Run a pipeline review that finds problems, not recites them.
“Our pipeline review is a recital of every deal. How do we find the problems instead?”
Coverage vs target, stage aging, week-over-week movement, stuck deals, and the question to ask per deal.
What this skill does
Turns your open pipeline into a review with an agenda. It measures coverage against the target, ages each deal in its current stage, shows what moved since last week and what did not, isolates the deals that are stuck, and gives you the specific question to ask on each one. You run the meeting off findings, not off a scroll through the CRM.
Inputs
- Works today with: a list of your open deals, with stage, amount, close date, stage-entry date, and last activity date, plus your period target. Paste it or upload a CSV.
- More powerful connected to a CRM: it reads all of the above automatically and can compare to last week without you keeping a snapshot.
- Sharper with a meeting or email tool: confirms which stuck deals are actually cold versus quietly progressing.
- Sharper with a product-analytics tool: adds trial momentum on deals gated by a pilot.
How it works
- 1Coverage vs target
Open pipeline for the period divided by the target, compared to your expected COVERAGE_RATIO. Shown as a ratio and as a gap in currency. If coverage is below the ratio, the review is a pipeline-generation conversation, not a deal-by-deal one. Say which it is up front.
- 2Stage aging
Every deal is aged against the day it entered its current stage, not the day it was created. Deals past the AGING_DAYS threshold for their stage are flagged. Aging is per-stage because a week in negotiation is not a week in discovery.
- 3Week-over-week movement
Three lists: what advanced a stage, what slipped or pushed a close date, and what did not move at all. The did-not-move list is the one most reviews skip and the one that predicts the miss.
- 4Stuck-deal isolation
A deal is stuck if it is past AGING_DAYS in stage with no forward step and no recent activity. These get pulled out of the roll-up and reviewed on their own, because averaging them into the total hides them.
- 5The question per deal
Each stuck or slipping deal gets one scripted question aimed at the reason it is stuck: no next step, single-thread, close date drift, or a stage it does not qualify for. The question makes the rep commit to a date or a decision.
Output format
PIPELINE REVIEW · period target $600K
Coverage: $1.42M open / $600K target = 2.4x (below 3x, short ~$360K)
Stage aging (flagged past threshold):
Vertex Negotiation 34 days no next step
Blend Labs Discovery 28 days single-thread
Week-over-week:
Advanced (2): Acme -> Proposal, Cirrus -> Negotiation
Slipped (1): Northwind close pushed to next month
Did not move (3): Vertex, Blend Labs, Delta
Ask on the stuck ones:
1. Vertex. 34 days in negotiation. What single thing closes this, and when?
2. Blend Labs. One contact for 4 weeks. Who else needs to be in the room?
3. Coverage. Below 3x. Where do the next 5 deals come from?
Tips
- Coverage is stated as a ratio and a currency gap, never a vibe.
- Aging is per-stage and measured from stage-entry, never from create date.
- The did-not-move list is always shown, even when it is uncomfortable.
- Every stuck deal carries one scripted question, not a general "let's discuss."
Walk into the forecast call with a number you can defend.
Sorts each deal into commit, best-case, or pipeline by evidence, flags one risk, and scripts what to press each rep on.
Turn a GTM opening into a scorecard before you post it.
The outcomes the role must hit, the competencies that predict them, questions per competency, and a shared rubric.