The weekly review

Lesson 9 of 12 · Part 3 of 4

A sales team without a Monday pipeline review is a sales team that misses quota. 15 minutes a week. Same time. Same questions. This is what turns "applying to jobs" into "running a search."

from sales · pipeline review7 min

Most searches stall in week 4 because no one's running them

You'll start strong: 30 applications in week 1, energy peaking, network on fire. Then week 4 hits, you've heard back from 3, and the search becomes "wait around and refresh email."

The Monday review is what stops that. 15 minutes. Same questions every week. It's how you spot the leak before it becomes a drought.

If you can't tell me your conversion rates, you can't tell me where your search is broken.

The 6 pipeline stages

Rejected isn't the end of the analysis, it's the start of it. Always know WHY something died. "No reply" is data, it tells you about your outreach. "Wrong fit" is data, it tells you about your targeting. "Comp gap" is data, it tells you about your spec.

The Monday review, 15 minutes, 5 questions

Same time every Monday. Coffee. Laptop. 15 min.

1) HOW MANY are in each stage right now? • Healthy mid-search: ~50 leads, 15 applied, 5 conversations, 2 interviews active.2) WHERE'S THE LEAK? • Few conversations from many applications? → Resume + targeting (lessons 2 and 3). • Lots of conversations, no interviews? → Pitch + receipts (lessons 4 and 10). • Interviews but no offers? → Hard questions + close (lessons 11 and 12).3) WHAT WORKED, WHAT DIDN'T? • Wins → name them out loud, even small ones. What got the reply, the call, the win? • Misses → what stalled? Who haven't you heard from in 7+ days? Time for the bump. • Reflection is the input. Next week gets sharper because of what you learned this week.4) WHAT'S THE PLAN FOR NEXT WEEK? • Top 3 next moves. Specific. "Reach out to 3 Tier 1 with custom note." Not "do more outreach." • Block 90-min focus windows on the calendar.5) HEAD CHECK • Energy 1–10. Confidence 1–10. • Below 5 on either? Lesson 1, protect the routine. Reach out to a friend. Do not push through.

The conversion math (so you know what's normal)

These are reference points, not targets. The point is: your funnel will leak somewhere. Find it. Fix it. Move on.

Set up your review

Prompt 1 of 3
Your review time, when, exactly?
Monday 9am with coffee. Whatever it is, lock it. 15 min, in your calendar, recurring.
Prompt 2 of 3
Right now, what stage is each of your active opps in?
Just list them by stage. This is your starting state. Update each Monday.
Prompt 3 of 3
Where do you suspect your leak is?
Be honest. The conversion table above shows you where to look. What's the bottleneck?

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