A 15-minute deal review, run straight from the CRM

Review the record, not the story

A typical deal review is a rep talking through each deal while the manager listens. It takes an hour, the confident reps sound fine, and the only thing checked is how well the story is told.

Run it from the record instead. Put the deal on the screen in your CRM (the customer relationship management system where your deals and contacts live) and read before anyone speaks. The Salecopy Method has eight moves, and each one leaves something written on the deal. So the review is eight questions, and most weeks the record has already answered most of them.

The eight questions

One per step, in order. You are reading for the answer first and asking only when it is not there.

• S, Signal. What changed for the buyer, and what is their deadline? Read Why now and Buyer's deadline.
• A, Anchor. What does the problem cost them each month, and who on their side confirmed it? Read Cost of doing nothing and Whose numbers.
• L, List. Who can say no, and when did we last speak to each of them? Read the buying roles and the last-contacted dates.
• E, Evidence. Which objections are still open, and what evidence has gone out? Read Open objections.
• C, Concessions. What are we prepared to give, and what do we get back for each? Read the Give and get list and who approved it.
• O, Options. Where do we walk away, and what do we do instead? Read Walk-away, Our alternative and Buyer's alternative.
• P, Paper. What is the next step on the mutual plan, and is anything past its date? Read the Mutual plan.
• Y, Yes. What is the dated next step, and which buyer contact owns it? Read Next step, Next step owner and Next step date.

What an empty field tells you

An empty field is information. It usually means one of three things, and it is worth finding out which.

Some empty fields carry a specific warning for a deal in negotiation. No Why now means you are discussing price on a deal with no reason to close this quarter. No budget holder means you may be agreeing terms with a champion who cannot sign. No Walk-away means the rep will find the limit live on the call. No Next step date means the deal drops out of the forecast until there is one.

• The rep does not know. This is the most useful case. The gap becomes the next action: ask the buyer.
• The rep knows and has not written it down. Fill it in during the review. If it happens every week, coach the habit, because the next person to open the deal cannot read the rep's memory.
• The deal is in the wrong stage. If the field cannot be filled in yet, the deal moved forward too early. Move it back.

When the record and the rep's story disagree

The rep says the buyer is signing this month. The record shows a next step date that passed last week and nobody in the legal role. Both cannot be right.

Do not argue about it. Ask one question: what would need to be written on this record for the story to be true? Usually the answer is a date from the buyer, a contact in a role, or a step on the mutual plan. Then ask who on the buyer's side would confirm it.

If the rep has news that is not on the record yet, update it there and then, and the disagreement is over. If not, the record stands. The stage goes back and the forecast changes with it. This is not a judgment on the rep. A forecast built on things only one person knows cannot be checked. See a yes without a date is a maybe.

It runs the other way too. Sometimes every field is filled in and the rep is still uneasy. Take that seriously. Ask what the buyer said that caused it, and log it as an open objection so it gets an answer.

How to fit it into 15 minutes

The review is short because you only talk about the gaps. Say you review five deals with one rep. That is three minutes a deal.

You can save the reading minute by having an AI assistant check the record beforehand and list what is missing. It checks. You and the rep decide what to do about it.

• Choose the deals before the meeting: in negotiation, due to close this month, largest first.
• Minute one: both of you read the record in silence. Note the empty and out-of-date fields.
• Minute two: ask only the questions the record did not answer.
• Minute three: agree one action and write it down.
• Skip any question the record answers well. Do not ask the rep to read fields aloud.

What to write down at the end

Each deal leaves the review with one action, one owner and one date, written on the record. One, not five. The action that fills the most important gap.

Next week's review of that deal starts with last week's action. Was it done, and what did the buyer say? This is what makes the review a system. Without it you are having the same conversation every week.

Over time the gaps show patterns. If the budget holder is empty on most deals in negotiation, that is a problem with the List step across the team, and one coaching session will do more than ten deal reviews. A report that counts empty fields by stage and by rep makes those patterns visible. That is the kind of thing our reporting work builds.

What to add to your CRM

A prompt to prepare the review

You are helping a sales manager prepare a weekly deal review. You only read and report. Do not contact anyone, and do not draft messages to the buyer.

Today's date: [date]
I will paste one deal record below. Answer these eight questions using only what is written in the record:
S, Signal: What changed for the buyer, and what is their deadline?
A, Anchor: What does the problem cost them each month, and who on their side confirmed it?
L, List: Who can say no, and when was each one last contacted?
E, Evidence: Which objections are still open, and what evidence has been sent?
C, Concessions: What can we give, what do we get back for each, and who approved it?
O, Options: What is our walk-away, our alternative and the buyer's alternative?
P, Paper: What is the next step on the mutual plan, and is any step past its date?
Y, Yes: What is the next step, which buyer contact owns it, and what is the date?

For each question, give the answer in one line and quote the field or note it came from. If the record does not answer it, write Missing. If the answer exists but a date has passed or the last contact looks old for a deal at this stage, write Stale and say why. Do not guess, and do not fill gaps from general knowledge.

Then:
1. List any place where the notes and the fields disagree with each other.
2. Write the one question the manager should ask the rep about this deal.
3. Say which single gap matters most at this stage, and why.

Deal stage: [stage]
Deal record: [paste the deal fields and recent notes here]