By Brent Adamson, Founder of Qoos
In sales, we often gauge progress through internal actions: discovery calls completed, proposals sent, or demos delivered. But what if the true measure of progress lies not in what we do, but in how the customer responds? This idea forms the basis of a customer-verified pipeline—a concept that shifts the focus from seller-driven milestones to customer-driven actions.
One of the simplest yet most effective tools for building a customer-verified pipeline is the sponsor letter. At its core, a sponsor letter is a summary of an early-stage sales or expansion conversation. It’s a straightforward yet powerful way to ensure that your customer is as ready to move forward as you are. Let me walk you through how it works and why it’s so impactful.
What is a Sponsor Letter?
Imagine you’ve just completed a discovery conversation with a prospect. You’ve explored their goals, the challenges they face, and how your solution might help. Typically, this would be logged in your CRM as “stage one complete,” and you’d advance the deal to the next stage. But here’s the thing: the real indicator of progress isn’t that you had the conversation; it’s that your customer is aligned with the outcomes discussed.
This is where the sponsor letter comes in. After your conversation, you draft a concise email summarizing the discussion:
• What you talked about: The customer’s goals and challenges.
• What you agreed on: The key outcomes and priorities.
• The next step: Confirming alignment and readiness to move forward.
The email ends with a simple question: “Did I capture everything accurately, and are we ready to proceed to the next step?”
Why the Sponsor Letter Matters
The magic of the sponsor letter isn’t in the email itself—it’s in the response. Your customer’s reply becomes the customer verifier, a clear indicator of their intent and readiness. It’s objective, binary, and actionable.
• If they respond with agreement, you have validation that they’re aligned with the conversation and ready to move forward.
• If they hesitate or don’t reply, it’s a signal that more work is needed before progressing.
This simple step eliminates guesswork and ensures your pipeline is built on solid customer commitments, not assumptions.
How Sponsor Letters Build Confidence in Your Pipeline
Sponsor letters create a feedback loop that benefits both sellers and customers:
1. For the seller: You gain confidence that each stage of your pipeline reflects genuine customer engagement and readiness.
2. For the customer: It shows you’re actively listening and aligned with their priorities, building trust and credibility.
By logging the customer’s response in your CRM, you create a documented trail of verified actions. This turns your pipeline into a reliable, customer-driven roadmap rather than a collection of optimistic guesses.
A Simple Idea, Big Results
The sponsor letter is one of the simplest tools you can use, yet its impact on sales predictability and pipeline accuracy is profound. By focusing on customer responses rather than seller actions, you shift the sales process from assumption to confirmation.
At Qoos.ai, we’re dedicated to equipping sales teams with practical, actionable tools that make selling smarter and more effective. Our platform goes beyond techniques like the sponsor letter, offering a suite of capabilities to tackle the complexities of modern sales. From microlearning that delivers quick, impactful lessons to sharpen skills on the go, to managing multiple stakeholders in a sales process with clarity and precision, Qoos.ai is built to help salespeople succeed.
Our AI-guided coach provides personalized, real-time support to navigate deal qualification and ensure every opportunity is vetted for success. With Qoos.ai, it’s not just about tracking pipelines—it’s about transforming them with tools that put the customer’s needs at the center and empower your team to close deals more confidently.
Ready to see more tools like this in action? Let’s redefine what great sales looks like—together.
