Closed lost stage in sales pipeline

[NT_]

Hello, 

I have a question regarding closed lost stage that we use in our sales pipeline. Right now our sales team thinks the closed lost stage kills the validity. The reason why, is that they think a deal never "dies" and never resets, it just stays in their sales pipeline.

E.g. let's say a deal ends in closed lost and it stays there for 100 days. After 100 days, they try to book a new meeting again and 30 days later they win the deal. So now the time from closed lost to win is not 30 days, but the time is now 130 days - i'm curious to know how other does this. 

So now i'm looking for good solutions to this problem - if there even is a good solution. I know that moving deals from different pipelines can impact the data when creating reports. 

We thought about creating a closed lost pipeline, where we move all lost deals to different stages based on the close lost reason, but still keeps the closed lost stage in our sales pipeline too. But i could very much use some know-how and best practise on this topic. 

Thanks in thanks in advance. 

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @NT_,

Once a deal is closed lost, it should stay closed lost. This movement is permanent and you could consider it from another angle: Once you feel that an opportunity is not continuing, that's a permanent decision. For example, if you define that after a period of inactivity, an opportunity is closed lost because of inactivity, then a later activity shouldn't reopen a deal. That would violate your defined period of inactivity. You shouldn't be changing the rules of the game as you go.

Should that prospect show interest again, you would create a new opportunity / deal. This is correct and valid as the old pursuit was not successful but now there seems to be a new chance to close business with that prospect.

If you re-open deals systematically, that will skew your reporting on closed lost reasons and also on sales cycles. Let's just assume you have a closed lost deal from 5 years ago that is now re-opened. Is that really the same opportunity then?

It is expected behavior that closed lost deals stay in that pipeline stage - you can easily remove them from your view with filteres applied to your view. They should however remain there for reporting, on closed lost reasons, for example.

Best regards

[Rishabhsoni · Accepted solution]

Hi @NT_ ,

Create a new deal when a closed lost opportunity becomes active again. This way the time to close a deal is not affected. The original closed-lost deal stays in your system for historical reference but doesn’t skew your current data.

You can create a seperate pipeline for closed lost deals. Let's say a deal is moved to closed lost stage, based on the reason it is closed lost you can categorise it that can provide you insights for future re engagement strategies. 

You can have a "reopened" field in your deal properties, that can help you track these deals. 

In my point of view, there are mutliple ways to look into this scenario, but the most feasible would be to create a new deal and treat it as a new conversation. 

Thanks
Rishabh

[ScottBrunelle]

That was a very well-written response. I agree 100%. If it's closed, it is closed. And a new deal is the way forward. 

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @NT_,

Once a deal is closed lost, it should stay closed lost. This movement is permanent and you could consider it from another angle: Once you feel that an opportunity is not continuing, that's a permanent decision. For example, if you define that after a period of inactivity, an opportunity is closed lost because of inactivity, then a later activity shouldn't reopen a deal. That would violate your defined period of inactivity. You shouldn't be changing the rules of the game as you go.

Should that prospect show interest again, you would create a new opportunity / deal. This is correct and valid as the old pursuit was not successful but now there seems to be a new chance to close business with that prospect.

If you re-open deals systematically, that will skew your reporting on closed lost reasons and also on sales cycles. Let's just assume you have a closed lost deal from 5 years ago that is now re-opened. Is that really the same opportunity then?

It is expected behavior that closed lost deals stay in that pipeline stage - you can easily remove them from your view with filteres applied to your view. They should however remain there for reporting, on closed lost reasons, for example.

Best regards