Stalled deal

An open opportunity past a stated multiple of its stage's normal age with no activity in a stated window, counted as lost for the win rate.

DefinitionAn open opportunity past a stated multiple of its stage's normal age with no activity in a stated window, counted as lost for the win rate.

A stalled deal is open by status and dead by behaviour: older than twice the stage's normal age, with no logged activity in sixty days, or whatever the desk states. It stays open in the CRM and is counted as lost in the win rate and removed from pipeline coverage, because a rate computed only on deals someone bothered to close reports whatever the team likes. The rule is stated and applied to every deal.

How it is computed

An open deal older than a stated multiple of its stage's normal age, with no activity in a stated window.

Example

Thirty of eighty open deals are past twice the stage norm with nothing logged in sixty days. Counting them as lost moves win rate from 44 to 27 percent.

Where it goes wrong

Left open because closing them lowers the rate and shrinks the pipeline.

Articles that use this term

Forecast and pipeline

Pipeline coverage vs weighted pipeline: what is the difference, and when each one lies

Pipeline coverage and weighted pipeline are two ways of asking whether there is enough pipeline to make the number. Coverage divides unweighted in-period pipeline by the target and compares the multiple to one over the win rate. Weighted pipeline multiplies each deal by a stage probability and compares the sum to the target directly. This page sets out both, computes them on the same ten deals, shows that they agree when the stage probabilities are the team's own measured rates and disagree when they are defaults, and says which to use for what.

17 Sept 20264 min read Forecast and pipeline · Sales teams

Pipeline review template: six questions per deal, and the table that makes most of them unnecessary

A template for a one-to-one pipeline review between a sales manager and a rep: the pre-read table that flags which deals need discussing, the six questions to ask about each flagged deal, how to handle stalled deals and slipped close dates, how the review feeds the forecast, and what to record. This page gives the flags, the questions, a thirty-minute structure, and a copyable template, so the review is about the ten deals that need a decision and not a recital of all forty.

17 Sept 20265 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 Forecast and pipeline · Sales teams

What is a good win rate? The answer depends on three things you can measure

The honest answer to what B2B sales win rate a team should have: the 20 to 30 percent figures usually quoted depend entirely on the stage the rate is measured from, whether it is counted by deals or by value, and what happens to deals that never close. This page gives the ranges by stage and desk, the three measurable things that set the right figure for one team, and the table to compute before anyone quotes a percentage.

17 Sept 20263 min read Forecast and pipeline · Sales teams

Win rate vs close rate vs conversion rate: what is the difference, and which denominator each uses

Win rate, close rate and conversion rate are used interchangeably in sales reporting and have different denominators. Win rate is won over decided. Close rate is usually won over all opportunities created, decided or not. Conversion rate is the share moving from any one stage to the next. This page sets out the three definitions, computes all three on the same hundred opportunities, shows when each is the right one, and lists the questions to ask before comparing a figure to anyone else's.

17 Sept 20263 min read Forecast and pipeline · Sales teams

Win-loss analysis template: what to record on every closed deal, and the four tables it produces

A template for win-loss analysis that runs on every closed deal instead of an occasional interview programme: the seven fields to record at close, a short controlled list of loss reasons, how to stop price becoming the answer to everything, and the four tables the data produces: win rate by segment and size, by competitor, by source and by stage lost. This page gives the fields, the reason list, the tables, the interview questions for the few deals worth a conversation, and a copyable form.

17 Sept 20265 min read