If your pipeline’s full of dusty, dead-end deals, it’s not a pipeline — it’s a graveyard. And that graveyard is killing your forecasting, slowing down your sales team, and making your CRM harder to trust.
Cleaning it up doesn’t take a total overhaul. Just a few simple habits and systems can turn that bloated mess into a pipeline that actually reflects what’s going on — and helps you close more deals, faster.
Here’s how to spot stale deals and fix the real issues behind them.
When deal stages are vague or bloated, your pipeline becomes a guessing game. Fix it by making every stage count.
Don’t create a deal just because someone filled out a form or answered your cold email. Wait until there’s a real conversation happening.
If the buyer hasn’t shown intent, they don’t belong in the pipeline yet.
"Proposal Sent" is better than "Late Stage." One tells you what happened. The other doesn't.
Ditch vague labels like "Working" or "In Progress." Make it obvious what’s going on.
Decide what has to happen before a deal moves forward. For example, you don’t enter “Negotiation” unless pricing’s been discussed. You can help ensure this information is known by requiring properties in the Deal pipeline.
Most solid pipelines work with 6–8 stages. More than that and things get messy fast.
Your sales process isn’t static. Revisit the stage names and logic every few months. Ask your team what’s working and what’s slowing them down.
Read more about HubSpot deal stages.
If deals are sitting in your pipeline for weeks without movement, they’re probably dead weight. Time-based rules help clean that up.
For instance, you can set a rule that no deal should sit in “Proposal Sent” for more than 14 days without a response. You don’t need to enforce it with an iron fist — but it should raise a flag. This can take the form of a Deal tag, notification, and/or placement on a report.
Track time in stage using reports from the Sales Analytics area or create your own using the “Date Entered Stage” property. Once you’ve got the data, it’s easier to spot the ones that need attention.
Build automations that send reminders or create tasks when a deal goes quiet — to the Sales rep, their manager, or both.
If you’re not reviewing your pipeline regularly, you’re flying blind. These reviews keep things clean, current, and moving.
Short, focused meetings beat long, aimless ones. Look at what’s new, what’s stuck, and what needs to be closed or followed up.
Every deal discussed should end with: Keep it moving, re-engage, or close it out. Make sure those follow-ups actually happen before the next review. If reps are feeling uncertain about closing out a Deal, introduce Closed Lost Reasons in a dropdown format. This makes it easy to select why the Deal was closed for later follow up and/or nurturing.
This isn’t a blame game. It’s about building a more accurate, easier-to-close pipeline. Give reps space to flag what's working — or not working — about the current process.
A messy pipeline full of stale deals doesn’t just slow things down — it skews your reporting, hurts forecasting, and wastes your team’s time. With the right deal stage setup, time-based rules, and regular reviews, you can turn your HubSpot pipeline into a reliable source of truth.
Need help cleaning up your HubSpot portal or optimizing your deal pipeline? We specialize in helping teams like yours get more value — and revenue — out of HubSpot. Let’s fix what’s slowing you down.