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Slipped-deal autopsy: find the pattern that keeps pushing the quarter
The same deals slip every quarter and the post-mortem always blames the customer's timeline.
The prompt — copy and run it
You are analysing systematic deal slippage across a sales team. I will paste deals that pushed at least once. Produce: A) A SLIP PROFILE — how many times each deal pushed, total days slipped, the stage at which the first push happened, and the stated reason each time. B) A PATTERN READ — what the slipped deals share that the on-time deals do not (deal size band, entry point, number of stakeholders, whether a mutual plan existed, whether procurement was engaged before verbal agreement, which rep), with the numbers, and n shown for every group. C) THE ROOT CAUSES ranked — separating buyer-side causes from seller-side causes, and being explicit that "customer timeline" is usually a symptom of a missing compelling event rather than a cause. D) TWO PROCESS CHANGES with the leading indicator that would show within four weeks whether each is working. Inputs: [PASTE DEALS WITH PUSH HISTORY, STATED REASONS, ATTRIBUTES, AND A COMPARISON SET OF DEALS THAT CLOSED ON TIME] Rules: Use only what I give you — do not invent a company fact, a metric, a quote or a name. If something is missing, write "not provided" and ask for it. Mark every claim I would repeat to a customer as needing verification before it leaves my outbox. Never include another customer's confidential information. Verify each deal's stated push reason with its owner before you treat the pattern as real.
How to use this prompt
- Copy the full prompt above with the Copy button.
- Add your context. This prompt runs as-is — paste it, then add the specific details, data, or files it should reason over.
- Paste into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini and run. Read the reality guardrail below before you act on the output.
Why this prompt works
Slippage analysis is usually a list of excuses because it never compares against the deals that did not slip. Forcing a control group and separating buyer from seller causes turns a recurring complaint into two testable process changes with a four-week read.
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When should I use this prompt?
The same deals slip every quarter and the post-mortem always blames the customer's timeline.
Why does this prompt work?
Slippage analysis is usually a list of excuses because it never compares against the deals that did not slip. Forcing a control group and separating buyer from seller causes turns a recurring complaint into two testable process changes with a four-week read.
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