As the clock winds down, sellers scramble, deals stall, and managers flood inboxes with “What’s closing?” messages. The result? Surprises, missed numbers, and stress all around.
But there’s a smarter way. By building consistency into your pipeline reviews and using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to stay multi-threaded and informed, you can eliminate the chaos — and close with confidence.
Here’s how.
Step 1: Have Your Sellers Build Comprehensive Lead Lists
Start by having your sales reps create lead Lists in Sales Navigator for their top 5–10 accounts. You don’t want to burden your sellers by having them create this list for every single account that they are working with.
For each list don’t stop at the primary contact. Include decision-makers, influencers, blockers or anyone else who could affect the deal.The farther along the account is in their pipeline, the more likely it should be that they have a robust lead list.
This protects your pipeline from single-thread risk and equips reps to navigate complex buying committees with confidence.
Step 2: Better Visualize Stakeholders with Sales Navigator Relationship Maps
Once those Lead Lists are created, take it a step further: turn them into Relationship Maps in Sales Navigator.
These interactive org charts help your team identify and label champions, decision-makers, blockers, and more.
They don’t need to mirror the company’s actual hierarchy. Instead, they should show how influence flows through the deal.
Plus, Sales Navigator will flag new potential contacts and notify you when a saved lead leaves the company, so you’re never caught off guard.
Step 3: Have the Team Share Relationship Maps With You
To make pipeline management a team effort, encourage reps to share their Relationship Maps with you through Sales Navigator. They can also share it with key internal stakeholders as well, for example marketing or customer success colleagues.
The more insights everyone has into how the buyer’s team is structured, the easier it is to find relevant insights and interest signals.
It also levels up the conversations that managers and salespeople have during pipeline reviews. Because instead of being based on guesswork and vague memories, they are based on data.
A manager can look at the Relationship Map and quickly assess whether a rep is engaging the right people and if any strategic adjustments need to be made.
Managers often have years of experience and expertise, this allows them to leverage it in minutes during a conversation with a representative.
Step 4: Conduct Regular Pipeline Reviews with Your Reps Rather Than Simple Status Updates
Here’s the most important step: schedule bi-weekly or monthly pipeline reviews with each seller to go over their Relationship Maps.
You don’t want to just get their best guess at whether and when a deal is going to close. A great pipeline review isn’t just about status updates, it’s about coaching and refining the strategy to make sure that the pipeline numbers are better and bigger than they would be if you didn’t talk about it.
Ask targeted questions such as:
- Do you have the right people on the Relationship Map?
- What are the next steps with each contact?
- Are there any gaps that need to be filled?
- Have there been any role changes or departures?
- Do you need an introduction to a key stakeholder?
These conversations ensure that deals are progressing and help prevent last-minute surprises.
Summary: Proactive Pipeline Management Wins Deals
Regular pipeline reviews shouldn’t just be a formality, they are an opportunity to spot risks, uncover new opportunities, and keep deals moving forward.
By using Sales Navigator strategically and conducting structured reviews throughout the quarter, you can eliminate end-of-quarter chaos and close more deals with confidence.
Start now, and when the next quarter ends, you’ll already know what’s closing without the last-minute panic.
David J.P. Fisher has been working as a coach and consultant for sales leaders and organizations for over 20 years. He is the best-selling author of Networking in the 21st Century on LinkedIn and Hyper-Connected Selling.
Topics: Sales strategy
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