Do you have a Pipeline Review meeting every week? Cue the groans. You're probably having flashbacks to a dragging, go-around-the-room-and-share, boring mandatory meeting that you and your boss are both unhappy about (because surely, that's not happening at your current company... :)).

Many sales teams rely on these meetings to ensure data hygiene and accurate forecasting. We're fans of both those outcomes. However, we're here to tell you that Pipeline Review meetings are not the best way to ensure those things. In this post, we'll discuss the problems with Pipeline Review meetings and propose an alternative way to stay up to date on data hygiene and better forecasting.

There's A Real Cost To These Long Pipeline Review Meetings

Here are the commonly overlooked costs of pipeline review meetings:‍

🙈 They're long - Pipeline Review meetings can last for hours, which is a lot of time to dedicate to a single task for so many people in your team.

😑 They're repetitive - If you're doing a Pipeline Review every week, chances are you're going over the same deals over and over. This can lead to boredom and frustration among your team members.

👿 They create fear - Because Pipeline Review meetings are often used as a way to enforce Salesforce data entry, they can create an environment of fear and shaming amongst your team.

These meetings are so common because they are a "good enough" solution to a hard problem. But that doesn't mean there aren't better alternatives.

The Better Way To Prepare

At Momentum, we believe that data hygiene and forecasting should be updated regularly, using well-targeted reminders that provide sales reps with low-friction actions they can take immediately to capture the data you need. No more, no less.

Effective notifications that help reps stay on top of their pipeline hygiene usually have the following qualities:‍

🕛 They're timely - The best notifications are sent at the right time, when the data is fresh in the rep's mind. For example, remind a rep to capture their notes from a call, minutes after they got off their call.‍

⏭ They're specific - Good notifications will tell the rep exactly what needs to be done and why it's important. E.g., if a deal just entered qualification, then ask your rep to focus on their MEDDIC fields.

☑️ They're actionable - The best notifications provide reps with a low-friction way to take action and update their data. E.g., provide a button that lets the rep automatically fill in the right fields without ever leaving Slack.

Boom! Cut Your Pipeline Review Meeting by 50%

Based on what we see with our own customers, using a combo of usage data and anecdotes, we estimate there's a 50% reduction in pipeline review meeting time when reps can update their deals right from Slack using notifications and automations.

Everyone comes into the meeting prepared, with the latest information about their deal already in Salesforce and sent out to their manager, so the meeting becomes about unblocking and getting support, vs. apologizing for not updating Salesforce.

With a weekly meeting that now takes 30 minutes vs 1 hour, spead across a group of 20 reps, well that's a productivity gain of 40 hours/month to focus on selling and closing new business!

If you're looking for an alternative to Pipeline Review meetings, we believe this is it. By regularly reminding your reps to update their data, you can achieve better data hygiene without wasting hours of your team's time in meetings or slowly eroding your team's morale. And that's a win for everyone.

What do you think? Are Pipeline Review meetings worth the time and effort? Or would you prefer a more targeted approach to data hygiene? Let us know!