Next step

A next step is one specific action on a deal: what will be done, who does it and by what date. Example (invented numbers): "Alex will send the estimate by Friday" is a next step. "Follow up" or "waiting for the customer" is not one, because nobody can tell who acts or when.

The formula has three parts. Action: one verb and one object, such as send the estimate or call the finance director. Owner: one name, usually the seller on the deal. Date: a day in the calendar, never "next week". In a CRM this is a task linked to the deal, with an assignee and a due date. If your CRM cannot link tasks to deals, a "Next step" field on the deal card will do.

For example, “Alex will send the estimate by Friday.”

Every open deal has a next step with a date. The seller sets it at the end of each contact with the customer, before closing the deal card. In the weekly meeting the head of sales checks the rule with one list: deals with no next step, or with a date that has already passed.

That list is the agenda. Deals that moved this week do not need your time. Each deal on the list gets one decision: move it with a new step and date, fix what is missing, or close it as lost with a reason.

A deal counts as active only while it has a next step. Keep it apart from the decision date. The next step is your action. The decision date is the customer's promise. Often a good next step leads straight to the decision date, for example a call booked to hear the answer.

• Writing a status instead of an action. "Proposal sent" describes the past. Write what happens next: "call on Thursday to go through the proposal".
• Two owners or none. "We will call" means nobody calls. Put one name on each step, even when two people work the deal.
• A date without a day. Nobody can check "next week" or "after the holidays". Pick a calendar day. You can move it, but only on purpose.
• Letting steps go overdue quietly. An overdue step is the first sign that a deal is stuck. Start with a simple rule: the seller updates an overdue step the same day, or the deal goes on the meeting list.

By Friday, each seller opens their deals in the CRM and checks one thing: does every open deal have a task with an action, one owner and a calendar date? The head of sales pulls the list of deals without one and brings it to the next weekly meeting. Each deal on that list leaves the meeting with a dated step, or it gets closed as lost with a reason.

CRM rules the team follows and a forecast review you can run every week.