Find the deals that are quietly slipping
A weekly exception brief identifies at-risk deals, the evidence behind the risk, and the one recovery action each owner owes.
The problem
The forecast looks healthy until close dates move, stakeholders disappear, and next steps go stale all at once.
What you get
A working system with the steps, tools, checkpoints, and expected return made explicit.
- Setup
- 120 minutes
- Back each week
- 4 hours
- Difficulty
- agentic
Expected return
The working case
A planning estimate, not a guaranteed result. Measure the first four weeks against your own baseline.
192
hours returned per year
At 4 hours/week across 48 working weeks.
1
week to earn back setup
Compare the setup estimate with the weekly time returned.
Operating contract
Input
The source material, constraints, and examples a human would need to do this work well.
Checkpoint
A person reviews judgment calls, sensitive content, unfamiliar tools, and irreversible actions.
Success signal
Track time returned, corrections required, and exceptions. Keep it only if the measured result compounds.
Before you start
- ·Stage exit criteria
- ·Consistent activity and next-step fields
The steps
- 01
Define observable risk signals: stale next step, repeated close-date movement, single-threading, no recent buyer activity, or missing decision process.
- 02
Pull only open deals and their recent activity once a week.
- 03
Score risk from evidence, then draft one owner-specific recovery action without changing the forecast.
Copy this prompt
Identify only deals with a concrete risk signal. For each: risk, exact CRM evidence, confidence, and one recovery action. Never infer buyer intent from silence alone. Deals: [records]
- 04
Review in the sales meeting; owners accept, revise, or dismiss each flag and improve the rules.
What it runs on
- Salesforce
Works equally with another well-maintained CRM.
- Slack
Delivers the exception brief to owners.
Where this goes wrong
- Do not auto-change stage, amount, probability, or close date.
- Poor CRM hygiene will look like deal risk; report data quality separately.
Definition of done
Run it for four weeks. Then make it earn its place.
- □ Baseline the manual time before launch.
- □ Keep a human approval step for consequential output.
- □ Record corrections and exceptions, not just successes.
- □ Expand, revise, or retire it after the first review.
Build the system around it
Related workflows
If this one stops working, tell us. Three reports in a month and it leaves the library until a person has looked at it again.