CRM Pipeline Hygiene Audit Checklist
A monthly audit that catches stale opportunities, missing next steps, and phantom deals before they inflate your pipeline number and wreck the forecast.
What's inside
- Stale/overdue/stuck opportunity detection rules with specific day thresholds
- Per-opportunity missing-field checklist (next step, Economic Buyer, close date realism, deal amount, category, competitor, source)
- Phantom deal detection criteria (zero progression, no inbound reply, repeated pushed close dates)
- Stage-duration red flag table benchmarked against team medians
- Forecast category cross-check requiring 100% spot-check of Commit deals
- Duplicate and orphan record checks
- 100-point scoring rubric with action thresholds
- Action-outcome table mapping each finding to a required fix
- Rep-level monthly scorecard for trend tracking
Run this monthly, ideally in the first week after period-close, before the new period's forecast calls begin. One pass per rep's full pipeline.
1. Stale Opportunity Detection
For every open opportunity, check:
- No activity logged (call, email, meeting) in the last 14 days → flag Stale
- Close date has passed but stage hasn't changed → flag Overdue
- Opportunity has been in the same stage for 2x the median stage duration for that stage → flag Stuck
2. Missing-Field Checklist (per opportunity)
- Next step is filled in AND has a specific date (not "follow up")
- Economic Buyer contact is named on the opportunity, not just a champion
- Close date is realistic against the segment's typical sales cycle
- Deal amount reflects current scope, not the original discovery-stage estimate
- Forecast category is set (not left blank or defaulted)
- Competitor field is filled in if a competitor is known to be in the evaluation
- Source field is accurate (not defaulted to "other")
3. Phantom Deal Detection
A phantom deal has one or more of the following — flag for removal or downgrade to Omitted:
- Created 60+ days ago with zero stage progression
- No named contact who has responded to outreach (only outbound logged, no inbound reply ever)
- Deal amount was auto-populated / templated and never updated after discovery
- Close date has been pushed 3+ times
4. Stage-Duration Red Flags
Compare each opportunity's time-in-current-stage against your team's median for that stage:
| Stage | Team median (days) | This deal (days) | Flag if 2x median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery | |||
| Proposal/Demo | |||
| Verbal/Negotiation | |||
| Contract Out |
5. Forecast Category Cross-Check
- Every Commit deal passes the full Commit evidence checklist — spot-check 100% of Commit deals, not a sample
- No deal has been in the same forecast category for 3+ consecutive forecast calls without a status change or explicit justification
- Every deal forecasted to close this period actually has a close date inside this period (obvious, but check — date/category mismatches happen)
6. Duplicate / Orphan Record Checks
- Search by account name for duplicate open opportunities on the same account/product — merge or clarify why both are legitimate
- Check for opportunities with no assigned owner (rep left, territory change, etc.)
- Check for closed-lost deals miscategorized as still open
7. Scoring Rubric (grade the rep's overall pipeline)
| Metric | Points possible | Score |
|---|---|---|
| % of opportunities with zero missing fields (Section 2) | 25 | |
| % of opportunities with no stale/overdue flags (Section 1) | 25 | |
| % of Commit deals passing full evidence checklist (Section 5) | 30 | |
| Zero phantom deals present (Section 3) | 20 | |
| Total (out of 100) | 100 |
90-100: clean pipeline, no action needed. 70-89: coach on specific gaps found. Below 70: mandatory 1:1 pipeline scrub with manager before next forecast call.
8. Action Outcomes (per finding)
| Finding | Required action |
|---|---|
| Stale (14+ days no activity) | Rep must log next action within 48 hours or downgrade category |
| Overdue close date | Rep updates close date with justification, or moves to Omitted |
| Phantom deal | Remove from pipeline or explicitly re-qualify with a new discovery touch |
| Missing Economic Buyer | Cannot be forecast above Pipeline until resolved |
| Stage-duration red flag | Manager 1:1 to unblock or reassess realistically |
9. Rep-Level Scorecard (roll up monthly)
| Rep | Total open opps | # Stale | # Missing EB | # Phantom | Hygiene score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Track this scorecard trend month over month — a declining hygiene score is an early warning sign of forecast risk before it shows up as a missed number.
How to use it
Run this audit against every rep's open pipeline in the first week of each month, score it with the rubric, and require any rep scoring below 70 to complete a pipeline scrub with their manager before the next forecast call.