A rep says a deal is "looking good". The manager asks what that means. The rep says the buyer was engaged on the last call and the champion likes the product. Both of those can be true, and neither tells the manager what to do on Tuesday.
That is the usual shape of a deal review that turns into a status update. The manager hears a story, nods, and moves to the next deal. The story was told by the person closest to the deal, so it was always going to sound reasonable.
The fix is a short, fixed list of questions, where each question points at something you can look at. Below is a template you can copy. After it, a few notes on how to use it.
What a deal review is, and what it is not
A deal review looks at one deal. You pick it because it is large, because it is in commit, or because something about it changed or stopped changing. The aim is a decision about what happens next, and a check on the evidence behind what the rep believes.
A review of the whole book, run weekly across every deal a rep carries, is a different meeting. We cover that in How to run a pipeline review and do not repeat it here. A deal review is what you do once a deal from that list needs a closer look.
The deal review template
One row per question. The middle column is the point of the template: if the rep cannot name the evidence, the answer is still a belief. Copy the table into a document, a spreadsheet or your CRM notes and fill one in per deal.
| # | Question to ask | Evidence that answers it | Where to look | If you cannot find it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What has the buyer done since we last spoke, that came from them? | A reply, an invite, a document or a call they started | Email thread, calendar | Record "no buyer action" with the date of the last one |
| 2 | Who was active a month ago and has gone quiet? | The names on the last three threads or meetings, compared with this week | Email thread, calendar, contact roles | Name the person and the gap in days |
| 3 | Who has decided that this is worth doing, and how do we know? | A message or meeting where that person said so in their own words | Email thread, call notes | Mark the sponsor as unconfirmed |
| 4 | What is the close date standing on? | A step the buyer has agreed to, with a date | Mutual plan, email thread | Treat the date as the rep's hope, not the buyer's plan |
| 5 | What did the buyer say they would do internally, and has anyone seen it? | The document, the forwarded message or the meeting that resulted | Email thread, shared files | List it as promised and not seen |
| 6 | Who else has to say yes, and have we been in contact with them? | Names and roles for finance, legal, security and procurement, with any contact so far | Contact roles, email thread | Name the missing roles |
| 7 | What is the next step, who owns it, and what date is it on? | A calendar invite or written confirmation from the buyer | Calendar, email thread | No next step with a date means no commit |
| 8 | If we lose this in six weeks, what will the reason have been? | The rep's answer, checked against the gaps in rows 1 to 7 | The rep, then the rows above | Write the reason down, so it can be checked later |
| 9 | What would have to become true for that reason to go away? | One specific thing the buyer can do | The rep, then the buyer | Treat the move as undefined until it has an owner |
| 10 | What is the move for this week, and where does it have to land? | A named person or process (a reply in the thread, a new meeting, a document the champion can forward) | Your agreed action | If it only reminds the buyer we exist, change it |
| 11 | What will show that the move happened, and on what date do we check? | A named item that comes from the buyer, plus a check date | Your agreed action | No proof item means the move cannot be checked |
| 12 | What happened to the action from the last review? | The proof item from last time, present or absent | The last review's notes | Say "no record" out loud |
Reading the table
Rows 1 to 7 collect the state of the deal: what is true now, including what has stopped. Rows 8 to 11 decide the move. Row 12 closes the loop with the last review. If you only have ten minutes, ask rows 1, 4, 7 and 11.
A few notes on the wording. "That came from them" in row 1 matters, because a rep's own emails are activity on your side, not on theirs. Row 4 is there because a close date is a statement of intent until a buying step stands behind it. Row 7 is there because a deal with no dated next step has nothing to hold the commit up.
How to run the review with it
Fill in what you can before the meeting
Rows 1, 2, 5 and 7 can be answered from the email thread and the calendar before anyone sits down. If you open the meeting with those filled in, the rep is correcting a record rather than building a story from memory, and the conversation starts further along.
Keep the questions in the same order
A fixed order is useful for two reasons. Reps learn what is coming, so they can prepare the evidence. And you can compare one deal with the next, which a free-form chat makes hard. If you worry that reps will learn to give a polished answer, the evidence column is your protection, because a polished answer needs something behind it.
Ask for the evidence, then stop talking
When the rep answers a row, ask "where would I see that?" Then wait. The pause is where much of the learning happens. Sometimes the rep has a message you have not seen, and the deal is better than it looked. Sometimes the rep realises the answer is a belief, and the deal is worse than it sounded. Both are useful.
Write the move so it can be checked
Rows 10 and 11 are easy to skip. A weak version: "Rep to follow up with the champion this week." A stronger version: "Champion to confirm the security review start date in writing. Check Thursday." The second one finishes itself, because on Thursday the item is either there or it is not. The reasoning behind that is in the pipeline review guide, under the four things each deal should leave with.
Keep the tone about the deal
The template asks about the buyer's behaviour and the evidence in the file. It does not ask about the rep's skill, effort or time. A deal can stall because direction or information is missing, and the review's job is to find which one.
Using the template with the tools you already have
You can fill in this template by hand from a CRM, an inbox and a calendar. That works well for a handful of deals. It gets slow when a manager has to do it across several reps before every review. Vektor reads the state of each open deal from the evidence that already exists in the CRM, the email thread and the calendar, and shows the manager that state before the review starts.
None of this needs call recording. Most of the evidence in the table is something the buyer did or did not do, and an absence rarely shows up in a transcript.
Key takeaways
- A deal review looks at one deal and ends with a decision. A pipeline review covers the whole book.
- Each question in the template is paired with the evidence that answers it. If the rep cannot name the evidence, the answer is still a belief.
- Ask rows 1 to 7 to see where the deal stands, rows 8 to 11 to decide the move, and row 12 to check the last decision.
- A close date needs a buyer step behind it, and a commit needs a dated next step.
- Write each move with a proof item that has to come from the buyer, and a date when someone looks.
- Keep the questions in a fixed order, and fill in what you can from email and calendar before the meeting.
FAQ
What is a deal review in sales? A deal review is a conversation between a manager and a rep about one open deal. It exists to decide what happens next and to check the evidence behind the rep's account of where the deal stands. It differs from a forecast call, which asks what will close, and from a pipeline review, which covers a rep's whole book.
What questions should a sales manager ask in a deal review? Start with what the buyer has done since the last conversation, who has gone quiet, what the close date is standing on, who else has to approve, and what the next step is with a date. Then ask what the most likely reason for losing would be and what would have to change. The template above puts twelve questions in that order, each with the evidence that answers it.
How do you stop a deal review from turning into a status update? Ask for evidence on each answer, and finish each deal with a move that has a proof item and a check date. A status update ends when the rep stops talking. A review ends with something to look for later. Opening the next review with the proof items from the last one keeps the habit going.
How long should a deal review take? It depends on the deal. Keep a routine deal short and give more time to one that is large or at risk. If you fill in rows 1, 2, 5 and 7 from the email thread and calendar beforehand, the meeting can spend its time on the decisions.
What is the difference between a deal review and a pipeline review? A deal review goes deep on one opportunity. A pipeline review goes across all of a rep's opportunities and decides where the week's effort should go. Some teams run the pipeline review first and then hold a deal review on the deals that need a closer look.
Can I run a deal review without call recording? Yes. Most of the evidence in the template is what the buyer did or did not do: replies, invites, documents, names on a thread. That sits in the CRM, the email thread and the calendar. Call recordings help for what was said on a call, and they cannot show a meeting that never happened.
Should reps see the questions in advance? Yes. Sharing the questions lets the rep come with the evidence ready, which is the point. A rep who has to look for the evidence before the meeting often finds the gap on their own.