Internal Deal Review: walk in with the answers
An Internal Deal Review is your preparation for the deal review, written from the deal itself: every dimension on one line, the case for the deal, the ways it could die, what has moved since the last review, what you need, and the questions you are going to be asked, with your answers.
Updated
What will my manager ask in a deal review?
Wherever your record is thin: who signs, why the close date is the date, who you’re up against, and whether the number is theirs or yours. Answer each one from what the buyer actually said, and where you don’t know yet, say so and say when you will.
A review isn’t a test of how sure you sound. It checks which parts of the deal rest on something somebody on their side said. So the questions land on a dimension still open, a close date the qualification doesn’t support yet, a competitor you’re level with or behind, or a number nobody has checked.
The Internal Deal Review’s “The questions you'll get, with answers” block asks you those before anybody else does, and answers each from the deal, the uncomfortable answers included. Its “Every dimension, one line each” reads the same qualification state as the MEDDPICC Scorecard.
Should this deal be commit or best case?
Check each line of your company’s commit definition against something the buyer actually said. If every line has their words under it, call it commit; if one rests on your own read, it’s best case until they say it.
Who signs, and have you met them? Economic Buyer: engaged.
Why this date, and what happens to them if it passes? Compelling Event: consequenced.
What happens on their side before they say yes, and when? Decision Process: dated.
What legal, security and purchasing must sign off, and when? Paper Process: dated.
Whatever your definition’s wording, a close date rests on these: the person who signs, their reason for the date, and every step on their side between now and a signature. Next to each is the rung the deal has to reach before that line holds.
Your company decides what commit means. SalesWolf doesn’t forecast and has no forecast category. What it gives you is where each letter actually stands, and what changed since your last review.
On the deal, each item on a dimension shows the rung it has reached, and the review’s “Every dimension, one line each” block gives each dimension its status and what’s on record. The economic buyer reaches engaged only once the deal records that you’ve met them. A step reaches dated once a rough timeline is recorded against it, even if nobody owns it yet, so check that each one has a name as well.
If one line is short and you still think it closes, name the line and what you’ll do about it this week: that is how to say a commit deal is at risk. If it was commit at the last review and isn’t now, start with why your commit slipped.
How do I say a commit deal is at risk without looking like I’m sandbagging?
Say the risk in the deal’s own terms, with where it stands today and the move that reduces it this week. Sandbagging is a number held back without a reason; a risk with its evidence and the date you’ll know by is a forecast.
“Economic buyer is a gap” sounds like an excuse. “Nobody has confirmed who signs, and on Thursday I’m asking who their buyer last backed” is a plan, and a plan is hard to call a hedge.
The review’s “How this deal dies” block writes each risk that way: in the deal’s words rather than the dimension’s label, with where it stands and the next move, and it says which one to spend this week on. Where the record shows nothing worrying, it says the picture looks clean rather than inventing a risk to fill the space. The case for it sits right beside, in “The case for the deal”, so a risk never arrives alone.
Why did my commit slip?
Look first at what the close date rested on. If nobody on the buyer’s side had confirmed it, that is your answer. The review’s “What's moved on the deal” block lists what changed since the last review, from the deal’s own history, so a slip has a line you can point to.
In SalesWolf this block is replayed from the deal’s change log since the last Internal Deal Review you generated on it. The first one says it’s your baseline, and if nothing moved, it says that. A review that shows nothing changed is itself an answer.
Has the date moved more than once? Why your deal keeps slipping
Deal review template
A rep’s deal review template is what you fill in before the review, not the agenda your manager runs it from. It holds the deal’s size and date, every dimension on one line, the case for it, how it could die, what has moved, what you need, and the questions you’ll be asked, with your answers: the Internal Deal Review’s seven blocks, in the order below.
Download the blank template: Markdown.
These are the sections SalesWolf's Internal Deal Review is built from. In the product each one is written from the facts you've accepted on the deal. A section with nothing to stand on says what it's missing instead.
One of them is written out in full below, on the sample deal.
Size, stage and close date
The customer, stage, value and close date.
Every dimension, one line each
Every dimension with its status, and the one detail that says what to do about it.
The case for the deal
Two to four reasons this deal lands, each one a fact a sceptical reviewer could check. Say which ones nobody has confirmed.
How this deal dies
Two to four ways it dies, where each stands today, and the move that reduces it. If nothing worries you, say so.
What's moved on the deal
What moved since your last review: what was added, updated, or came off the deal. On your first review, this is the baseline.
Why did my commit slip?The asks that would move this
Two or three asks, each naming the role you need, what they should do, and the gap it closes. If the deal needs nothing, say that.
The questions you'll get, with answers
Three to five questions you'll be asked, each with your answer. Where you don't know yet, say what you'll do to know by the next review.
Anticipated Questions
DraftQ: Who has the authority to sign off on this $240,000 spend? A: We have not identified the Economic Buyer. I will ask our contact to map the budget holder and approval chain on our next call. Q: Why does the target close date sit at 2026-09-30 when the paper process is unmapped? A: The paper process is unmapped, and the decision process has zero confirmed steps. I will validate the procurement timeline and contract review steps with the customer to confirm the September 2026 date. Q: Is the 90-day contract renewal notice date verified? A: No. The incumbent contract auto-renews at the end of January. Marta thinks the notice period is 90 days (roughly 2026-11-02), but no one has confirmed it. I will ask Marta for the contract terms to verify the exact notice window. Q: What target metric defines success for Halden Freight beyond the baseline pain numbers? A: We have not set target metrics. Halden Freight has two night desk staff chasing carrier exceptions manually, and late deliveries cost about $400,000 in service credits last year. I will establish reduction targets with the team before the next review.
When you reach for it
Thursday night, before a review you would rather not be surprised in.
This is what comes out.
What goes in is the call you already had.
Your file is read in your browser and never uploaded. The text stays with the deal until you delete the deal, and is removed from the database 90 days after that.
14 days free, no card, no call.