Slipped deal

A deal whose expected close date has moved to a later period at least once. A deal that has slipped twice or more is the strongest single predictor that it will slip again.

DefinitionA deal whose expected close date has moved to a later period at least once. A deal that has slipped twice or more is the strongest single predictor that it will slip again.

How it is found

From the pipeline history: each time a deal's close date moves to a later period, count a slip. Report the count per deal and the pattern per representative.

Reading the count

One slip is ordinary. Two is a pattern. A forecast that depends on deals with two or more slips is a forecast built on the deals least likely to close on time, and the bridge should say so.

Distinguish from pushed

A deal pushed is one the team chose to move, usually with a reason. A deal slipped is one that moved because the customer did not act. Both delay revenue; only one is under the team's control.

How it is computed

An open deal whose expected close date has moved to a later period at least once, identified from weekly pipeline snapshots, with the number of moves.

Example

A $220,000 deal has moved from March to June to September. On this team, deals that slipped twice close 9 percent of the time against 31 percent for those that never slipped.

Where it goes wrong

Close dates overwritten with no history, so a deal pushed three times looks like a new one in the forecast.

Articles that use this term

AI and self-service analytics

A weekly sales digest worth reading: what a good one looks like, line by line

An annotated example of a weekly sales digest built from computed tables: the header that states the period and the checks, ten movements each with the measure, the level, the change, the threshold and the citation, the three lists that follow, untouched, slipped and dormant, the line that says what did not move, and the footer with the definition version. What each element is for, and the version of the same digest that nobody reads.

16 Sept 20263 min read Forecast and pipeline

Reading a forecast bridge deal by deal: from run rate to the number the CFO sees

How to build a sales forecast bridge from pipeline history: the components that explain the difference between run rate and forecast, the slip count per deal that predicts the next slip, and the follow-up questions that turn the forecast call into a conversation about evidence.

16 Sept 20263 min read Forecast and pipeline

Slip count per deal: how many times a close date moved, and what it predicts

How a sales leader measures slip count from weekly pipeline snapshots: the number of times each open deal's close date has been pushed, the close rate by slip count from the team's own history, the weighted forecast that discounts multi-slip deals by that rate, the reps whose pipeline carries the most slips, and why a deal that slipped three times is a different object from a deal that slipped once.

16 Sept 20263 min read Board and management reporting

The quarterly business review from computed tables, not from slides built the night before

A structure for a sales team's quarterly business review in which every number comes from a computed table: the quarter's revenue against plan with the bridge, coverage and share of wallet per rep against last quarter, the base's retention and dormancy, the pipeline for next quarter against the needed multiple, the three commitments per rep with a measure and a threshold, and the review of last quarter's commitments against what the tables now say.

16 Sept 20263 min read How-to guides · Sales teams

Weekly sales meeting agenda: thirty minutes, four lists, and no round-the-table updates

A weekly sales meeting agenda built on computed lists rather than verbal updates: five minutes on the numbers that moved, ten on the accounts that need a call this week, ten on the deals that changed or stalled, and five on commitments made and kept. This page gives the agenda minute by minute, the four lists that feed it and where each comes from, what to cut from the usual meeting, the rules that keep it to thirty minutes, and a copyable template.

17 Sept 20265 min read