Sales stage exit criteria should support a real decision.

Activity is not the same as progress.

'Demo completed' describes a seller activity. The next transition may instead require the buyer to confirm relevant requirements and agree a further decision step. The right condition depends on the sales motion.

Avoid required fields whose meaning is unclear. An economic-buyer field can contain a name without establishing access or decision authority. Specify the evidence needed for the particular transition.

Make the criterion operational.

Write a sentence that supports a clear decision: the deal may enter stage B when condition C is documented. Name who checks it, where the evidence lives and how an exception is approved.

An exception is not necessarily a mistake. Recurring comparable exceptions warrant reviewing the current rule. If exceptions are undocumented, the CRM alone cannot establish that nobody checked them.

• Name the required buyer evidence.
• Assign a responsible decision owner.
• Keep the supporting evidence accessible on the deal.
• Document exceptions, reasons and approval.

Test a criterion before rolling it out broadly.

First establish the paths that follow the current transition. Change one condition and review the next comparable cases. Keep the observation window and case definition stable.

Fewer deals entering the next stage is not automatically success or failure. You may have prevented premature transitions or introduced another barrier. Assess progression, effort and recorded outcomes separately. DriftMirror's process analysis focuses on recurring paths of this kind.

Common questions