What a new head of sales should check in the CRM first
A new head of sales should start with one question: can I trust what the CRM shows me? Check the pipeline, the age of each deal, how fast new leads get answered, whether follow-up happens, and how last quarter's forecast compares to what closed. Do this before you change a stage, a field or a rule.
You do not need to audit every field on day one. You need a clear picture of what is real, so the first changes you make are the right ones.
Check 1: Can you see the whole pipeline in one place?
Open the deals view and ask: do I see every open deal here, without asking anyone?
If you have to message reps for their "real" list, the CRM is not the source of truth yet. That is your first finding. Note who has deals in a spreadsheet, a notebook or an inbox.
We hold a simple view on this: the owner or sales leader should see the whole pipeline in one place without asking anyone. When a CRM fails, the usual cause is that nobody keeps it up.
That matters because the famous "55% of CRM projects fail" number is older than it looks. It came from a 2001 Gartner question about whether projects met expectations. Only about 5% were outright failures. The common problem is a CRM that drifts, not one that never worked.
Check 2: How old are the open deals?
Sort open deals by the last activity date. Then look at three groups:
- Deals with no activity in 30 days
- Deals whose close date has already passed
- Deals that have sat in the same stage far longer than your normal sales cycle
Write down the count and the total value of each group. This is usually the fastest way to see how much of the pipeline is real.
A close date that was pushed out two or three times is a warning. So is a deal with no next step.
Check 3: How fast does a new lead get answered?
Pick 20 recent inbound leads. For each one, compare the date the lead was created with the date of the first call or email.
Most firms are slow here. Workato tested 114 B2B firms in March 2026, and none called back within 5 minutes. Clio found that only 33% of 500 law firms answered an email inquiry (2024).
If your numbers look like that, you do not need more leads. You need to answer the ones you have. We have written about this in how fast to answer a new inquiry.
Check 4: Does follow-up stop too early?
Look at your lost and stalled deals. Count how many touches each one got before it went quiet.
Many teams stop at 3. About 6 is normal for a deal that ends in a clear yes or no. Advisor coach Shauna Mace suggests 5 to 7 touches over a month. Our view is simple: follow up on every deal until you get a clear answer.
Also look at the call booking. The longer the wait for a first call, the more people miss it. A study of 51,529 clinic appointments found 9% no-shows when booked 0 to 2 weeks out and 38% at 6 months. Same-week booking and more than one reminder help.
Check 5: Does last quarter's forecast match what closed?
Take the forecast numbers the team gave last quarter and compare them with the deals that were actually won.
In HubSpot, the forecast tool does this for you. Go to Sales, then Forecast, click Update next to a user or team, then View history. HubSpot shows forecast accuracy for the pipeline and period you pick. Its formula is: error % = |actual - forecast| / actual x 100, and accuracy is 1 minus that error, never below 0. You can look back up to one year. This needs Sales Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise.
If the forecast is far off, find out why before you set a new target. Usually it is old deals, dates that never move, or deal stages that mean different things to different reps.
What to do with what you find
Write the five answers on one page. Share it with the owner and the team. Then pick the one gap that costs the most revenue and fix that first. For most teams it is one of three: no one owns the follow-up, leads wait too long, or the pipeline is full of dead deals.
A few quick wins that do not need a rebuild:
- Give every open deal an owner and a next step with a date
- Close or move any deal with no activity in 30 days
- Create a task for every new lead, due the same day
- Add one saved view of stalled deals and look at it every Monday
Who can do this for you
If you are new and short on time, you can run these checks yourself in a week. If you want help, there are two paths.
| Option | Best for |
|---|---|
| Do it yourself | A small team, one pipeline, and a leader who has a week to spare |
| An independent partner like Scaling Studio | A B2B firm that wants the CRM, the lead routing and the follow-up fixed so a leader can trust the numbers |
FAQ
What is the first thing a new head of sales should look at in the CRM?
The pipeline. See whether every open deal is there, how old each one is, and how many have had no activity in 30 days.
How long should the CRM check take?
About a week for a small team with one pipeline. Do not change stages or fields until you have the five answers.
How do I check forecast accuracy in HubSpot?
Go to Sales, then Forecast, click Update next to a user or team, then View history. Pick the pipeline and period. You need Sales Hub or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise.
What if the CRM data is too messy to trust?
Say so in your one-page summary. Start with the open deals only. Give each an owner and a next step, and close the dead ones.