Deal stalls: how to see where deals are stuck before month end
To see where deals are stuck, give every open deal a next step and a date, then read one list each week: the deals whose date has passed with nothing logged. Those are the stalls. Each one gets a decision from you before month end: chase it, rework it or close it out.
It's the last week of the month and the forecast looks fine, until you start asking about each deal. The proposal you sent a few weeks back still sits in its column at full value. Nobody has heard from that buyer since, and nobody decided to stop chasing them either. You find out which deals went quiet when it's too late to do anything about this month.
Why a pipeline hides its stalls
A pipeline is a stock of open deals, and the board shows you where each one sits. It doesn't show you whether anything is due. A deal moves only when someone does the next thing: sends the revised scope, books the call with the buyer's finance lead, asks whether the project is still on. That next thing usually lives in an email, a call note or someone's memory, so when it slips, the board looks exactly the same as the day before.
What's missing is a flow of information. You can only correct what you can see, and a deal that stopped moving looks identical to one that's about to close. The usual fix is to watch how long a deal has sat in one stage. That's a real signal, though it tends to fire late, after the stage's usual time has run out, and it treats a slow deal with a meeting booked next week the same as one nobody has touched.
So I key it on the next-step date. Every open deal carries a next step and the date it's due, and a date that passes with nothing logged marks the deal stalled that same day. The date is a promise someone made, to the buyer or to themselves, so the list tells you which promise slipped and on whose deal.
A deal that sits open with no decision is one of the four places a lead dies, the one called never closed out, and this weekly list is how you catch it while there's still a decision to make.
What stalled deals cost
A stalled deal costs you twice. The buyer cools while nobody is talking to them, so a deal you could have saved with one email gets harder to save each week. And while it sits at full value, it props up the forecast, so you plan hiring, cash and next month's capacity around work that may already be gone. Month end is when the two meet: the forecast misses, and the deals behind the miss have been quiet for weeks.
It costs the next deal as well. A pipeline full of stalls looks busy, so you start looking for new work later than you should, and the gap in signed work shows up after that.
Stalls are one of several places leads drop, and which one costs you most depends on your own pipeline. The lead leak finder asks about yours and points to where leads drop first.
What the system looks like
I'd build it into the CRM you already use. A deal can't sit open without a next step and a date, so one missing either shows up as a problem straight away. Each day the system checks every open deal's date, and a date that has passed with nothing logged since puts the deal on the stalled list, with the last thing said and who owns it. Once a week, before month end, you read that list and make a call on each deal.
- Open deals in the CRM
- Each one carries a next step and a date
- Date passes with nothing logged: marked stalled
- Owner decides to chase, rework or close it outHUMAN
- Stalled list read every week before month end
The stalled list reads differently depending on who spoke last and what was said, and each kind asks for a different move.
| What the stalled list shows | What it usually means | Your move |
|---|---|---|
| The date passed and the last message came from you | The buyer went quiet after your proposal or answer | Chase it with one short note that asks whether the project is still on their list |
| The date passed and the last message came from the buyer | Someone on your side owes them a reply, so the deal stalled with you | Answer it first, before any of the others |
| The same deal keeps getting a new date | The next step keeps moving because it's the wrong next step | Rework it: change the offer, the scope or the person you're talking to |
| An open deal with no next step at all | Nobody decided what happens next | Set a next step and a date, or close it out |
| The buyer said they chose someone else or put the project off | The deal is over and nobody marked it | Close it out with the reason, and give a project that was put off a dated reminder |
What stays with you
The system decides which deals count as stalled, and you decide what happens to each one. It puts a deal on the list and shows you why. Closing a deal, marking it lost and writing to the buyer all stay with people.
- Which stalled deals are worth chasing. A buyer you'd love to work with gets a different note from one you'd be fine losing.
- Rework. Changing the offer, the scope or who you're talking to depends on what you know about the buyer.
- The next-step date. Whoever owns the deal sets it, because it's their promise.
- Close outs and their reasons. A deal marked lost comes off the forecast, and the reasons you write down show you, over time, which deals to stop chasing sooner.
Questions
How do I know if a deal is stalled?
Its next step was due and nothing happened. I'd give every open deal a next step and a date, and treat a passed date with nothing logged as the signal. How long a deal has sat in one stage tells you something too, though it usually flags the deal later.
How often should I review my sales pipeline?
Once a week, on the same day, with enough of the month left to act. The flagging can happen every day on its own. The weekly read is where you decide, and it works best as a short list you go through deal by deal.
What's the difference between a stalled deal and a slow one?
A slow deal still has a next step on the calendar, like a decision meeting the buyer booked for later in the month. A stalled deal's next step has passed with nothing logged. A slow deal can stay in the forecast. A stalled one needs a decision first.
Should I delete stalled deals from my CRM?
Close them out with a reason instead. A closed deal keeps its history, so when the buyer comes back you can see what was said. The reasons add up as well: several deals lost on the same point tell you something about your offer.
Can my CRM flag stalled deals on its own?
Most CRMs can hold a next-step date and filter on it, so the information is usually there. What's missing is something that checks every open deal each day, puts the stalled ones on one list with the last thing said, and gets that list in front of you each week. I'd add that around the CRM you already have.
Related
- Pipeline stallA pipeline stall is a deal that has stopped moving but still counts in the forecast. How to spot a stalled deal and how a system flags it in time.
- The follow-up bottleneck: why follow-ups fall through the cracksFollow-ups slip when the next step lives in someone's head. They hold when every open lead carries a next step, a date and a drafted nudge a person approves.
- The four places a lead diesLeads drain out of a pipeline in four places: never recorded, never answered, never followed up and never closed out. How to count each one this week.
- Old leads in your CRM: how to reactivate themOld leads went quiet for different reasons. Group them by why, send a short note per group that a person approves, and put every reply back in the pipeline.
- The owner-approval bottleneck: when every yes waits for youReplies, proposals and discounts all wait for the owner's yes. Written rules send the routine to a named person and bring the owner only the exceptions.
- Where do your leads leak?Twelve yes or no checks across the four places a lead dies: never recorded, answered, followed up or closed out. See your worst leak and what closes it.