Weekly Deal Review Checklist for the Political Practice

Every Thursday, all active Political practice deals should be reviewed in HubSpot.

This review ensures leadership has an accurate snapshot of expected revenue, staffing needs, and pipeline health. Even if nothing has changed, every deal should be reviewed so HubSpot reflects the current state of the business.

Before You Begin

Before reviewing your deals:

• Confirm your budget document has been updated (if applicable).
• Review any client conversations from the past week.
• Consider whether your confidence, timing, or expected revenue has changed since last Thursday.

Step 1: Review Every Active Deal

Open each deal in your pipeline.

For every deal, ask:

• Is this opportunity still active?
• Is it in the correct stage?
• Is the forecast still accurate?
• Would leadership understand the current status if they opened this record today?

If the answer to any of these is "no," update the deal before moving on.

Step 2: Validate Deal Details

Review the following properties.

Deal Stage
Confirm the deal is in the correct Political pipeline stage.

• Pitching
• Verbal Win
• Contract Signed
• Budget Finalized

Move the deal forward when the opportunity reaches the next milestone. If a deal has stalled or is no longer active, update it accordingly.

Probability
Review whether your confidence has changed.

The Political practice uses only these values:

• 20%
• 30%
• 40%
• 75% (should primarily be used in Contract Signed stage)
• 95% (should only be used in the Budget Finalized stage)

Gross Budget
Confirm the deal amount reflects your current best estimate.

If the final budget is unknown:

• Use your best reasonable estimate.
• Update it whenever new information becomes available.

Forecast accuracy is more important than waiting for perfect information.

Close Date
Verify the expected close date is still realistic.

If the anticipated commitment date has moved, update the Close Date.

A deal should not remain in Pitching if the close date has already passed without being updated.

Estimated Start and End Dates
Confirm the work timing is still accurate. Initially, HubSpot estimates these dates using the election date.

If you now know when work will actually begin OR when it will end, then update the estimated dates accordingly.

Step 3: Add a Weekly Status Note

Every Thursday, leave a short status update.

A good note explains what changed since last week.

Good Examples:

Budget increased following client discussion. Still awaiting signed contract. Probability increased from 30% to 40%.

Media buy shifted into October. Updated estimated start date and forecast timing.

No material changes this week. Forecast remains accurate.

Insufficient examples:

Talked to client.

No update

Still working on it.

Leadership uses these notes to understand why forecasts changed without needing to contact deal owners directly.

Weekly Workflow

Wednesday

• Update your budget documents.
• Respond to requests for revised budget estimates.
• Use your best available estimate if the budget is still evolving.

Budget information is transferred into HubSpot from these documents.

Thursday Checklist

Before you finish on Thursday, confirm that every active deal has::

☐ Correct deal stage

☐ Correct probability

☐ Updated gross budget

☐ Accurate Close Date

☐ Accurate Estimated Start Date

☐ Accurate Estimated End Date

☐ Weekly status note

☐ Any significant forecast changes documented

Common Political Practice Scenarios

The client says the budget will change, but doesn't know how much.

Don't wait.

Update the deal with your best estimated amount and probability, and then explain the uncertainty in your note.

Forecasts should always represent your current understanding—not perfect certainty.

A large media buy shifts into next month.

Update:

• Estimated dates in HubSpot
• Budget docs
• Weekly note in HubSpot

If some revenue shifts into another month, that's important to know, even if the overall budget has not changed.

We signed the client but don't know the final budget.

Move the deal to Contract Signed.

Use your best estimate for the budget and adjust the probability if additional uncertainty remains. We aim for Contract Signed to reflect 75% probability, but understand if that might need to be weighted downward based on client context.

Nothing changed this week.

Still review the deal!

Add a brief note confirming that the opportunity remains accurate. Not doing so will cause leadership to wonder if the deal is stale and hasn't been updated or if there genuinely isn't an update.