A pipeline hygiene checklist your CRM will not run

Your CRM will not tell you the forecast is fiction. It will happily roll last month’s ‘commit’ into this Monday. Hygiene is a human pass.

Once a week, sort open deals by close date, then by days since last meaningful touch. Meaningful means a reply, a meeting, or a written next step — not a view of the record.

If you are choosing the system that will hold this work, compare free CRM plans for small businesses by their day-to-day contact and pipeline fit, not only their price.

1. No next step dated in the future: slip or close-lost.
2. Champion silent for 14 days: send a useful asset, then a breakup.
3. Close date moved twice: cut the amount in half or move it out of commit.