Coaching a rep on close dates means helping them replace a date they picked with one the buyer owns. The front-line manager does it, on a 15 to 20 minute call per deal, ideally before a deal enters commit, while there is still room to get the buyer's date.
Every forecast tool flags a moved close date, and they are right to. Gong analyzed 13,439 opportunities and found that when sellers pushed a close date three weeks or more, win rates fell, and fell further when the push crossed into the next month or quarter. What the flag cannot do is tell the rep what to say to the buyer. This guide covers that conversation. It is one part of our deal risk guide.
What close date slippage is
Close date slippage is when a deal in the forecast does not close by its expected date and the date gets pushed into a later period. Salesloft defines the slip rate as "the percentage of deals in commit that fail to close within the forecasted period".
A moving date is not always bad news. Gong found that close dates on won deals moved 31% more than on lost deals, and reads it this way: stale deals have stagnant dates, because nothing is happening to update. The question a manager needs answered is why the date moved, and whether the new one is any more real.
A buyer's date and a rep's date
A buyer's date is tied to something on the buyer's calendar: a board meeting, a contract that expires, a launch, a budget that closes, a new team starting. A rep's date is the end of the rep's month or quarter, or a guess at how long things usually take.
- End of the rep's month or quarter
- A guess at how long things take
- Nothing on the buyer side holds it
- Tied to the buyer's calendar
- A board meeting, launch or budget close
- The rep names the event and the buyer
The test is one question: "What happens on the buyer's side on that date, and who put it there?" If the rep can name the event and the buyer who mentioned it, the date is the buyer's. If the answer is "that is when they said they would decide" with no reason behind it, or "end of quarter", it is the rep's. A rep's date will move, because nothing on the buyer's side holds it.
Why dates move: five causes
| Cause | What the rep usually says | The missing evidence | The conversation that fixes it |
|---|---|---|---|
| The date was the rep's | "They said end of month" | No buyer event behind the date | Ask the champion what their date is and what depends on it |
| An approval step nobody mapped | "It is with legal" or "procurement needs more time" | The steps between yes and signature, with names | Ask what happens the day after the signed contract arrives, and who it goes to first |
| The signer has not heard the case | "It is with leadership" | The economic buyer on a call | Ask the champion for 20 minutes to prepare what the signer will ask, and a date for the signer to see it |
| A cost nobody stated | "They are still evaluating" | A number from a named buyer on what the problem costs | Ask the person who described the problem to put a rough figure on it |
| A buyer event moved | "Their reorganization pushed everything" | Nothing missing; the buyer's world changed | Ask for the new event and its date, and re-map the steps |
Only the last cause is outside the rep's control, and even then there is a conversation to have. The other four are visible before the date moves, as a gap the deal skipped. MEDDPICC teams will recognize them as the Economic Buyer, Metrics, Decision Process and Paper Process (MEDDPICC).
The coaching procedure: six steps
Run this on a call, with the rep talking the deal through. Typing works if the rep cannot talk.
Ask the test question. "What happens on the buyer's side on that date, and who put it there?" What good looks like: a named event and a named buyer. If the rep cannot answer, the date is the rep's, and the rest of the call is about getting a buyer's date.
Find the buyer's event. If there is no event yet, ask what the buyer is trying to get done and by when. "When does the new support team start?" "When does the current contract renew?" What good looks like: the rep names a candidate event and the buyer who would know.
Map the steps back from it. Starting from the buyer's date, list every step between now and signature in reverse: signature, legal, security review, signer sees the case, and so on, each with an owner and a date. This becomes a mutual action plan once the buyer agrees to it; how to write a close plan covers that document. What good looks like: no step without a name.
Find the first gap. Walk the table above. The first missing piece of evidence is what the next conversation is about. What good looks like: one gap, said in one sentence.
Plan the conversation and say it out loud. Who the rep talks to, the opening line, the buyer's likely answer and the rep's reply. "I had this down for the end of the month, and I think that was my date. What is your date, and what does it depend on?" The rep says it out loud before the call ends. What good looks like: it sounds like a question the buyer would want to answer, and nothing like a check-in.
Set the CRM date after the conversation. The date in the CRM changes when the buyer gives one. Until then the deal sits in best case. What good looks like: every date in commit has a buyer event in the notes.
A worked example
This example is illustrative.
Casey's $55,000 deal has moved from 30 September to 31 October. The manager asks the test question. Casey says: "They said Q4 works." Nobody on the buyer's side has said why.
Step 2: Casey knows the buyer, a regional operations lead called Robin, is opening two new sites. Casey does not know when. Step 3: working back from "sites open", Casey can name Robin and the finance director who signs, but not the steps between them. Step 4: the first gap is the date itself, and the second is an unmapped approval step.
Step 5, the planned conversation with Robin: "I have had this penciled in for October, and I realize that was my date. When do the new sites open, and what needs to be in place before they do?" Likely answer: "First site opens in January, we would want it running a month before." Casey's reply: "So early December. What does the finance director need to see, and by when, to make that work?"
After the call with Robin, the deal has a buyer date (early December, set by a January site opening), a step to map (finance director's review) and its right place in the forecast: best case for this quarter until the finance director's review has a date.
Where it goes wrong
- Coaching the date after it has moved twice. Ideally, coach it before a deal enters commit. Make the test question part of the forecast call.
- Accepting "they said" as a buyer's date. A buyer naming a month is a preference. A buyer naming the event behind it is a date.
- Pushing for the rep's quarter. Discounting to pull a deal in answers a question the buyer never asked and trains the buyer to wait for the next quarter end.
- Moving the CRM date before the conversation. If the rep picks a new date alone, the deal gets another rep's date and the cycle repeats.
- Punishing early pushes. A rep who moves a date early with a reason is doing the job. Save the hard questions for dates with no reason.
Every committed date, every week
A manager can run this on two or three deals a week. Across eight reps and every committed deal, the dates nobody questioned are the ones that slip, and coaching quality matters: across 1,246 pharmaceutical reps, managers' coaching skill predicted goal attainment, while frequent coaching from less skilled managers was linked to worse results (Dahling et al. 2016, via our Game Winning Kickoffs study).
The rep brings the deal to Caty on a call; she asks for the buyer event behind the date and plans the conversation that gets one, in the team's own method. To see it on the committed deal whose date you trust least, talk to us.
FAQ
Why do close dates keep slipping?
Close dates often slip because the date was the rep's from the start: the end of the rep's month or quarter, with nothing on the buyer's calendar holding it. Other causes are an approval step nobody mapped, a signer who has not heard the case and a problem with no stated cost. Only a changed buyer event is outside the rep's control.
How do you set a realistic close date?
Ask the buyer what happens on their side by a certain date and what depends on it, such as a contract renewal, a launch or a new team starting. Then map every step from now to signature backwards from that event, with an owner and a date for each, and agree the plan with the buyer.
Is it bad when a close date changes?
A changed close date is not always bad. Gong found close dates on won deals moved more often than on lost ones, because active deals get updated. A date that moves with a buyer reason, such as a moved board meeting, is healthy. A date pushed three weeks or more with no buyer reason is the warning sign.
What should a manager ask when a rep pushes a close date?
Ask what happens on the buyer's side on the new date and who put it there. If the rep cannot name a buyer event, the new date is a guess. Then ask which approval steps remain, with names, and plan the conversation that gets the buyer's real date before changing anything in the CRM.
What is a slip rate in sales?
A slip rate is the share of deals in commit that fail to close in the forecast period. Track it each quarter alongside the reason each deal slipped, so the most common cause becomes the team's coaching focus for the next quarter.