Deal Execution
How to Run a Deal Review
A pipeline review asks whether the number is still good. A deal review asks whether this specific deal is going to happen, and what would have to be true for it to. They're different meetings, and most teams only run the first one.
By Shane McGrath · Published 24 August 2026
If your deal review is every open opportunity read out in stage order, you're running a status meeting. Sellers learn quickly to bring answers that end the questioning rather than answers that are true.
Fewer deals, properly
Three deals examined for fifteen minutes each beats twenty deals covered in name only. Pick the ones where the outcome is genuinely uncertain and the seller could still change it. Deals that are already won or already dead don't need the room.
Evidence, not opinion
"They're really engaged" is an opinion. "They rescheduled twice and haven't introduced me to finance" is evidence. The single most useful shift a manager can make is to ask what the buyer has done rather than what they've said. Actions are checkable. Enthusiasm isn't.
A structure that works
- What is the buyer trying to change, in their words, and who said it?
- What has the buyer actually done that costs them time or political capital?
- Who else has to be comfortable with this, and have we heard their version of the problem?
- What is the single biggest risk on this deal, named out loud?
- What would have to be true in the next two weeks for this to progress?
- What is the manager doing, not just the seller?
The manager leaves with an action too
If every review ends with actions only for the seller, the manager is a judge rather than a coach. Sometimes the right action is an executive call, an introduction, or removing something from that seller's week. Say it in the room and it gets done.
Coaching, not interrogation
Pressure applied to a forecast pushes risk underground. Sellers stop mentioning the stakeholder who went quiet, because mentioning it costs them. The tone of the review decides how honest the pipeline is, which is also why forecast conversations and coaching conversations shouldn't be the same meeting. There's more on that in why forecasts stay wrong and in how to coach sales reps.
The test
Ask your sellers whether the deal review helps them win. If the honest answer is that it's something to survive, the structure isn't the problem. The purpose is.
FAQs
Common questions
- How often should we run deal reviews?
- Weekly works for most teams, as long as it isn't every deal every week. Rotate which deals get depth. Frequency matters less than whether sellers leave with something they didn't have.
- Should deal reviews and forecast calls be the same meeting?
- No. The forecast conversation rewards certainty and the deal conversation rewards honesty about risk. Put them together and one of them wins, usually the forecast.
- What if a seller can't answer the questions?
- Then you've found the coaching. That's the useful outcome, not a failure of the meeting. What matters is what happens next: a specific action on the deal, and practice on whatever they couldn't do.
More on deal execution
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