Most reps get the same feeling when they hear “teeth cleaning” as they do when they hear “pipeline review.”
When I think about most (crappy) pipeline reviews in sales, they look like this:
- Manager asks rep for deal update
- Rep rambles for 10 minutes about every anciliary detail of 1 deal
- Manager eventually tunes out and offers no coaching (nods intently)
- Meeting would have been better off turned into a summary email
This is why pipeline reviews feel like BS “recap your deals for me” storytime sessions.
But a good (aka not shitty!) pipeline review is the #1 way you can de-risk your forecast as a sales leader without literally being on every single call.
My better looking host Mark Kosoglow taught me a lot about how he rips thru 20-30 deals in 30 minutes. Most recently he improved forecasting accuracy to 97% as CRO of a public company.
So today I’m breaking down how he runs pipeline reviews in 3 steps. Let’s hit it.
(PS: If you missed it, he broke this all down live in our last free Masterclass here. His soothing country twang is just slightly more entertaining than my grouchy old man written word.)
Support Mark's New Country Album
Step 0. Define Your Sales Stages And Exit Criteria
The fastest way to rip thru a deal is to define the “gates” in your sales cycle, aka stages.
Mark defines his sales stages based on what you’re trying to get not what you’re trying to do:
- Problem Agreement: Do they have a problem we can solve?
- Priority Agreement: Are the problems big enough to prioritize solving?
- Evaluation Agreement: Will they agree on how to buy?
- Value Agreement: Is this solution worth putting money into?
- Commercial Agreement: Are you gonna buy this thing?
This helps your reps avoid unnecessary steps in deals just because that’s usually the next meeting. Why would they run a demo if the prospect hasn’t even agreed on a problem worth solving?
Step 1: Verify Deal Data
This sounds crazy, but Mark literally reads a rep’s pipeline back to them because it forces them to realize that they might not have actually achieved what they thought in a deal.
That literally means he:
- READS the deal size, close date, stage, and risk level: "Armand, you have A+ Security at $125k, closing 7/31, in 'Commercial Agreement' which means they have validated the solution is worth putting money into, with a ‘Commit’ forecast. Is that accurate?".
- And then corrects it on the spot if the data is wrong: If the data is wrong, change it in the CRM right in front of them immediately.
This not only confirms the exit criteria they achieved, but also forces pipe to be clean.
Step 2. Assess Forecast Risk
Next, Mark will ask the rep to assign a risk level to the deal.
Your risk assessment is based on the quality of the exit criteria you achieved:
- 🔴 Red: We lose this deal unless something changes.
- 🟠 Orange: The deal is real, but it’s going to push past the close date.
- 🟡 Yellow: There is risk, but we have a plan to win it.
- 🟢 Green: Zero risk.
Here are 3 common places he likes to poke holes if something smells funny:
- Opportunity Details: Look for discrepancies in deal size and velocity. Super big deal size and an unusually quick timeline? Something’s off…
- Exit Criteria: Confirm they’ve actually gotten the exit criteria needed in each stage (ie: got problem agreement, not just ran a discovery call).
- Risk: Reps often assess risk incorrectly. Do they truly understand what yellow vs red is and if the deal should really be forecasted?
This is how you get your rep’s definition of a commit to equal your definition.
Mark calls this burning the neural pathway. He then he pulls out his hypnosis wand and wizard hat then starts dancing on the desk while burning sage to bring good luck to the deal.
(jk mondo loves u markie mark)
3. Coach Next Steps
“Book a demo” is not a next step.
Remember: The only purpose of a next step is to GET an exit criteria.
Coach your reps to frame next steps in terms of “I’m going to do X activity to achieve Y exit criteria.” Examples:
- “I’m going to present to the CTO to get priority agreement”
- “I’m gonna build a MAP with my champion to get evaluation agreement”
- “I’m going to run a PoC to get value agreement (because that’s what we agreed upon in evaluation agreement)”
Do not book a demo for the sake of booking a demo.
Always ask your reps: What are you trying to get out of your next steps?
Folks if you liked this, I’ve learned more from Mark than any other sales leader in the game.
His course is literally everything you need to be a sales leader.
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