Mid-Year Sales Review: Resetting the Plan for the Second Half
A mid-year sales review does three things: it compares first half results with the plan, shows what produced won deals and where the rest stalled, and ends with a one-page plan for the second half. It is early July, H1 has just closed, and summer holidays are about to slow buying. So treat this as a mid-course correction that fits into one afternoon.
Table of Contents
What should a mid-year sales review cover in one afternoon?
Seven things, in this order, because each step feeds the next:
- Results against plan - how far off are we, and in which direction?
- Won deals - what produced them?
- Stalled and lost deals - where did momentum disappear?
- Coverage - is there enough open business for the rest of the year?
- Targets - does the number still make sense?
- Process - which single stage needs repair?
- Summer and September - who does what, and by when?
Get the data ready before anyone sits down: won and lost deals from January to June, the open pipeline by stage, and results per rep. EpicCRM reports on pipeline value, won deals and team results, together with data export, give you that raw material without manual counting.
How do first half sales results compare with the plan?
Start with the gap between planned and actual revenue. Then split it by month, rep and product or service line. The breakdown tells you whether the difference built up steadily or showed up in a single month. After that, pull out the one-offs and set them apart from patterns likely to repeat.
Then ask what drove the shortfall or surplus: the number of deals, their average size, or the time they took to close? Too few opportunities points to prospecting. Smaller contracts point to pricing or customer fit. Longer cycles? Buyers are getting stuck somewhere in your process.
Where did won deals come from, and where did the rest stall?
Group won deals by source, customer type and rep, and you’ll see what deserves more of your time. Look for combinations that keep coming back.
Open the pipeline and find the stage where most deals have sat longest without a next step. Go through lost opportunities as well and check for repeated reasons: no budget, no decision-maker, bad timing. Last, decide what to stop. Channels or segments that ate hours and closed nothing should leave the plan, even if they felt promising in January.
Mid-year pipeline review: is there enough for H2?
There is enough when the value of realistic open deals covers what the second half still has to deliver. But clean the pipeline before you compare those two figures: close out dead deals, re-date the ones pushed past summer, and confirm a next step for everything that remains.
Cycle length matters too. If your typical sale takes several months, an opportunity opened in September may not close before year-end, so most of the remaining revenue has to come from business already in progress. Slow but genuine prospects belong in long-cycle lead nurturing rather than in active stages, where they only distort the picture.
Should you change targets halfway through the year?
Only when the assumptions behind the plan have changed. Not because H1 was disappointing. If the market, your prices and your team are roughly what you expected, keep the number and change the activity behind it. A revision is justified when a major assumption failed: a product launched late, a rep left, a key segment stopped buying.
Explain the reasoning to the team in plain terms. Adjusting sales targets mid-year looks arbitrary when people hear only the new figure, and it damages trust in the next plan. The mechanics of adjusting sales quotas fairly are a separate topic.
Fix one weak stage, not the whole process
Pick the single stage where deals stalled most and change one thing there. Often it is qualification, where weak opportunities get in and then linger for months. Small fixes beat a redesign:
- a required next step before any deal moves forward,
- clearer exit criteria for the problem stage,
- sharper discovery questions in the first conversation.
Set a check date in September to see whether the change made a difference.
Your one-page H2 sales plan: summer, September and three actions
A useful H2 sales plan fits on one page and names who does what during the summer and after it. Agree who covers whom during holidays and which deals need contact before buyers leave. For the September restart, list the contacts to re-open in the first week and book those conversations before the break.
The page itself needs only these lines:
- target for the second half,
- what to keep doing,
- what to stop,
- the one process fix and its check date,
- three actions, each with an owner and a deadline.
Record the three actions as tasks with assignees and reminders in EpicCRM so they survive the holidays. Because a mid-year sales review is worth the afternoon only if it ends with decisions someone owns.
FAQ
How long should a half-year sales review take?
One focused afternoon is enough for a small team, as long as the data is prepared in advance. Skip the prep and the meeting turns into counting deals instead of making decisions.
How is a mid-year review different from an annual sales review?
It corrects the current plan instead of creating a new one. Strategy, budget and next year’s goals stay out of scope. The only questions on the table: what to keep, stop and change before December.
Who should take part in the review in a small company?
The owner or sales manager, plus every rep who carries deals. The people closest to customers know why opportunities stalled, and reports alone won’t tell you that.
