Catch dormant pipeline heating up
Open deals that went quiet are not dead. When the account comes back to your site, hires, raises or adds a stakeholder, the deal is warm again and nobody is looking. Catch it the day it happens.
The conversation
Sample accounts and numbers, for illustrationYouFind our open opportunities with no activity from us or from them in the last 45 days, check whether the account has shown a signal since the last touch such as visits to our site, a new stakeholder, hiring or funding, rank the dormant deals by the strength of what changed, and draft a note to the last contact that opens on the change rather than asking for an update.
Unify3 checks · CRM, inbox and signals
- Found open opportunities in Salesforce with no logged activity, sent email or reply in the last 45 days, and kept stage, value and last contact.
- Read website visits by account since the last touch, plus hiring, funding and leadership changes at each account.
- Checked every contact on a dormant deal for a job change and looked for the likely successor where they had left.
Forty-one open deals have had no activity in 45 days, worth 2.3 million. Fourteen of those accounts showed a signal since the last touch. Three champions have left.
- 41
- dormant deals no activity in 45 days
- $2.3M
- dormant value
- 14
- showed a signal since the last touch
- 3
- champions who left
Quiet for is measured from the last activity in either direction. That a visit or a hire means the deal is moving again is the reading; the note asks rather than assumes.
YouAre any of the 41 active in the product since the last touch, in a trial, a sandbox or a free workspace?
Unify2 checks · product events and CRM
- Matched product events from PostHog and Segment to the 41 dormant accounts by email domain, counting only activity after the last touch.
- Compared the people active in the product with the contacts on each deal.
Four of the dormant accounts have people in the product since the last touch. Two of them had shown nothing else, so they join the fourteen.
| Deal | In the product since the last touch | Who | On the deal? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lumen Freight · $60k | Trial workspace reopened 9 days ago; three routing rules built | Tom Ekwe and one new user | Tom yes, the new user no |
| Halden Robotics · $240k | Sandbox API calls every weekday for two weeks | An engineer | No |
| Calderon Health · $75k | Free workspace; four signups from the company domain | Two support team leads | No |
| Brightpath · $110k | Two logins to the reporting page after the trial ended | Elena Marsh | Yes |
Product activity is matched to the account by email domain, so a signup from a personal address is not counted. Calderon and Brightpath had no other signal; use of the product while the deal sits quiet is observed, and why they went quiet is still the question the note asks.
YouWhat happened at Merridian since we last spoke?
UnifyNothing for six weeks, then three people from Merridian read the pricing and security pages in four days. One of them is new to the account.
- 58 days agoLast touchDana Holt replied to Chris that the review would resume after the quarter closed. Nothing since, from either side.
- 31 days agoNew stakeholderMira Sato joined Merridian as Head of IT Security, from a company that is a customer of yours.
- 6 days agoPricing pageTwo visits from the Merridian network, the pricing page and the plan comparison.
- 2 days agoSecurity pageMira Sato, identified through a form fill from earlier this year, read the security page and the data-processing terms.
- Why it outranks the others
- A security review is the step Dana said would come after the quarter. A new security lead reading the security page is that step starting, with a person you can name.
- Who to write to
- Dana is still the champion and still there. The note goes to Dana and mentions Mira, since Mira came from a customer and may already know the product.
YouFor the three deals where the champion left, who took over, and where did the champion go?
UnifyAll three have a likely successor, and one was already on the deal. Two of the champions landed at companies that fit your ICP.
| Deal | Champion who left | Who took over | Where the champion went |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halden Robotics · $240k | Tara Quinn, in August | Nils Berg, Head of Support, already on the deal | VP Operations at Kestrel Foods, which fits the ICP |
| Orchard Logistics · $130k | Owen Reyes, in July | Lena Fischer, hired as Director of Operations | A company that is already a customer |
| Fernhill Home · $45k | Marta Ilves, in September | Role still open; her manager covers it | An agency, outside the ICP |
The job change comes from ContactOut and is checked against the CRM. The successor is the person now holding the title, which is a place to start and not a confirmed owner of the deal.
YouDraft the note to Dana and set the watch to run daily.
UnifyHere is the draft. It names the change and asks one question. Chris has it for review, and the dormant watch runs every morning.
ToDana Holt · VP Operations, Merridian Systems
SubjectThe security review
Dana, you mentioned the review would pick up after the quarter. It looks like it has: your new security lead has been through our security page and the data-processing terms this week. If it helps, Mira’s previous company runs us, and I can put her in touch with their security team for a reference call. Would that be useful, or is there something else the review needs first?
Set up
- Sixteen drafts held for review One per dormant deal with a signal, including the two found through product activity, addressed to the last contact or to the successor where the champion left. Each names the change and asks one question.
