Close or advance ten stale deals before lunch

Your pipeline has zombies. Deals that last moved when you still remembered the weather that week. They sit there because closing them feels like admitting defeat, and advancing them without a reason feels like lying.

This hack is a hygiene sweep: ten stale deals, one line of truth each, then close or advance. No forecast theater. No "maybe next quarter" without a named next step.

It is not a full pipeline redesign. If this is every Friday, you need the system behind the sweep.

When to use it

You have a list of deals with no activity past your stale threshold.
You can spend fifteen focused minutes, not a full forecast meeting.
You are willing to close losers so the board shows reality.

When not to

You have never defined what "stale" means. Set the rule first (e.g. 14 days no touch).
You are cleaning someone else's pipeline without ownership. Ask them to run it.
Leadership wants a pretty number today. Do not fake advances for a slide.

Do this (timer on)

1. Open the CRM filtered to stale deals. Cap the list at ten.
2. For each deal, write one line: last real signal + why it is stuck.
3. Choose: close-lost with a taxonomy reason, or advance with a dated next step and owner.
4. Do not leave any of the ten as "maybe."
5. Save. Stop when the timer ends even if more zombies remain.

Prompt (copy)

You are helping me clean a CRM pipeline for a US service business.

For each deal below, output:
- One-line status in plain English (what we know, not hope)
- Recommend: CLOSE-LOST or ADVANCE
- If CLOSE-LOST: one taxonomy reason from my list
- If ADVANCE: one concrete next step with a suggested date window (this week / next week)

Do not invent buyer interest, champions, or budget.
Do not soften close-lost into "nurture" unless I already have a nurture stage.

MY CLOSE REASONS:
[paste your taxonomy, e.g. No budget / Wrong timing / Chose competitor / Ghosted / Not a fit]

DEALS (name | last activity | notes):
[paste up to 10]

A decent shape (no prompt)

| Deal | One-line truth | Close or advance | Reason / next step | |------|----------------|------------------|--------------------| | [Name] | [Last signal] | Close-lost | Ghosted | | [Name] | [Last signal] | Advance | Send SOW draft by Fri; owner: me |

After you send

Export or screenshot the ten decisions into your weekly sales note. If you ran this sweep three times and the same names keep returning, the stage definitions are broken - not your willpower.

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