Recipe: Deal board for 'Next quarter pipe'

Who can do this? Anyone who can manage deal boards

Where to go? Deals > Pipeline > > Create new board

Most reps are laser-focused on hitting quota this month or quarter, but for sales leaders, building a strong pipeline is the key to long-term success. Create a custom deal board to ensure your reps conduct the right type and amount of activity on pipe generation.

Follow this recipe to set up your own deal board showing next quarter pipe. We recommend that you build the deal board while you follow the recipe. You can modify the recipe to fit your needs. This recipe goes over the key differentiators for setting up a next quarter pipe board. Full instructions on creating a deal board are here.

Note:

You may not have all of the CRM fields we mention available to you. It depends on how your organization has set up your CRM and  which fields are being pulled into Gong. If you’re missing a field, get started with the fields that you have, and get in touch with your Gong technical admin for help. You add fields to a board at any time.

Step 1 - Filter by relevant deal stages

Select qualified early-stage deals so that you can ensure the deal foundation is being laid.

1. In the Create new board > Filters section, select the CRM field you use for "deal status" and set the value to "open".

2. Now add a filter using the CRM field you use for stage, and select the field values for the following stages:

   • Discovery

   • Qualification

   • Presentation 1 (or the equivalent stages in your process)

Step 2 - Customize board columns

Add columns that will help you focus on whether reps are doing the right things to drive business problem alignment.

• In the Columns section, set up the following columns:

  • Amount

  • Initial Buyer Persona

  • Identified Pain

  • Next Call

  • Close Date

  • Stage

  • Opportunity Owner

Step 3 - Configure warnings

Set loose warning thresholds to fit the typical cadence of early stage deals.

• In the Warnings section, set the following:

  • No activity: Set to  10 days

    • Has your rep forgotten about this early-stage deal?

  • Ghosted :Set to  14 days

    • Is the prospect ghosting your rep?

  • Not enough contacts: Set the number of contacts to  1 or less active prospects for fewer than  30 days

    • Ensure your reps are multi-threading early in the deal cycle.

  • No power: Set the level to Director or above and the number of days to  30 before close

    • Do your reps have access to power?

Step 4 - Subscribe your team to the board

Make sure your team is up to date with what's happening on their next quarter pipe, and give them a nudge to keep moving those deals forward, by making sure they get a weekly email digest tailored to them.

• In the Digest section > Subscribers tab, pick the teams that should get this mail.

Step 5 - Send updates to Marketing

Involve your marketing department to make sure they're on top of what's happening down-funnel.

• In the Digest section > Observers tab, pick the marketing team, and pick the team(s) they should see it for.

Step 6 - Set the board to show next quarter

When sharing this board with others either copy the URL, or ask them to make sure they're looking at next quarter.

• On the Next Quarter Pipe deal board, set the time period to Closing next quarter.