- Three deals rerouted Where the champion left, the deal carries the successor and a short introduction rather than a follow-up. Tara Quinn at Kestrel Foods gets a separate note at her new company.
- Daily dormant watch Every morning the 41 deals are checked for new signals, product activity included; the manager view shows dormant value by rep and how much of it moved this week.
The visit and the hire are facts. That the review has restarted is a guess, and the email says so by asking.
Dormant deals, with and without Unify
A deal with no activity for 45 days is not lost. It is unattended, and the account may already be moving again.
| Without Unify | With Unify |
|---|---|
| Dormant deals sit in the pipeline until the quarterly clean-up closes them | Every open deal with no activity for 45 days is watched for signals at the account |
| The check-in email asks whether there is any update, which is the email nobody answers | A visit, a hire, a round or a new leader surfaces the deal the day it happens, with what changed |
| The account comes back to the site, and the visit lands in a marketing report nobody in sales reads | The note opens on the change and asks one question, not for an update |
| The champion left three months ago and the deal is still assigned to them | Contacts on dormant deals are checked for job changes, and the deal is rerouted when the champion left |
Start from this prompt
Make it your own in Unify, then review the results.
Find our open opportunities with no activity from us or from them in the last 45 days, check whether the account has shown a signal since the last touch such as visits to our site, a new stakeholder, hiring or funding, rank the dormant deals by the strength of what changed, and draft a note to the last contact that opens on the change rather than asking for an update.
What else you can ask for
The walkthrough is one path through this workflow. These are the turns people take most often.
- Site visits onlyWhich of our stalled deals had someone from the account on our site this week, and which pages did they read?Try in Unify
- Product activityWhich of our dormant open opportunities have people active in the product since the last touch, in a trial or a free workspace, and are those people on the deal?Try in Unify
- Champion checkFor every deal with no activity in 60 days, is the contact still at the company, and who took over if not?Try in Unify
- Manager viewShow me dormant pipeline by rep, how much of it showed a signal this month, and which deals should be worked or closed.Try in Unify
How it changes by who you sell to
- Software
- Software deals stall when the champion goes quiet, then wake when the account comes back to the pricing or security pages. Ask Unify to watch every dormant deal for visits from the account and to name who came back, if it can.
- Financial services
- Bank and insurer deals go quiet through review cycles. Ask Unify to watch dormant deals for a new leader in the buying team or a hiring wave in the department, which is when the review usually ends.
- Healthcare
- Health-system deals stall on committees. Ask Unify to watch for a new department head or a system-level hire at dormant accounts, and to draft a note to the last contact that names the change.
- Manufacturing
- Plant deals wait on budget. Ask Unify to watch dormant deals for a funding round, an expansion announcement or a new plant, and to reopen the deal on the investment rather than on the old quote.
- Professional services
- Firm deals go dormant when the partner who sponsored them moves on. Ask Unify to check whether the contact on each dormant deal is still there, and to find who took over before anyone writes.
Next in relationships and reactivation
RelationshipsFind a warm introductionStart from the accounts showing intent this month, find the ones where someone on the team already knows the buyer, and spend the favor where it is likely to land.
+3Bad-timing repliesFollow up on 'not now' repliesSomeone said 'not now' six months ago. Find what changed at their company since, and write to that rather than to the old thread.
+1Job changesFollow your champions to new companiesSomeone who already bought from you once has just landed somewhere new.
Connect what this workflow uses
Each guide covers the connection, what Unify reads and writes, and what to check before the first run.
- Connect SalesforceAuthorize Salesforce in Unify, configure CRM field mappings, and choose when to enable writing.
Connect PostHogConnect PostHog to Unify as a destination, choosing the product events and the person and company context to send.- Connect HubSpotConnect HubSpot to Unify, map Company and Person fields, and plan CRM exclusions and supported write-back.
Connect SegmentSend supported Segment events into Unify through Webhook (actions).- Connect GmailConnect Gmail to Unify for sequence emails and replies.
- Connect OutlookConnect Microsoft Outlook directly to Unify.
Questions about this workflow
What counts as dormant?
An open opportunity with no logged activity, sent email or reply in the last 45 days, in either direction. The window is adjustable; 45 days fits a mid-market cycle, and enterprise deals often use 60 or 90.
What signals wake a deal?
Visits to your site from the account, with the pages read; a new stakeholder or a leadership change; hiring in the buying team; a funding round. Each is dated, so the note can say when it happened.
What if the champion has left?
The contact on every dormant deal is checked for a job change. If they left, the deal is flagged, the likely successor is found, and the note goes to the successor as an introduction rather than a follow-up.
How is this different from reopening closed-lost?
Closed-lost deals are over and need a real change to justify a return. Dormant deals are still open; the account may simply be moving again, and the note continues a conversation rather than restarting one.