Evidence-based pipeline review
Review deal evidence, buyer progress, and next decisions instead of narrating CRM stages.
Use for a weekly forecast and coaching review when deal stage descriptions are obscuring buyer reality.
Before the working session
- Pull current-period target, booked amount, qualified open pipeline, stage history, close date changes, and concentration by deal.
- List the deals that changed materially since the last review; review exceptions first.
Run the process
Establish the math
Calculate remaining target and pipeline coverage using an explicit win-rate assumption. Segment by product, deal size, or stage where conversion differs.
Inspect buyer evidence
For each material deal, ask what the buyer did, who agreed to the decision path, what proof remains, and which approval or budget event is dated. Separate seller actions from buyer commitments.
Apply risk flags
Flag repeated close-date pushes, one-thread relationships, missing economic owner, silent evaluations, security or procurement not started, and dependence on one oversized deal.
Choose an intervention
For each exception, assign one next buyer-facing action, owner, date, and expected evidence. Record the forecast category change and revisit it next week.
Fictional example: A $120k opportunity is marked commit because a demo went well. The review finds no buyer-owned evaluation date and no security review. It moves to upside until the buyer confirms milestones and schedules the security intake.
Failure checks
- More seller activity does not necessarily mean more buyer progress.
- Coverage ratios hide timing and concentration risk.
- Avoid turning the meeting into a line-by-line CRM recital.
Working worksheet
WEEKLY PIPELINE EXCEPTION REVIEW Period / target / booked / remaining: Qualified pipeline / win-rate assumption / coverage: Segment or stage differences and source of rates: Deal / value / current forecast category / previous category: Buyer decision and date / evidence / approval path: Risk flag and evidence gap: Next buyer action / owner / due date / evidence expected: Forecast impact / review date: