The method
The engine, end to end.
01 · Signal
Signal
Demand originated from a cold start, not inherited.
02 · Pipeline
Qualified pipeline
Anything I did not originate gets re-qualified by default.
03 · Maturation
VALID maturation
Five wins, each earned and documented before forecast.
04 · Negotiation
Negotiation
Terms shaped from earned leverage, not concessions used to rescue a deal.
05 · Closed
Closed
A forecast that holds because every win has an artifact.
Most organizations split this rail: marketing and SDRs own 01 and 02, the AE picks it up at 03. I carry all five, which is why the pipeline I forecast is the pipeline I built.
VALID™
A deal maturation model for enterprise sales
Qualification asks what you know about a deal. Maturation asks what you have earned inside an account. Five wins, five owners, one standard of proof. My own model, developed across years of high-ticket enterprise sales. Trademark pending.
Win
What it means
The artifact that proves it
V
Validated · technical win
The technical team confirmed the solution solves the problem.
POC criteria signed off before the POC begins, architecture approval.
Solutions architect
A
Aligned · political win
A champion is selling internally, and the blockers are mapped.
Champion’s written advocacy, customer-defined success criteria, power map.
Champion, buying committee
L
Locked · priority win
The project is ranked in the active window, with a consequence for delay.
Decision date tied to a named business consequence, written stack position.
Project sponsor
I
Invested · commercial win
Budget approved, not forecasted, and confirmed by the buyer directly.
Budget approval from the economic buyer, business case sign-off, TCO alignment.
Economic buyer, CFO
D
Documented · legal win
Paper clears without surprises, with a defined path to execution.
Redlined MSA with a resolution path, procurement and security approval.
Legal, procurement
Assumed
→
Verbal
→
Documented
Only documented is forecastable. Five documented wins and one assumed win is not 83% qualified, it is unforecastable.
The Reality
A positive meeting is not a win. Wins are earned in provable increments, and trust is the system that produces them.