A pipeline review is a meeting where a sales manager checks a rep's or team's open deals for coverage, realism and risk, and picks the deals that need work.
What happens in the meeting
Most teams hold pipeline reviews weekly or every other week, either one-on-one with each rep or as a team meeting. The manager looks at whether there is enough pipeline to hit the number, whether each deal is as far along as the CRM says, and where deals are stuck. Good prep is for each rep to stage their deals by buyer evidence (what the buyer has said and done) before the meeting, so time goes to the deals whose CRM stage and evidence disagree.
The output is a shortlist: the two or three deals per rep that get a one-on-one deal review this week. A pipeline review checks the book. The deal review fixes individual deals, and the forecast call adds up the result. The team format is in how to run a pipeline review meeting, the one-page version is the pipeline review template, and the wider practice is in our guide to deal coaching.
$400,000 in Commit, checked
A rep's book shows $400,000 in Commit. Staged by buyer evidence, only $180,000 has a dated step on the buyer's calendar. The two deals without a dated buyer step, $220,000 between them, move to Best Case, and the two largest remaining Commit deals go on the shortlist for deal reviews this week. (Illustrative.)
The difference shows in how the rep answers the first question. On one of the moved deals: "They gave me a verbal yes, paperwork should follow next week." Nothing is on the buyer's calendar. On a deal that stays in Commit: "Their CFO and legal lead are on a call with us on the 12th to sign off the order form."
Questions that keep it short
A pipeline review goes wrong when it turns into a status recital, deal by deal, with the rep reading the CRM aloud. Three questions keep it on the book:
- "Which deals in Commit have a step on the buyer's calendar, with a date?" Anything without one is Best Case until it has one.
- "Which deal hasn't changed stage in a month, and what did the buyer last say about it?"
- "If you could only work two deals this week, which two?" The rep's answer and the manager's should match. When they don't, that gap is the first thing to talk about.
A weak review ends with every deal discussed and none of them assigned work. A good one ends with two or three named deals, each booked for a deal review before the forecast call.
Related terms
- Deal review: one deal, worked down to its next buyer conversation.
- Deal inspection: reading one deal's data to flag what is wrong.
- Deal review vs pipeline review vs forecast call: the three meetings compared.
FAQ
What should a pipeline review produce?
A pipeline review checks whether a rep's or team's pipeline is enough, real and moving, and picks the deals that need a deal review this week. It turns a long list of open deals into a short list of deals to work.
How often should you do a pipeline review?
Weekly is common, sometimes every other week for longer sales cycles. It should happen before the forecast call so the forecast is built on deals whose stage has been checked.
What is the difference between a pipeline review and a deal review?
A pipeline review covers a whole book and decides which deals need attention. A deal review takes one of those deals and plans the next buyer conversation that moves it.