Next step

The specific, dated action the buyer has agreed to take to move the deal forward.

Checked 9 Oct 2026 · 1 source

What is a next step?

A next step is the specific, dated action the buyer has agreed to take to move the deal forward. "Follow up next week" is a seller task. "Facility director reviews pricing with the CFO on March 14" is a next step. The buyer's agreement and the date are what make it real, and they are what a manager can check.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

Next steps are among the most honest fields in the CRM. A deal with a dated buyer action is moving; a deal without one is waiting. Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling draws the same line between an advance, an agreed action that moves the sale forward, and a continuation, where the conversation ends with nothing agreed. The buyer's next action is a direct read on momentum. A revenue leader can scan next steps across the pipeline faster than any stage report, and the gaps show where deals have stalled.

Example

Fictitious numbers

A testing and inspection company has 80 open deals. 52 have a next step entered, but only 23 name a buyer action with a date. The other 29 read like "send follow-up" or "check in." For 57 of the 80 deals, the leader cannot point to anything the buyer has agreed to do next.

The question to ask

"For each deal in commit, what has the buyer agreed to do next, and by when?"

Sources

  1. SPIN Selling (Neil Rackham, Routledge) checked 17 Oct 2026

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