GONG RECIPE BOOK

Conducting Efficient
Pipeline Reviews

Ingredients: Deal Pipeline, accounts page

What is it?

Pipeline reviews are critical for managers and their sales reps to go over the deals that are in the pipeline and understand where each one stands. Effective pipeline reviews let managers focus on deal strategy and determine how to change deal outcomes, so they can drive higher win rates and shorter sales cycles.

Who is it for?

Any company with a meaningful B2B sales pipeline (i.e., a non-trivial sales process that is not transactional) needs pipeline reviews as part of its process to keep managers and sales reps on the same page.

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How does Gong help out?

Gong provides out-of-the-box functionality that drives effective pipeline reviews, so managers can focus on strategy rather than fact-finding. Applicable features include:

A single place where sellers and frontline managers can view an up-to-date list of their active deals, compare pipeline health and targets side by side, and easily navigate the pipeline by status (stage, forecast category, close date).

An interface (called Deal Board) that presents the data points that are helpful for a pipeline review process including and automatically computed data points based on what was said across all the deal’s conversations (e.g. competitor mentions, risk conversations, pricing). This speeds up the review process and bases it on its true status versus outdated seller-provided data.

A deal inspection area that shows all of the deal’s activity down to the conversation level (calls, emails), digital interaction level (e.g., prospect opened a document), and contact level (who is active). This enables efficient pipeline reviews and makes it possible to conduct most work asynchronously.

An AI-driven system that flags deals at risk (called Warnings) based on multiple criteria, including conversations (e.g., a customer informing of a negative step) and activity types (e.g., a specific contact who is ghosting the seller). This helps managers focus on the deals that require attention.

An easy way for a seller to update CRM data using a user-friendly spreadsheet interface. This speeds up the process of preparing for the pipeline review and then reflecting its outcome in the CRM.

An easy way to collaborate over a deal, keeping the discussion with the deal throughout its lifecycle.

Proactive weekly emails updating managers about the status of deals and pointing out which ones are at risk, helping them to create a regular cadence for reviewing the pipeline.

How does it work?

1. Set up a Deal Board (approx. 1 hour)

Leaders or sales operations team members can set up a Deal Board to guide frontline managers through the pipeline review process. The deals in the pipeline are pulled from the CRM (in a configurable way). The activity reflects emails, meetings, and calls captured in Gong.

Data can include fields from the CRM or elements detected automatically in calls or emails, such as competitors.

2. Review a Pipeline (typically weekly)

Managers review the pipeline with the sellers synchronously or asynchronously. To help with prioritization, the system highlights at-risk deals. Managers can drill down into each deal and read the actual call transcript or emails to determine the strength of the relationship.

With Gong, managers can collaborate with sellers within the same interface, including quickly updating deals’ statuses in the CRM to reflect their shared view of the pipeline.

Pro tips

Companies can set up multiple deal boards, each supporting a different use case. Each board can have its own filters, categories, and fields, driving a different review methodology.

Gong provides a behind-the-scenes report that tracks which people have used the pipeline reviews, so company leadership can track and drive adoption of the system.