You ever open your HubSpot dashboard and just feel like it’s lying to you?
The numbers look fine. The pipeline’s "healthy." Deals are moving. Except… they’re not. Half of them are probably idle or stagnant with no recent activity, no owner follow-up, and {honestly) little chance of closing before the end of the quarter.
Here’s what I’ve learned: Sales reps don’t hate HubSpot, they hate what it represents. Admin. Clicks. Notes. Dropdowns. Another tool asking for their time instead of giving it back.
But we can fix that with a few strategic HubSpot pipeline optimization tactics.
We’ve seen hundreds of pipelines and these basic automations work when you want a pipeline that runs efficiently.
Automate Follow-Up Tasks for Idle Deals in HubSpot
A deal is sitting in "Quote Sent" like it’s waiting for a bus that’s never coming. Days pass. Reps forget. Managers assume it's progressing.
Here’s what we do:
- Create a HubSpot deal workflow for idle deals
- Trigger it after 14 days of no activity (check with management of the number of days that is suitable).
- Assign a follow-up task to the deal owner. Call, email, Slack wave.
- Still quiet at 30 days? Escalate it. Notify the manager. Drop it in a Slack channel. This is the equivalent of lighting a digital fire.
One client saw a 19% drop in sales cycle length from this one automation.
How to Capture Closed Lost Reasons in HubSpot
This is a really powerful tool in the HubSpot pipeline automation playbook. And one that is most often missing when we open the hood and look at clients’ pipeline. Deals sit in the pipeline because reps don’t want to close them out for fear of losing them completely. This is human nature and a big reason why deals pile up in the early stages of the pipeline.
Yet, by implementing a simple Closed Lost Reason to the process you can get reps to change this behavior outright. It’s a property
Here’s how it works: Deals fall apart for many reasons such as timing, pricing, competitors, “went with someone cheaper.” These are the basis for the deal property you want to create. Importantly, it’s a drop down property. This is structured data that allows you to build automations off the property selections.
Also, make it a required property when deals are moved to the closed lost stage. Require reps to choose the closed lost reason whenever they lose a deal. Make it a dropdown.
- “Timing”
- “Budget”
- “Competition”
- “Other”
The benefits are twofold: First, you can start measuring the patterns—pricing confusion, competitor wins and you can address these issues.
Second, you can build workflows that recycle these leads back to your reps as I explain below. They aren’t lost forever. They actually come back to the deal owner with more data and specific instructions on how to follow up. Reps can start moving their idle deals without fear of “gone forever” and clean up the pipeline.
Build a Nurture Workflow for “Bad Timing” or “Pricing” Deals in HubSpot
The workflows can be set up in one of two ways:
- Build a workflow that automatically reaches out to the prospect.
- For example, build a nurture workflow for bad timing deals in HubSpot:
- A helpful email every 30 days (light content, not pushy)
- A case study at day 90
- A check-in message at the six-month mark (“Is the timing better now?”)
You’re staying present. So when they’re ready you are still top of mind.
- Or you can build a workflow that alerts the deal owner for a follow up task after a period of time.
- This puts the onus on the rep to follow up and keeps the communication within the principles.
Video example of how to create closed lost reasons and follow up workflow inside HubSpot:
Reduce Your Sales Cycle with HubSpot Workflows
All of these steps—from auto-follow-ups to nurture flows—have one hidden benefit: they shrink your sales cycle.
- You’re identifying bottlenecks faster.
- You’re reactivating cold deals without lifting a finger.
- You’re reducing pipeline clutter so reps focus on real opportunities.
One client went from a 52-day average sales cycle to 39 days. Just by implementing the workflows mentioned in this post. No new CRM. No new headcount. Just better HubSpot pipeline automation.
Final Thought (or a Tangent)
You can build the cleanest, prettiest pipeline in HubSpot. But if your reps avoid it—or worse, resent it—it’s not worth the pixels it’s built on.
This isn’t about more software. It’s about automating the friction out of your sales process. Give reps a system that thinks for them. Give managers visibility without micromanagement. Give ops teams data that tells the truth.
FAQs
What is an “idle deal” in HubSpot, and why does it matter?
An “idle deal” refers to any opportunity in your pipeline where there’s been little or no activity (calls, emails, task updates) for a defined period (e.g. 14 or 30 days). It matters because idle deals often go “quiet” and eventually fall through the cracks. Automations that assign follow-up tasks when deals go idle can keep things moving and improve pipeline health.
How do you enforce capturing “Closed Lost Reason” in HubSpot?
You can make the “Closed Lost Reason” property required upon marking a deal lost, using dropdown categories (Timing, Competitor, Budget, Not a Fit, etc.). This ensures that reps must select a reason. Over time, this gives you structured data you can analyze for process improvement.
What is a nurture workflow for “bad timing” deals?
It’s a sequence of automated touchpoints (emails, check-ins, content) that enrolls contacts whose deals were lost for “timing wasn’t right”, so you keep them engaged until the timing improves. This helps you revive opportunities rather than lose them permanently.
How can using automations shorten a sales cycle?
By automating follow-ups on idle deals, enforcing closed-lost reasons, and nurturing formerly lost prospects, you reduce delays caused by manual oversight. You get earlier identification of issues (e.g. pricing objections), faster remediation, and smoother transitions between stages—so deals move faster.
What are common challenges when implementing these automations in HubSpot?
Some common obstacles are: resistance from reps to using required fields (they see it as more admin), defining what counts as “idle” (setting days too short or too long), creating nurture content that feels valuable (not generic spam), and keeping workflows tidy so they don’t conflict or over-communicate.
What metrics should you monitor to know your pipeline optimization is working?
Key metrics include: rate of deals reactivated from nurture, average number of idle days per deal, closed-lost reasons trends, conversion rate by deal stage, length of sales cycle, pipeline leakage (deals lost or stuck), and rep adoption of required fields/workflows.
