How Do I Identify Deals at Risk Before It's Too Late in HubSpot Sales Hub?
Spotting at-risk deals in HubSpot Sales Hub means turning your pipeline into an alert system, not a static list. When activities, timing, and buying signals are wired into clear rules, scores, and views, your team can see which deals need rescue plays today—before they quietly stall and slip to “closed lost.”
Deals rarely die overnight—they quietly stop moving. Maybe last activity was 23 days ago, the champion changed jobs, budget went dark, or the next step was never logged. With the right properties, playbooks, and alerts in HubSpot Sales Hub, you can turn those subtle signals into clear, prioritized “rescue lists” that keep reps focused on the winnable deals.
Risk Signals You Can Track Directly in HubSpot Sales Hub
The Deal Risk Detection Playbook in Sales Hub
A structured way to go from gut-feel risk to a repeatable, data-backed early warning system in HubSpot Sales Hub.
Define → Instrument → Score → Alert → Rescue
- Define what “at risk” means for your team: Start by aligning sales, RevOps, and leadership on concrete criteria: days with no activity by stage, required roles missing from the contact list, number of close date pushes, or stalled deal amounts above a threshold.
- Instrument the right properties and fields: Add or standardize last activity dates, next activity dates, stage aging fields, decision-maker flags, and risk reason codes. Ensure reps use required properties and playbooks so data is reliable enough to drive alerts.
- Build a simple deal health or risk score: Use calculated properties or scoring to combine core signals (inactivity, aging, missing contacts, negative events) into a “Risk Level” field that can be filtered and charted on dashboards.
- Create views and alerts for at-risk deals: Build saved views by rep and manager for “High Risk Deals,” and set up workflows or notifications that ping owners when a deal crosses your risk threshold or sits idle beyond SLA.
- Design rescue plays and sequences: Pair each risk pattern with specific plays—re-engagement sequences, value recap emails, multi-threading outreach, or escalation meetings—and trigger them via workflows or playbooks directly from the deal record.
- Review patterns and refine the model: Use HubSpot reporting to compare win rates and cycle times for deals that were flagged vs. not. Evolve your risk rules and plays based on what actually saves deals versus what just adds noise.
Deal Risk Management Maturity Matrix
| Dimension | Stage 1 — Reactive Firefighting | Stage 2 — Rule-Based Visibility | Stage 3 — Proactive, Play-Driven Risk Management |
|---|---|---|---|
| Risk Detection | Managers discover issues at end of quarter. | Basic views show deals with no activity or past close dates. | Health scores and alerts surface at-risk deals weekly or daily. |
| Data Quality | Activities and next steps logged inconsistently. | Core fields standardized; some required properties on exit criteria. | Playbooks, SLAs, and validation ensure risk signals are trustworthy. |
| Manager Intervention | Last-minute “what’s going on with this deal?” reviews. | Periodic pipeline reviews focused on stalled deals. | Regular risk review rituals with clear owner actions and follow-ups. |
| Sales Plays | Ad hoc emails and calls to “check in.” | Some suggested next steps for common stall reasons. | Documented save plays and sequences mapped to specific risk patterns. |
| Revenue Impact | High forecast slippage and surprise losses. | Improved forecast accuracy; fewer unexpected losses. | Higher win rates, more reliable forecasts, and shorter cycles for rescued deals. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most important deal risk signals to track in Sales Hub?
Start with inactivity vs. stage-based SLAs, missing next steps, repeated close date pushes, and missing decision makers. These are easy to capture in HubSpot and strongly correlated with stalled or lost deals in most sales motions.
Do I need a complex AI model to predict deal risk?
No. Most teams see big gains using simple, transparent rules: days since last activity, time in stage, and key roles engaged. You can always add more sophistication later, but early wins usually come from standardizing a few high-signal rules and enforcing them well.
How do I get reps to actually use risk fields and playbooks?
Make it easier to follow the process than to ignore it. Use required fields at stage moves, lightweight playbooks that live on the deal record, and dashboards that spotlight the reps who keep deals healthy—and those who don’t.
How often should we review at-risk deals?
Many teams run a weekly at-risk pipeline review where managers and reps walk through the “High Risk Deals” view, commit to specific rescue actions, and update risk reasons. For high-velocity motions, a short daily standup can keep teams ahead of risk instead of reacting to surprises.
Turn HubSpot Sales Hub into an Early Warning System
When your CRM is configured to surface risk early and trigger the right plays, you protect forecast accuracy, save winnable deals, and give reps a clearer path to quota.