A slip is when a deal's close date moves out beyond what was originally committed or expected, typically signaling risk to the forecast.
A slip is when a deal's close date pushes beyond the month or quarter it was committed to, moving into a future period. On a call with a prospect, a slip happens when they say "we'll decide in Q2 instead of Q1," or when your champion tells you procurement needs another 60 days. In forecasting, a slip is the most common early warning that a deal is at risk—it doesn't mean the deal dies, but it means your close date assumption was wrong.
Slips matter because they cascade. If you have $500K in deals you expect to close in Q1, and three of them slip to Q2, your forecast is suddenly underwater. Slips are also how deals slowly migrate from "this quarter" to "maybe next quarter" to "we'll revisit this in the fall," which is how they actually die. A rep will often treat a slip as a minor delay rather than a forecast problem, which is the mistake: every slip is a flag to re-qualify and re-commit.
A slip surfaces when you ask for a close date and hear "we're still in research phase" or "we need legal to review this, so probably not until May." You might also hear it indirectly: "Our budget cycle is in Q2, so that's when we can pull the trigger." That's a slip into a future quarter—it's not a "no," but your close date needs to move.
The moment you hear a slip, your job is to understand if it's:
Deal slips, deal stage, and deal velocity are related but distinct. A deal stage describes where a deal sits in your process (discovery, demo, proposal, negotiation). A slip is a change to when that deal closes. Deal velocity measures how fast deals move through stages. A slip can happen without a stage change—your deal stays in negotiation, but now it closes in Q3 instead of Q2. A low velocity means deals are stalling; a slip means your timeline assumption was wrong from the start.
| Term | What it is | When it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Slip | Close date moves out | Forecasting; early warning of risk |
| Deal stage | Current position in your sales process | Whether the deal is still moving or stuck |
| Deal velocity | Speed of movement between stages | Whether your pipeline is healthy or slow |
| Deal size | The contract value | Prioritization and quota allocation |
Reps treat slips as administrative adjustments—move the deal to the next quarter in Salesforce and move on. But a slip is a re-qualification moment. When you move a close date, you need to answer: Why? Is the prospect still as motivated? Is there a new stakeholder now in play? Did their budget get reallocated? Did they start looking at a competitor? A slip without a reason you can articulate is a leading indicator that the deal is dying.
Only if slipping doesn't align with their actual constraint. If legal review really takes 45 days, pushing back wastes time. If they're vague ('we'll see'), ask what needs to happen to move faster. If nothing does, that's your signal the deal isn't truly qualified.
One or two slips with a clear reason (budget cycle, procurement gate) is normal. Three or more slips, or slips where the reason keeps changing, means the deal has lost priority. At that point, re-qualify or move it off your active forecast.
No—they're the same thing. A deal that 'falls out' is a deal that slipped. The difference is how you communicate it: 'We slipped this deal' is owning the forecast miss; 'The deal fell out' sounds passive. Own the slip and the reason for it.
Only if you're tracking the wrong close date in your system. Once a prospect tells you a real closing gate moved—budget approval, vendor selection, contract review—the original date is outdated. Update it or you're hiding risk in your forecast.
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