Hey friends,
The CRM you use matters less than you think.
HubSpot, Attio, Pipedrive, Salesforce. It doesn't matter. The same red flags show up in everyone.
I see this every week. I jump into a new pipeline. Within 10 minutes, I spot the same problems.
Here are the 10 things I fix first.
Print them.
Pin them next to your team's screens.
Check them every Monday.
If I see 15+ deals stalled in qualification, your rep is not working them.
Go through them this week.
Mark lost the ones that haven't moved in 30 days.
The classics. After discovery, each deal needs all four: closing date, amount, company, and contact.
You can't miss one or two of them.
This is more concept than a pure metric. If you have a 3-month sales cycle and deals are still on discovery with a closed date this month, there is a problem.
Always check the sales cycle and the closed date. Act accordingly.
This is very common, and this is one of the reasons for missing the forecast.
If you only talk to one person in an account, you are not selling.
You're hoping to close with little control.
Unless the deal size is small, talk to at least 2-3 people inside the account.
Reflect this in the number of contacts per deal.
No next step booked, no deal. 99% of the time.
Don't be like Tom. (Do you know Tom the Chaser?).
Tom finishes a great call and says, "I'll follow up next week."
Then he chases for two months with no answer.
Book the next meeting before you hang up. Always.
You don't need to stress prospects daily. But if a deal sits silent for a week, I start worrying.
Either the prospect ghosted, or your rep did. Set up a filter. Silent deals should show up every Monday.
If your deal size is 10K and I find a 50K deal, I’m happy and worried.
Deep dive larger deals. Ask questions. Listen to the calls.
Help your reps manage them.
If a deal is way smaller than average, I want in too.
Sometimes it’s better to kill small deals to avoid wasting time.
Sometimes it’s important to dive into why we created them. Either way, it needs your attention.
The favourite. The most-requested fix from every founder I work with.
A past close date means you don't control the deal, CRM, or forecast.
If the closing date has passed, either close the deal or update it with a real reason. Not "next month." A real reason.
Every email, meeting, and task should be linked to the deal, company, and contacts.
Otherwise, when your top rep is on the beach enjoying commissions, nobody can step in. The CRM has to hold the story.
Most modern CRMs auto-log emails. Turn it on today.
Your CRM should stay simple.
This is the best advice I’d give to anyone who is going to build their CRM right now.
Reps need room to manage deals their way. But inside a system.
I like to think of the CRM like a highway.
Where you have rules to avoid a crash, but anybody can have their own cars or speed.
We don’t need to have reps filling out 10 things per deal or being trapped in the system with too many requirements.
It should be simple.
It should be easy to use.
It should be a companion that works with the rep, not against it.
Thanks for reading this far. See you all next week!
