Deal review

A conversation in which a manager and a seller test one deal against what the buyer has said and done, then agree the next step.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 source

Not the same as
Pipeline review

What is a deal review?

A deal review is a conversation in which a manager and a seller test one deal against what the buyer has said and done, then agree the next step. It covers a single opportunity in depth: who is buying, why they would act now, what they have agreed to, and what could stop it. A pipeline review looks across many deals. A deal review goes down into one.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

A forecast rests on a handful of large deals, and each one either has evidence behind it or it doesn't. The deal review is where a manager finds out which, while there is still time to act. It is also the most practical place to coach, because every gap in the evidence names the thing the seller should learn next. Jason Jordan and Robert Kelly, writing in HBR, linked a formal sales process to higher revenue and pointed to better pipeline management as the key.

Example

Fictitious numbers

A seller has a $420,000 software renewal and expansion in commit for next month. In the deal review the manager asks who signs, what the buyer's own deadline is, and what happens if they do nothing. The seller knows the champion well but has never met the CFO who signs. They agree the seller will ask the champion for a meeting with the CFO this week, and the deal stays in best case until it happens.

The question to ask

"For this deal, what has the buyer done that tells us it closes on this date?"

Sources

  1. Companies with a Formal Sales Process Generate More Revenue checked 1 Nov 2026

Ask these questions of your own number.

Management OS tells the revenue leader where to act to hit the number: which deals are real, who needs coaching and how, and where your own involvement moves it.

Talk to Jason See the product
Or start a 30-day trialCard required. Cancel before day 30 and pay nothing.