Sales teams love a good pipeline update—until it turns into hours of chasing reps for details, spreadsheets full of guesswork, and “deal reviews” that sound more like wishful thinking than strategy. If you’re managing deals and want a clear, honest view of what’s actually happening (and what’s just noise), this guide is for you. We’ll walk through using Clari Co-Pilot workflows to track and analyze deal progression without drowning in busywork or fluffy dashboards.
No magic bullets, no buzzwords—just a practical, step-by-step look at what actually helps you move deals forward, what’s worth skipping, and how to set up Clari Co-Pilot so it works for you (not the other way around).
1. Get Clear on What You Actually Want to Track
Before you dive into workflows and automations, get honest about what you really need to know. Most sales teams want to:
- See which deals are moving forward (and which are stuck)
- Spot red flags before deals go dark
- Understand rep activity vs. customer engagement
- Figure out what’s working (and what’s just noise)
Don’t get distracted by fancy metrics you’ll never look at. Focus on the basics: deal stage changes, key activities (calls, emails, meetings), and deal health signals (like ghosting or sudden silence).
Pro tip: Make a quick list of the 3–5 signals that actually matter to your team. Example: - Has the customer responded in the last 7 days? - Did the deal stage advance since last week? - When was the last meaningful touchpoint?
If a workflow doesn’t help you answer these, skip it.
2. Set Up Your Deal Workflows in Clari Co-Pilot
Time to roll up your sleeves. Clari Co-Pilot is built to help you automate tracking and nudging, but the default templates can be generic. Here’s how to set up workflows that actually help:
a. Map Your Stages and Triggers
- Align your pipeline stages in Clari Co-Pilot to match how your team sells. If you use “Discovery,” “Proposal,” “Negotiation,” etc., make sure those stages are reflected.
- Set triggers for key events, like:
- Deal moves to a new stage
- No customer reply for X days
- Big gaps between meetings
- Next steps missing from call notes
What to ignore: Don’t make a workflow for every tiny change. Too many alerts = everyone tunes out. Stick to meaningful signals.
b. Build Your First Workflow: Stalled Deal Alerts
Here’s a simple, high-value workflow:
- Trigger: If a deal has had no customer response in 7 days, and is not in “Closed Won/Lost.”
- Action: Send a Slack or email alert to the rep (and optionally their manager).
- Message: Simple and direct—“Deal with [Account Name] has been quiet for 7 days. Last activity: [Date/Type]. Time to nudge?”
Why this works: It cuts through the noise. Reps get a heads-up before deals go cold, and you’re not stuck reviewing silent deals in your forecast call.
c. Workflow 2: Stage Change Summaries
Not everyone wants a daily flood of updates, but a weekly digest of real stage movements is genuinely useful.
- Trigger: Every Friday, compile deals that moved forward or backward in stage.
- Action: Send a team summary via email or Slack.
- Include: Deal name, owner, stage change, date, and any notes on next steps.
Skip: Super-detailed logs of every single email or call—they’re clutter. Summaries keep your team focused on actual progress.
d. Workflow 3: Next Steps Missing
Deals get lost when nobody owns the next step.
- Trigger: If a deal has no future meeting scheduled or no clear next step in notes.
- Action: Nudge the deal owner to log or schedule a next step.
- Bonus: Surface these deals in your pipeline review so they get addressed, not forgotten.
3. Connect Your Activity Data (Don’t Rely on Manual Updates)
Manual CRM updates are the bane of every sales team’s existence. The good news: Clari Co-Pilot can pull in activity data from email, calendar, and call tools automatically—if you turn those integrations on.
- Set up integrations with Gmail/Outlook, Zoom, Salesforce, and whatever else your team actually uses.
- Map activities to deals as tightly as possible—don’t let important calls or emails float around unlinked.
- Audit your data: Double-check that the right meetings and emails are getting pulled in. Garbage in, garbage out.
What doesn’t work: Hoping reps will log every touchpoint by hand. They won’t, and your pipeline will never be accurate.
4. Analyze Deal Progression—What to Actually Look For
Once you’ve got clean activity data and your workflows are firing, it’s time to look at actual deal progression. Here’s what’s worth your time:
a. Movement Between Stages
- Look at which deals are advancing and which are stalling.
- Pay attention to deals that move backward or bounce between stages—those often need manager attention.
b. Activity vs. Engagement
- Are reps just logging calls, or are customers actually responding?
- Deals with lots of outbound emails and no customer replies are usually in trouble.
c. Deal Age and Inactivity
- Watch out for deals that linger in late stages for too long.
- Set a “deal age” threshold—e.g., any deal in “Negotiation” for more than 30 days gets flagged.
d. Funnel Leaks and Drop-offs
- Where are deals consistently dropping out? Is it always after pricing? Always after legal review?
- These patterns are gold for figuring out where your process breaks down.
Skip: Vanity metrics like “total meetings” or “average email response time.” If it doesn’t help you close more deals, move on.
5. Review and Refine—Don’t Set and Forget
Workflows are only as good as the problems they solve. Plan to check in every month or quarter:
- Ask your team: Are the alerts useful, or just noise?
- Look for alert fatigue: Too many pings = everyone ignores them.
- Tweak triggers: If you’re missing important signals, adjust the logic (e.g., shorten/lengthen inactivity windows).
Pro tip: It’s better to have three high-quality workflows than a dozen nobody cares about.
6. Avoid the Most Common Pitfalls
A few things to keep in mind, based on hard-earned experience:
- Don’t automate the obvious. If everyone already knows a deal is dead, don’t send an alert about it.
- Don’t flood inboxes. Too many notifications and people will just mute them.
- Don’t blindly trust “deal health” scores. They’re only as good as your activity data—so double-check them before making big decisions.
- Don’t forget context. A deal might stall for valid reasons (e.g., customer out on leave). Sometimes a “red flag” is just life happening.
Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Actually Use the Data
Tracking and analyzing deal progression with Clari Co-Pilot isn’t about setting up a thousand automations—it’s about getting just enough signal to stay ahead of problems and help deals move forward. Start with the basics, listen to your team, and tune your workflows until they’re genuinely helpful.
Most importantly, don’t overthink it. Clean data, a handful of smart workflows, and regular gut checks will get you further than any dashboard full of noise. Try it, tweak it, and make it your own. Your future self (and your pipeline) will thank you.