How to Run a Sales Pipeline Review That Actually Helps

Research & Sources / Sales & Revenue Growth

Watch a pit stop in a motor race. The car rolls in, a team of people changes the tyres, checks a few things and sends it back out, faster than before. Nobody interrogates the driver about why the tyres wore out. The whole point is to help the car win. A good pipeline review should feel like a pit stop. Most feel like an interrogation.

The typical pipeline meeting

A manager goes through a list of deals. “What about this one?” “Still waiting.” “And this one?” “They said next month.” Salespeople defend their numbers, the manager pushes for more, and everyone leaves with the same list they came with. An hour gone, nothing moved.

That is a pity, because good pipeline reviews matter a lot. Jason Jordan and Robert Kelly found that companies whose sales leaders spent regular time each month reviewing each salesperson’s pipeline grew revenue faster than those that spent less.¹ The time is valuable. The format often is not.

Review the deal, not the person

A good review asks: what does this deal need to move forward? Not: why haven’t you closed it yet?

When people feel judged, they protect themselves by making things sound better than they are. Then the pipeline becomes a story, not a picture. When people feel helped, they share the real problems. Amy Edmondson’s research shows that teams learn and perform better when people feel safe to speak up about problems and mistakes.²

A simple pit-stop format

1. Focus on a few deals. Do not go through the whole list. Pick the five or so deals that matter most this month, plus any that are stuck.

2. Ask the same four questions for each.

• What problem is the buyer trying to solve, in their words?
• Who decides, and have we spoken to them?
• What is the next step, and when?
• What could stop this deal?

3. Agree on one action. For each deal, one concrete action before the next review. Who does what by when.

4. Clean the list. Deals with no real next step leave the active pipeline.

Short and regular beats long and rare

A 30-minute review every week does more than a three-hour review every quarter. Deals move in weeks, not quarters. Regular reviews catch problems while they can still be fixed.

Learn from the patterns

After a few weeks, step back and look at patterns. Where do deals usually get stuck? Which kinds of clients close fastest? Which questions are we never able to answer? These patterns are where your sales process can improve.

What this means for you this week

• Change your next pipeline meeting to the four-question format.
• Limit it to the top deals and the stuck ones.
• End with one action per deal, written down.
• Remove every deal without a next step from the active list.

A good pit stop is short, focused and friendly. And the car leaves faster than it came in.

Sources

1. Jordan, J. & Kelly, R. (2015). Companies with a Formal Sales Process Generate More Revenue. Harvard Business Review, January 2015. hbr.orgA defined sales process, regular pipeline reviews and clear stage rules go together with faster revenue growth.
2. Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. doi.orgPsychological safety supports learning behaviour and performance in teams.