Pipeline review checklist

Most pipeline reviews turn into a rep narrating their deals while the manager nods. Nothing gets inspected, bad deals stay open, and the same stalled opportunities show up week after week. This checklist gives the manager specific things to check before the meeting and specific questions to ask during it, so the review ends with changed deals, not reassured feelings.

Category:: Pipeline & Forecasting
Formats:: PDF + CSV + web view
Sections:: 5
Updated:: September 24, 2026

What you get

A pre-review hygiene checklist the manager runs before the 1:1 starts
Deal inspection questions ordered by stage, written to get evidence rather than opinions
A review log that records the decision on each deal: advance, hold, downgrade, or close
A pipeline health summary with thresholds you set for your own team
Guidance on what to do with deals that fail inspection

Who it's for

Frontline sales managers running weekly 1:1s
New managers who need a structure for inspecting deals
RevOps teams standardizing pipeline hygiene across teams

What's inside

1
Before the review (manager, 15 minutes)
8-point checklist
2
Deal inspection questions by stage
4 columns, 4 worked example rows
3
Review log
7 columns, 3 worked example rows
4
Pipeline health summary
6 fields to complete
5
What to do with deals that fail inspection
Guidance notes

Preview of section 1

Before the review (manager, 15 minutes)

No open deal has a close date in the past
Every open deal has a next step with a date in the next 14 days
No deal has been in its current stage for more than twice the typical stage duration

The preview shows part of section 1. The full template has all 5 sections (4 not previewed here), with blank rows ready to fill in. Download the full template

How to use it

1
Run the hygiene checks before the meeting
Pull past-due close dates, deals without a next step, and deals stuck in stage before you sit down. Hygiene issues should be fixed by the rep before the 1:1, not discussed in it.
2
Pick the deals, do not let the rep pick them
Reps will walk you through their best deals. Choose the ones that changed, the largest ones, and the oldest ones. Five well-inspected deals beat twenty skimmed ones.
3
Ask for evidence at every stage
Use the stage questions to ask what the buyer did or said, not what the rep believes. If the answer is 'I think so', the criterion is not met.
4
Record a decision for every deal inspected
Advance, hold with a dated action, downgrade the forecast category, or close lost. A review that ends without decisions will be repeated next week with the same deals.
5
Separate pipeline review from forecast
This 1:1 is about deal quality across the whole pipeline, including next quarter. Keep it weekly and keep it separate from the forecast call, or it becomes a negotiation about the number.

Frequently asked questions

What should a pipeline review include?

A hygiene check of close dates, next steps, and stage age before the meeting, then inspection of a selected set of deals against stage criteria, with a recorded decision and next action for each deal.

How often should managers run pipeline reviews?

Weekly for each rep, in a 30 to 45 minute 1:1. Less often and stalled deals sit for weeks unnoticed; more often and there is not enough change to inspect.

How many deals should you review in a pipeline review?

Usually five to ten, chosen by the manager: deals that changed, the largest deals, and the oldest deals. Reviewing every deal every week leads to skimming.

How is a pipeline review different from deal review?

A pipeline review looks across a rep's whole pipeline for health and hygiene. A deal review goes deep on one strategic deal, usually with more people in the room. This checklist covers the first and feeds the second.