Run a pipeline review around swing deals, forecast scenarios, buyer evidence and next actions. Includes a practical agenda and reusable worksheet.
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A pipeline review should answer three questions: what revenue is realistically available, which deals could change the result, and what the team will do next. A useful template puts forecast scenarios and swing deals first, then connects each risk to buyer evidence, an owner and a dated action.
If a meeting ends with a more polished spreadsheet but no different decisions, the review has probably become a reporting exercise. The manager has learned what the reps already knew. The deals have not moved.
This guide proposes a review format for a B2B team with several open opportunities and a recurring forecast cadence. The examples are fictional; the numbers are not Cedar customer results.
The forecast asks what the team expects to close in a defined period. Deal inspection asks what must happen for an individual opportunity to progress. Mixing them makes every forecast discussion a long recap of every account.
Begin with a snapshot captured at a consistent time. Preserve the previous snapshot so changes are visible. Use the same definition of amount, close date and forecast category across reps. A quarterly annual-contract-value forecast should not silently mix monthly subscriptions and total multi-year contract values.
Then summarize three scenarios:
| Scenario | Include | Decision it supports |
|---|---|---|
| Downside | Deals with the strongest remaining evidence, after explicit risks | What happens if exposed deals slip? |
| Base | The team's current expectation with stated assumptions | What number should leadership plan around? |
| Upside | Additional deals that could close if named milestones happen | Where would help meaningfully change the result? |
Do not make the scenarios three arbitrary percentages of the same pipeline. Explain which deals move between them and why. If a probability model is used, inspect how it was calibrated for the segment and stage; a precise-looking number can still be poorly grounded.
A swing deal is an opportunity whose outcome materially changes the forecast or the team's priorities. It may be large, late, strategically important or unusually recoverable. It does not have to be the biggest deal.
For example, a fictional $60,000 opportunity has a confirmed business sponsor, an unfinished security review and a close date twelve days away. A $120,000 opportunity is still in early discovery. The first may deserve more attention in this week's review because a concrete intervention could change this period's outcome.
Use a short swing-deal table:
| Deal | Forecast effect | Evidence that supports closing | Missing condition | Decision today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northstar | $60,000 in base scenario | Sponsor confirmed budget and business case | Security review has no named owner | Manager requests an owner and review date |
| Harbor | $35,000 in upside | Technical evaluation completed | Finance has not reviewed terms | Rep asks champion for a joint finance conversation |
Avoid converting every uncertainty into “red.” Unknown, contradicted and merely old are different states. Each requires a different next step.
A risk ladder orders unresolved conditions from foundational to close-critical. For one deal it might be:
For each rung, record the source, its date and whether the buyer confirmed it. “Rep thinks finance is fine” should not be treated as equivalent to finance joining a call and confirming approval requirements.
The ladder helps a manager choose the intervention. Missing product fit calls for a different conversation from missing procurement ownership. More follow-up emails will not necessarily fix either one.
Spend the first five minutes on changes since the last snapshot: added pipeline, removed pipeline, amount changes and date movement. Spend the next fifteen on the few swing deals that need a decision. Use five minutes for patterns across deals, such as repeated pricing objections or single-threaded late-stage opportunities. Close with five minutes to confirm actions and revisit last week's commitments.
Treat thirty minutes as a starting format, not a benchmark every team must hit. If the team needs more time, separate forecast inspection from coaching instead of rushing both.
For each inspected opportunity, capture:
Keep a link to the relevant conversation next to each important claim. A CRM field is useful for sorting; the underlying email or call is useful for judging whether the field tells the whole story.
Cedar's pipeline review and unified deal context can bring calls, messages and CRM activity into the same inspection workflow. The useful demonstration is a manager moving from a risk to its evidence and then to a concrete next action—not a dashboard full of unexplained colors. Explore the pipeline review on the Cedar landing page.
Measure forecast error against the same cutoff, repeated close-date movement, completion of agreed actions and the share of inspected deals with a buyer-confirmed next step. Do not infer better selling from a shorter meeting alone. Time saved matters, but the review should also improve the quality of the decisions made during that time.
Related guide: Sales playbook adherence.
Ask for the opportunities with a missing dated next step, then inspect the matches before preparing work. A shared filter defines the work queue; it should not produce one generic message for every buyer. Cedar can use the account context to prepare individualized work for a selected set of conversations. Review the scope, source freshness and each proposed action before executing a batch.