If you’re in sales ops, a frontline manager, or just someone who actually has to explain what’s real in the pipeline, you’ve probably heard that Gong’s pipeline analytics can “revolutionize” your deal tracking. Let’s cut through the hype. This guide is for folks who want to actually use Gong to track deal progress, spot risk, and keep everyone honest—without spending hours lost in dashboards or chasing phantom deals.
Why Pipeline Analytics Matter (and Where People Get It Wrong)
You want to know what’s real in the pipeline, not just what’s “on the board.” Too often, reps or managers update CRM fields because they have to, not because it reflects reality. Pipeline analytics can help—if you use them right. Most people make two mistakes:
- They trust the numbers blindly.
- They get overwhelmed by too much data and lose the signal.
You want insights that actually help you take action, not just pretty charts for the board deck.
Step 1: Set Up Gong Pipeline Analytics for Real-World Use
Let’s start with the basics. Gong pulls in your CRM data, then overlays activity (emails, calls, meetings) and conversation insights. But it won’t magically clean up bad CRM hygiene or fix broken processes. Here’s what you should do right away:
- Audit your CRM sync. Make sure deal stages, close dates, and owners are accurate. If your CRM’s a mess, Gong’s analytics will just visualize the mess.
- Decide what “progress” means. Is it stage movement? Is it meaningful buyer engagement? Get your team on the same page.
- Pick a few key fields. Don’t try to track everything at once. Focus on close date, stage, amount, and one or two custom fields that actually matter to your business.
Pro tip: Don’t obsess over every possible configuration. Start simple. You can always tweak later.
Step 2: Focus on the Right Metrics
Gong offers a lot of metrics—some are useful, some are noise. Here’s what actually matters when you’re tracking deal progress:
- Activity vs. Engagement: Are your reps just sending emails, or are prospects actually replying and showing up to meetings? Gong can show you both. Engagement matters more than activity.
- Deal movement: Are deals moving forward, stalling, or slipping? Look for stage changes paired with real buyer activity.
- Risk signals: Gong highlights things like lack of multi-threading (only one contact involved), long gaps between meetings, or last-minute close date pushes. These are worth paying attention to—especially if they pop up late in the quarter.
What to skip: Don’t get distracted by “vanity” stats like email volume or call length. They rarely predict outcomes.
Step 3: Use Views and Filters That Cut Through the Noise
It’s easy to drown in dashboards. The trick is to filter down to what matters for your team. Here’s how to do it:
- Create saved views for common questions. Examples: “Deals closing this month without recent engagement,” “Deals with risk signals,” “Deals stuck in stage X > Y days.”
- Filter by rep, team, or segment. Don’t make everyone look at the same data. Give managers and reps what’s relevant to them.
- Set up alerts for real risks. Use Gong’s alerting to flag deals where, for example, the champion hasn’t replied in two weeks, or there’s been no new stakeholders added.
Pro tip: Teach managers to ignore deals that look busy but aren’t progressing—lots of activity with no buyer response is a red flag.
Step 4: Make Pipeline Reviews Honest and Useful
The weekly pipeline review is where analytics get real—or fall flat. Here’s how to make them worth everyone’s time:
- Look at activity tied to outcomes. Don’t just ask for updates. Pull up Gong and look at whether buyers are actually engaged.
- Ask “what’s changed?” Focus on deals that have moved stages, changed close dates, or had risk signals pop up since last week.
- Highlight stuck deals. Use Gong’s filters to show deals with no movement or engagement in X days. Put it on the screen. Avoid letting reps “storytell” their way around the data.
What not to do: Don’t waste time reviewing every deal. Focus on big swings, high-priority deals, and those at risk.
Step 5: Use Gong Data to Coach (Not Just Forecast)
Pipeline analytics aren’t just for managers. They can help reps get better, too—if you use them the right way.
- Show reps real examples. Instead of generic advice, pull up deals where engagement dropped off, or a deal slipped after the champion went dark.
- Spot patterns. If certain reps’ deals often show the same risk signals before being lost, dig in. Are they single-threaded? Are they not getting next steps?
- Celebrate wins backed by data. When a rep turns a stalled deal around by re-engaging stakeholders, show how the data changed.
Pro tip: Don’t turn this into a surveillance exercise. The goal is improvement, not “gotcha” moments.
Step 6: Beware the Limitations (and Hype)
Gong’s analytics are powerful, but they’re not magic. Here’s what you should keep in mind:
- Garbage in, garbage out. If your CRM data is wrong, your pipeline analytics will be too.
- Not all signals mean the same thing. Sometimes, a deal goes dark because the buyer’s busy, not because you lost. Use common sense.
- Don’t rely on Gong alone. It’s a tool, not a replacement for real conversations with your team.
Some features sound great in theory (like AI “deal win predictions”), but can be hit-or-miss in practice. Use them as a directional nudge, not gospel.
Step 7: Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Get Fancy
The best teams use pipeline analytics to support their judgment—not replace it. Here’s how to keep things working:
- Start with just a few views and metrics. Add more only if you need them.
- Review and refine monthly. Are your alerts useful? Are your filters surfacing real risk, or just noise?
- Teach the team to spot “false positives.” Not every risk flag means a deal is doomed. Gut check the data with reality.
Remember: The goal isn’t to have the fanciest dashboard. It’s to know where your deals really stand, help your reps move them forward, and avoid last-minute surprises.
Don’t overthink it. Use Gong’s pipeline analytics to make your pipeline reviews more honest and your coaching sharper. Start simple, cut out the noise, and tune things as you go. That’s how you actually get value—no magic, just better visibility and less B.S.