What it's about
Sales management is not a title but an operating system: a handful of data that is always maintained, a few rules that always apply and routines that always happen – regardless of who is on the team right now. This playbook describes that system so you can roll it out in four weeks. It is a proposal, not a promise: whether it works shows in your metrics, not in the rollout.
The playbook consistently separates two things: activity (what the team does) and impact (what comes of it). Both are measured, but never confused. Many calls are activity. A customer’s decision is impact.
1. Minimum data per deal
Without these seven fields, a deal can’t be managed. Anything beyond is optional; these seven are mandatory – and empty means: the deal is the first one discussed in the review.
| Field | Why | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Company & contact person | Who decides, who influences | Decision-maker by name, not just “purchasing” |
| Stage | Where the deal stands | Switch only when the exit criterion is met |
| Value (net) | Size of the opportunity | Estimate allowed, log the change |
| Next step | What happens next | Verb + outcome, e.g., “Discuss quote” |
| Owner | Who takes the step | Exactly one person |
| Next step date | When | Calendar day, not “this week” |
| Last customer response | Is the deal alive? | Date of the customer’s last reply – not your own email |
2. Stage exit criteria
A stage is not left because time has passed, but because something verifiable has happened. The criteria below are an example for a four-stage B2B model; adapt them to your business, but keep them verifiable.
- Qualified → Need clarified
- Occasion, decision-maker, time frame and budget range are confirmed by the customer – not assumed by sales.
- Need clarified → Quote
- The customer has agreed to the solution direction and accepted a date to discuss the quote.
- Quote → Decision
- The quote was discussed with the decision-maker (not just sent); objections are documented.
- Decision → Won / Lost
- Written commitment or documented loss reason from a fixed list. “Price” is only allowed if the customer stated it.
3. Roles
- Deal owner
- Owns the data and next step of their deal. Exactly one person per deal.
- Sales manager (internal or external)
- Owns the routine: agenda, time, decisions, minutes. Does not sell personally in this role.
- Management
- Decides escalations and exceptions (price, terms, resources). Takes part in the monthly funnel review, not necessarily in the weekly review.
- Data upkeep
- Not a role of its own. Whoever takes the step maintains the record – the same day.
4. Weekly deal review: 30 minutes
The weekly routine is the core. It always takes place on the same day at the same time, lasts 30 minutes and follows the same agenda. This is a proposed working routine – not a guarantee of results. Its value comes from repetition.
| Minute | Item | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| 0–3 | Numbers of the week | Four metrics, prepared, no discussion |
| 3–8 | Deals without minimum data | Owner adds it live or the deal is closed |
| 8–18 | Deals with no customer response > 14 days | One decision per deal: next step with date, escalate or close |
| 18–25 | Deals with a decision in the next 14 days | What does the customer need in order to decide? Who gets it by when? |
| 25–28 | Escalations | Only cases that management needs; the team decides everything else |
| 28–30 | Log | Read out decisions, owners confirm |
5. Monthly funnel review
Once a month the view shifts from the individual deal to the whole path. The basis is a cohort: all inquiries from a closed period, tracked to the present. Only this way are rates comparable between months.
- Volumes per stage for the cohort and conversion between stages.
- Average dwell time per stage – where does it get stuck?
- Loss reasons from the fixed list, counted, not narrated.
- Response time to new inquiries (median, not average).
- One hypothesis for the month, one test, one metric by which the test is measured.
6. Deal escalation and decision log
Escalation follows a rule, not a feeling. A deal goes to management if any one applies: value above a defined threshold and decision within the next 14 days; customer request for special terms; two reviews in a row without a new step; or a loss that affects an existing customer.
The decision log is a list, not prose: date, deal, decision, owner, due date. It is the first thing checked in the next review. Anything not done twice is escalated – not postponed again.
7. Forecast in three scenarios
A forecast with one number is a bet. Three scenarios make the assumptions visible:
- Certain
- Written commitments and contracts with delivery in the period. No probabilities.
- Expected
- Certain plus deals in the “Decision” stage with a customer response in the last 14 days and a decision date within the period.
- Possible
- Expected plus deals in “Quote” with a confirmed budget range. Everything else is pipeline, not forecast.
8. Five KPI definitions
Every metric has a numerator, denominator and period. Without these three details a number isn’t comparable – not even with your own previous week.
| Metric | Type | Numerator | Denominator | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response time to inquiries | Activity | Hours to first personal response (median) | All new inquiries | Calendar week |
| Share of deals with a scheduled next step | Activity | Open deals with a date in the future | All open deals | Review cutoff date |
| Qualification rate | Impact | Inquiries that reached “Need clarified” | Inquiries in the cohort | Cohort of one month, measured after 60 days |
| Closing rate (qualified) | Impact | Won deals in the cohort | Cohort deals in “Need clarified” | Cohort of one month, measured after 120 days |
| Decision time | Impact | Days from “Quote” to “Won/Lost” (median) | Closed deals | Quarter |
9. Team buy-in
- The review doesn’t take deals away from anyone. It helps get decisions. That is the first sentence of the rollout.
- Data upkeep is rewarded by saving time: whoever maintains the minimum data has nothing to explain in the review.
- No metric is shown as a ranking between people. The cohort is the unit, not the person.
- Rules are decided together once and then not renegotiated for three months. After that, adjust what didn’t work.
10. The first four weeks (proposal)
- 01Week 1: Set stages and exit criteria, define minimum data, go through all open deals once and fill the gaps or close them.
- 02Week 2: First weekly review following the agenda. Only items 1–3 of the agenda, deliberately short. Set up the log.
- 03Week 3: Full agenda. Put the escalation rules in writing. Decide on the loss reasons list.
- 04Week 4: First funnel review with last month’s cohort. Set up three forecast scenarios once. Note one hypothesis for the next month.
The downloadable agenda below contains the weekly routine as a Markdown file you can drop straight into your note-taking or meeting tool.
Downloads
To take away
Markdown opens in any text editor or note-taking tool. CSV files are semicolon-separated and open directly in Excel, Numbers, or LibreOffice.
