaluation, Business Case).
     
     
   • Confirm entry and exit criteria for each with sales leadership.
2. Pull the numbers
   • Conversion rates between each pair of mid-funnel stages.
     
     
   • Average and median days in each of those stages.
     
     
   • Number and percentage of opportunities currently in each stage that have exceeded twice the average stage duration.
3. Inspect 10–15 real deals
   • For stages with low conversion or long duration, pick a small sample of deals.
     
     
   • Review the notes, emails and meeting records.
     
     
   • Ask: What was actually happening during this time? Were we moving the opportunity forwards, or just circling the conversation?

This blend of data and deal-level inspection gives you both the what and the why of mid-funnel imbalance.

How different roles should respond to mid-funnel drop-off

Once you’ve spotted mid-funnel imbalance, different roles can act on it in different ways:

• CRO / Sales leadership
  • Challenge forecasts that rely heavily on mid-funnel stages with poor conversion or long duration.
    
    
  • Set clear expectations around stage usage and data quality.
• Sales managers
  • Focus coaching time on the stages where conversion is lowest and duration is longest.
    
    
  • Use pipeline reviews to inspect buyer evidence and next steps, not just stage labels.
• Enablement and L&D
  • Treat mid-funnel imbalance as evidence of capability gaps in discovery, qualification, value articulation or stakeholder management.
    
    
  • Design practice and support around the specific conversations and skills that move deals through those stages.
• RevOps / Sales Operations
  • Improve reporting so mid-funnel conversion and stage duration are visible and trusted.
    
    
  • Work with managers to clean up aged, stuck opportunities that distort the picture.

Connecting back to overall pipeline imbalance

Mid-funnel drop-off doesn’t exist in isolation. It is one part of a broader pattern of pipeline imbalance that affects your ability to forecast accurately and grow sustainably.

If you haven’t already, it’s worth pairing this article with the pillar blog, How to Spot Pipeline Imbalance Across Stages (Before It Wrecks Your Quarter), which walks through a full-funnel view using Value, Volume and Velocity: https://www.mentorgroup.com/sales-training-insights/how-to-spot-pipeline-imbalance-across-stages

Together, they give you both the macro lens (where the pipeline is distorted overall) and the micro lens (what’s going wrong specifically in the middle).

FAQ summary: mid-funnel drop-off and hidden imbalance

1. What is mid-funnel drop-off?
   Mid-funnel drop-off is the pattern where opportunities enter discovery and qualification stages but fail to progress into later stages or close. They often sit for a long time, then quietly stall or disappear, creating a gap between apparent pipeline strength and actual revenue.
2. Which metrics are most useful for assessing mid-funnel health?
   The two most useful metrics are conversion (the percentage of opportunities moving from one mid-funnel stage to the next) and stage duration (how long opportunities spend in each mid-funnel stage). Viewed together, they highlight where deals are getting stuck and where stages aren’t doing their job.
3. How do I know if a mid-funnel stage is genuinely adding value?
   A healthy stage should either:
   - Filter out weaker opportunities so that later stages are more reliable, or
   - Move serious opportunities closer to a decision by engaging the right stakeholders and clarifying value.

If conversion is very low and stage duration is long, or if almost every deal passes through quickly without meaningful change, that stage may not be adding real value.

4. What are common causes of mid-funnel imbalance?
   Frequent causes include weak discovery and qualification, lack of clear entry and exit criteria for mid-funnel stages, poor stakeholder mapping, generic next steps, and a reluctance to close out stalled opportunities. All of these lead to bloated, slow-moving mid-funnel stages.
5. How often should we review mid-funnel conversion and stage duration?
   At a minimum, monthly – ideally using a rolling 90-day window. Many teams benefit from incorporating mid-funnel metrics into weekly sales meetings, so managers can identify stuck deals and coaching opportunities earlier.
6. Who should own fixing mid-funnel drop-off?
   Ownership is shared. Sales leadership sets expectations and challenges forecasts; sales managers coach the behaviours in mid-funnel conversations; Enablement and L&D address the underlying skill gaps; and RevOps ensures the data and reporting make mid-funnel performance visible.
7. Where can I learn more about spotting pipeline imbalance overall?
   For a broader view of pipeline health across all stages, read our pillar blog, How to Spot Pipeline Imbalance Across Stages (Before It Wrecks Your Quarter), here: https://www.mentorgroup.com/sales-training-insights/how-to-spot-pipeline-imbalance-across-stages