What is pipeline hygiene in Salesforce?

Pipeline hygiene is the practice of keeping opportunity records truthful: real close dates, real amounts, active deals only, and consistent stage definitions — so coverage ratios and forecasts reflect reality instead of accumulated neglect.

How do I find dead deals in my pipeline?

Report on open opportunities where the last activity date is more than 30 days old, close dates are in the past, or the amount is empty or unchanged since creation. In most orgs these three reports surface 20–40% of open pipeline as effectively dead.

How often should pipeline be cleaned?

Nightly automated sweeps for mechanical issues, a Monday digest for leadership, a weekly pipeline meeting where every flagged deal gets a decision, and a monthly loss-reason and field audit. An annual cleanup is a diet; a weekly system is a metabolism.

Pipeline Hygiene Playbook: Fix Your Salesforce Forecast

Your forecast is a hygiene report

When a CEO says "the forecast was off by 40% last quarter," the cause is almost never the model. It's that a third of the pipeline was dead deals nobody closed out, close dates that had slipped six times, and placeholder amounts from eight months ago.

The seven rot patterns

Zombie deals — no activity in 30+ days, still counted in coverage. In most orgs I audit, 20–40% of open pipeline. Time-traveling close dates — close dates in the past on open deals; trivially preventable, almost universally present. Serial slippers — deals whose close date moved three or more times; each slip is a loss the rep already knows about…

The full playbook covers all seven patterns with the exact report to run for each, what the rot costs in forecast credibility, rep time, and diligence risk — and the nightly/weekly/monthly system that keeps orgs clean permanently.

The full white paper — with the complete framework, tables, and worksheets — is a free PDF download. ↓

The Pipeline Hygiene Playbook

Your forecast is a hygiene report

The seven rot patterns

Common questions