Sales Pipeline Management: Reviews and Deal Progress

Twenty late-stage deals can look like a healthy pipeline until you ask what each stage actually means. If eight have no dated buyer commitment and three have not moved for sixty days, the useful question is not which salesperson sounds most confident. It is what the evidence supports doing next. In this lesson, you will turn one vague deal status into a review record with a clear decision and a purposeful next action.

I personally designed the Stage Evidence Review Card for you. Download the blank card and worked reasoning from this lecture's Resources area.

A stage definition is useful only if two reviewers can apply it to the same record and understand why they reached their conclusions. A label such as proposal sent is easy to record, but it describes the seller's activity rather than the buyer's evaluation. In this lesson, you will turn a broad stage label into an observable review criterion and test it against three different opportunity notes.

I personally designed the Stage Criteria Practice Worksheet for you. Download the criteria worksheet, three fictional records and worked reasoning from this lecture's Resources area.

A deal risk is useful when it explains what could prevent a specific commitment and what evidence or action would address that uncertainty. A label such as procurement risk tells a reviewer little on its own. In this lesson, you will write a risk statement that connects a condition to its consequence, separates evidence from inference and leads to a purposeful action.

I personally designed the Deal Risk and Evidence Register for you. Download the register, fictional case notes and worked reasoning from this lecture's Resources area.

A deal can remain in a stage for sixty days for several different reasons. It may be waiting on an agreed buyer process, sitting without a useful next action or carrying a stage label that was never supported. The number alone does not tell you which explanation applies. In this lesson, you will use aging information to choose a review question without treating elapsed time as a diagnosis.

I personally designed the Opportunity Aging Review for you. Download the fictional event log, aging worksheet and worked reasoning from this lecture's Resources area.

Your first workshop is a three-opportunity review. You will apply a stage criterion, inspect a risk and interpret an aging signal before choosing what to do next. The challenge is to keep those judgments connected without allowing one useful fact to answer every question. A recent email, a booked review and a completed evaluation describe different kinds of progress.

I personally designed the Foundation Pipeline Review Workshop for you. Download the initial packet, later update, review workbook and worked reasoning from this lecture's Resources area.