If you're tired of chasing deals that never close—or constantly second-guessing which opportunities are about to slip away—you're not alone. Most sales teams waste a ton of time on deals that look good on paper but go nowhere. If you want to cut through the noise and actually focus on what matters, deal risk scoring in Boostup can help. This guide is for sales managers, operations folks, and anyone who wants to stop flying blind and start prioritizing opportunities with real data.
Let’s get into how to set up deal risk scoring in Boostup, what actually works, what doesn’t, and how to use it to make better calls.
Why Deal Risk Scoring Matters (and What It Actually Does)
There’s no shortage of “AI-powered insights” and “next-gen forecasting” tools promising to fix your pipeline headaches. Here’s what deal risk scoring in Boostup actually does: it looks at all the signals—activity, engagement, CRM data, even things like email sentiment—and tries to tell you which deals are shaky and which are solid. The goal: help you spot trouble early, focus on winnable deals, and avoid wasting energy on lost causes.
But let’s be real: no risk score is magic. It’s a tool, not a crystal ball. If you set it up thoughtfully and pay attention to what the data’s actually saying, it can save you a ton of time and help you hit your targets. If you just “set and forget,” it’ll be another dashboard you ignore.
Step 1: Get Your Data House in Order
Before you even touch Boostup’s deal risk scoring, make sure your data isn’t a mess. Risk scores are only as good as the stuff you feed them. Here’s what you should check:
- CRM Hygiene: Are your opportunities up to date? Any zombie deals lurking? Close ‘em out or update them.
- Activity Logging: Is your team logging calls, emails, and meetings in a consistent way? If not, the score won’t mean much.
- Contact Info: Make sure decision makers and influencers are listed on deals. Ghost contacts = false negatives.
Pro tip: If your data is spotty, don’t trust the risk score yet. Clean it up first, or you’ll chase your tail.
Step 2: Turn on Deal Risk Scoring in Boostup
Assuming your Boostup admin has set up the integration with your CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.), here’s how to get deal risk scoring running:
- Head to Settings: In Boostup, look for your workspace or admin settings.
- Find Deal Scoring: There should be a section called “Deal Risk Scoring” or “Deal Health.” (Boostup renames this sometimes. If you can’t find it, search or ask support.)
- Enable Risk Scoring: Flip the toggle to “on.”
- Set Data Sync: Make sure Boostup is pulling in the right fields from your CRM—especially opportunity stage, expected close date, amount, owner, and activity history.
What to skip: Don’t get lost in endless field mapping or customizations right now. You can tweak later. Get it running first.
Step 3: Customize Your Risk Model (But Don’t Overthink It)
Boostup comes with a default risk scoring model. It’s not bad out of the box, but you’ll get better results if you tune it to your business. Here’s what to focus on:
Key Signals to Prioritize
- Recent Activity: Deals go cold fast. Heavily weigh lack of recent emails, meetings, or calls.
- Multi-threading: Are you talking to more than one contact at the account? Single-threaded deals are risky.
- Stage Progression: Deals that stall in a stage for too long are usually in trouble.
- Engagement Level: Low or one-sided engagement (you keep emailing, they don’t reply) is a huge red flag.
- Close Date Pushes: If the close date keeps moving out, it’s usually a sign of trouble.
Signals to Ignore or Downplay
- Deal Amount: Big deals aren’t always riskier. Don’t overweight this unless you see a pattern.
- Seniority of Contact: Just because you have a VP on the thread doesn’t mean the deal is safe.
- Generic AI Sentiment: Automated “sentiment” scores are hit or miss—double-check them before relying too much.
How to Adjust
- Use Boostup’s sliders or weighting options to emphasize the signals that actually matter.
- Set up rules to flag deals that have had no activity for X days, or have had their close date pushed more than once.
- Don’t try to build the “perfect” model up front. Start simple, see what works, and iterate.
Pro tip: Ask your reps which deal behaviors usually spell trouble. Add those signals in.
Step 4: Review and Test the Scores
Once the score is live, sanity-check it:
- Gut Check: Look at your current pipeline. Do the high-risk deals “feel” risky based on your experience? If not, tweak the model.
- Talk to Reps: Ask if the flagged deals match their gut sense of what’s off-track.
- Post-Mortem: Look at lost deals from the last quarter. Did the risk score catch them as risky before they died? If not, what signals did you miss?
What doesn’t work: Blindly trusting the model, or ignoring feedback from the people actually selling.
Step 5: Actually Use the Scores to Prioritize (or You’re Wasting Your Time)
Here’s where most teams drop the ball: they set up risk scores, nod at the dashboard, and then go back to “spray and pray.” Don’t do that.
How to Use Deal Risk Scores Day-to-Day
- Pipeline Reviews: In 1:1s or team meetings, sort deals by risk. Start with the riskiest. Ask, “What’s the plan to fix this, or should we cut bait?”
- Focus Your Time: If you’re a rep, spend more time on deals that are risky but winnable. Escalate red-flag deals to management early.
- Forecasting: Use risk scores to sanity-check your commit and best-case forecasts. If a “commit” deal is flagged as high risk, dig in—you might be fooling yourself.
- Coaching: Managers, use risk scoring to coach reps on deal hygiene and next steps, not just as a stick to beat them with.
What to ignore: Don’t treat the risk score as gospel. It’s a conversation starter, not a verdict.
Step 6: Tweak and Iterate (Because Your Process Will Change)
No risk model is perfect forever. As your sales process changes (new products, new ICPs, longer sales cycles), revisit your model:
- Quarterly Review: Every quarter, look at which signals were most predictive of lost or won deals. Adjust weights accordingly.
- Feedback Loop: Keep asking reps and managers what the score is missing.
- Ignore the Fads: Lots of tools promise to “auto-optimize” with AI. Some do, most don’t. Don’t abdicate common sense.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Watch Out For
What Works
- Focusing on real engagement, not just activity.
- Treating risk scores as a tool for coaching, not compliance.
- Keeping your CRM and Boostup data clean.
What Doesn’t
- Relying solely on AI signals or email sentiment. It’s not a lie detector.
- Trying to build a “perfect” model up front. You’ll just get stuck.
- Ignoring team feedback or gut instinct. The model should support humans, not replace them.
Watch Out For
- Garbage in, garbage out: Bad data = bad scores.
- Overcomplicating the model: Simple usually beats fancy, especially at first.
- Risk fatigue: If every deal is “high risk,” the scores lose meaning. Tune your thresholds.
Keep It Simple, Keep It Honest
Deal risk scoring in Boostup is only as good as the work you put in up front and the habits you build afterward. Start simple, trust but verify, and treat it as a tool to make you smarter—not a shortcut to skip thinking. Clean data, honest conversations, and a little skepticism will get you a lot further than a fancy dashboard ever will. Iterate as you learn, and don’t be afraid to cut bait on deals the score (and your gut) tell you are going nowhere. That’s how you actually win more, waste less, and sleep better at night.