RevOps playbook · AI Employee: Rev

Deal Stage Gate Enforcement

Data quality on advanced stages > 95%

Install this playbookBack to marketplace
The problem

Deal stages are the theatre nobody follows. Sales methodology says every deal at Proposal must have MEDDICC completed + technical validation + procurement engagement, but half the deals hit Proposal with just a manager's optimism. Forecast reads garbage; deal-desk reviews are chaotic; management doesn't trust stage numbers. Every quarter someone reissues the stage-definition doc; three weeks later everyone reverts.

At a glance
Trigger
CRM event
Approvals
None (nudge only)
What it does
Read-only
Systems
Salesforce · Slack
How it feels in production

An hour-by-hour walkthrough.

AE tries to move DEAL-8842 from Discovery to Proposal. Rev picks up the stage-change intent and checks the Proposal-stage gate requirements: - Champion identified + name in CRM: ✓ - Decision criteria documented: ✗ (empty field) - Technical validation completed: ✗ (no linked demo record) - Economic buyer identified: ✓ (VP Engineering) - Timeline documented: ✓ (Q4 2026) - Budget signal: △ (mentioned but not confirmed) Rev responds to the AE: "To move DEAL-8842 to Proposal, need: (1) decision criteria — you covered in the last call, please summarize, (2) technical validation — schedule the SE demo, (3) budget confirmation — get explicit confirmation from champion. I've pre-drafted the summaries + demo request. Complete these three and Rev will advance the stage." AE completes the three; stage advances. Every deal that hits Proposal has actually met the criteria. Forecast becomes trustworthy; deal reviews focus on strategy; management sees consistent stage discipline. For exceptional cases (strategic deal fast-tracked, executive-sponsored), stage-gate override is a first-class action with reason logged. No hidden overrides; auditable stage progression.
How it works

Step by step.

  1. 01

    Detect stage-change intent + check gate

    AE attempts stage advance. Rev checks the destination stage's gate requirements against current CRM state.

    Salesforce · HubSpot · Stage gate config
  2. 02

    Surface missing items with pre-drafts

    For each missing item, Rev pre-drafts what it can (summaries, meeting requests, follow-up questions to champion).

    Reasoning · Meeting scheduler · Message drafting
  3. 03

    AE completes + advances

    AE fills gaps with Rev's help. Advance happens when gate cleared. No advancement with holes.

    CRM · Approval flow
  4. 04

    Handle overrides with logged reason

    Strategic-deal overrides via manager approval with reason. Logged in stage-history for audit + coaching.

    Manager approval · Stage history
  5. 05

    Aggregate for coaching + methodology iteration

    Common missing gate items surface as coaching topics + methodology-iteration data. Systematic gaps drive training.

    Analytics · Coaching queue
Systems and wiring

What you connect to make this run.

Salesforce · HubSpot · CRM

read+write

Stage state + gate fields. Rev writes stage advancement only when gate cleared.

Gong · Chorus · Meeting scheduler

read+write

Call intel for decision-criteria drafting; meeting scheduling for technical validation.

Stage gate configuration

read

Per-team, per-stage requirements. Configurable; methodology-specific (MEDDICC, SCOTSMAN, custom).

Slack · Teams

read+write

AE coaching in-thread. Gate-clearance flow via same surface as normal deal activity.

What changes

Before and after, honestly.

% of deals meeting stage-gate criteria at stage entry
Before
35-60%
After
90%+
Forecast accuracy improvement
Before
Baseline
After
+20-35% (trustworthy stage data)
Deal-review meeting productivity
Before
50% spent on stage discipline discussion
After
10% (stage discipline mechanical)
Silent stage overrides (no reason logged)
Before
20-45%
After
Zero
Related

Playbooks that pair with this one.

RevOps

Deal-at-Risk Detection

Stage progression is a health signal in at-risk detection.

RevOps

Weekly Forecast Roll-Up

Forecast quality depends on stage discipline.

RevOps

Discount Approval Routing

Discount requests often coincide with stage advances; joint validation.

Frequently asked

Answers about this playbook.

Doesn't this slow down legitimate deal velocity?

Only for deals not meeting the criteria; those need the criteria for good reason. Well-run deals advance in seconds because the criteria are already met.

How does it handle methodology-specific gates (MEDDICC, SCOTSMAN)?

Configurable per methodology. MEDDICC gates check Metrics, Economic buyer, Decision criteria, Decision process, Identified pain, Champion, Competition.

What if the criteria are outdated (methodology evolution)?

Gate config lives in a config repo with normal PR + review flow. RevOps + sales leadership updates; propagates on next stage-check.

How does it handle multi-product deals with different stages per product?

Composite stage-gate: each product's criteria checked; overall stage advances when all cleared. Complex but explicit.

Can we suspend gates for a specific rep or team temporarily?

Yes — temporary override at manager level for defined periods (e.g., first 90 days for new rep). Logged; expires automatically.

See it run on your data.

Free plan, no credit card. Connect the systems this playbook needs and run it against a past event first.

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