Home / Playbooks / Pipeline triage — when to kill a stalled deal
Playbook · Pipeline

Pipeline triage — when to kill a stalled deal

Stalled deals consume more AE time than active ones. The 4 signals that mean a deal is dead but not buried, the 'last-question' email that either revives or closes it, and the political cover an AE needs to actually kill deals in CRM.

01The play

Summary
Stalled deals consume more AE time than active ones. The 4 signals that mean a deal is dead but not buried, the 'last-question' email that either revives or closes it, and the political cover an AE needs to actually kill deals in CRM.
Timing window
Weekly pipeline review + after any 30-day silence
Target persona
AEs managing late-stage pipelineSales managers reviewing forecasts
Success metric
Median days-in-stage decreases quarterly while close rate stays constant.

02Expected outcome

Outcome: Disciplined triage frees 20-30% of AE time without affecting closed revenue.

Success metric: Median days-in-stage decreases quarterly while close rate stays constant.

03Anti-patterns · do not run this when

  • Do not kill deals without the 'last-question' attempt — sometimes they revive
  • Do not let stalled deals inflate forecast — political mess at quarter-end
  • Do not punish AEs for killing — celebrate the discipline
Playbook entry · ships as-of {date('M Y')}. Operator-written, no theory inflation. If you've run this play and the numbers don't match yours — or the rhythm needs a tweak — write to [email protected] and we'll revise.
Signal-anchored outbound, no theater

Run this play on every account in your CRM.

Connect a CRM. Mama detects the trigger, scores the fit, and drafts the first message in the rhythm above. Free up to 100 accounts. No card.

Start free → Back to the library