Hey, 👋 Scott from The Sales Mastermind here.

Today’s edition only takes 3 minutes.

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Paperwork is a bane of any seller's existence.

Yet all sellers have a war story of a lost deal because it fell through the cracks. And all sellers know they have a dead deal (or 20) sitting in their pipeline that really shouldn’t be there.

To keep on top of the paperwork, use a Pipeline Review (TSM style):

• A weekly five-step process
• Communication is all about replies
• Pipeline review is not a deal review

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Recently, mold started to grow in our shower.

My wife and I ignored it for a day or three (okay, it was much longer, but you get the point).

When ignored, mold only gets worse.

Last weekend, my wife had to “invest” three hours scrubbing the whole bathroom. Now, we’ve been happily mold-free since 2024.

Most sales pipelines are like our bathroom.

Some deals are okay, some are a little behind, and some are rapidly molding with stagnation.

A weekly pipeline review can save you (and your team) enormous heartache in the future.

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​What is it?

A pipeline review is a weekly meeting/process to ensure your pipeline is constantly updated.

It prevents good deals from falling through the cracks, which kills your close rates and balloons cost per acquired client (CAC).

And it prevents you/your team from wasting hours chasing dead deals. Leaving time to support good deals and hit, beat, or annihilate your sales targets

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The first four steps

The first four steps in a pipeline review are semi-subjective. Therefore, reps will (sometimes) massage the numbers. But they are essential for your sales process.

In order, they are:

• Every pipeline should have clearly defined stages.
• If you don’t have any stages, Close CRM has an article on the fundamentals.​

• Close dates should reflect a conversation about timelines, complexity, and buying processes. Without a compelling deadline led by the buyer, many deals will push and, ultimately, wither.
• Typically, a round date (the end of the month) isn’t real; the rep has made it up. This is fine in the early stages, but it is unacceptable in later stages.

• Ultimately, sales is about revenue.
• Therefore, validating the revenue attached to each deal means you can attempt accurate forecasting.

• Every deal has a subsequent action, and every next step should be dated.
• The more specific, the better.
• All must understand the next step, no shorthand or acronyms.

While every step is important, Step 5 (below) is the most important.

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The Final Step: Replies

As a deal approaches "Closed Won," communication velocity increases by up to 2x. The week a deal closes, email velocity can increase up to 7x.

Therefore, the final test in any pipeline review is always:

More than 7 days is worrying; more than 14 it's probably dead; more than 21 days, move on with your life.

To remove all doubt, a “response” is any of the following forms:

• I replied to an email, sent a new email
• Answered a phone call
• Sent a text/WhatsApp/LinkedIn/any other messaging service
• Attended a meeting
• Accepted a meeting request via email in the last 7 days

A “response” can’t be:

• An upcoming meeting they accepted more than 7 days ago
• A future meeting they haven’t accepted
• Registered for a marketing webinar
• Downloaded a whitepaper
• Checked the deal room
• Liked/Commented/Shared anything on social media
• Emailed to reschedule a meeting

Sales reps will fight this question and its implications as it is objective and can’t be fudged. As a leader, you need to use it with responsibility, as you’ll be shocked at how many deals are dead by this definition.

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Bring it all together: How to run a pipeline review

Firstly, set a designated time for yourself and each rep. Reviews are not a group session.

Each call should be short, with no fluff. Any additional questions or comments should be held for a deal review meeting, and it’s more than okay to finish early.

Have the rep share their screen or bring their laptop into the meeting room.

• Open the CRM
• Open each deal ready for review.
• Go through the questions in ~30 seconds or less:

• For every deal up-to-date - great, move on.
• For every deal that needs updating - have the rep add a task. Then move on.
• Remember, this is a pipeline review - not a deal review. If your rep needs help with a deal, save it until the end or have a separate conversation to strategize.

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An effective pipeline review ensures you, as a leader, and the rep are working on every deal and steadily making your way to target or beyond.

It might feel like a lot of wasted energy chasing a rep to do their paperwork…. the alternative is a stagnant pipeline with no active deals.

Let me know:

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Until next week,
Scott Cowley

PS If you want to see how/if I can help with your sales efforts, consider Booking a Call.

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