Revive Stalled Deals with the Stale Opportunities Trigger

Deals that sit in one stage for too long usually slip away. The Stale Opportunities trigger starts a workflow when an opportunity has not progressed for a set number of days, so no lead is forgotten.

What fires it

The workflow runs when an opportunity has remained in the same stage without movement for the number of days you choose. For example, a deal that has been in "Negotiation" for five days with no progress.

Filters

• Duration in Days: how long a deal can sit before it counts as stale.
• In Pipeline: the pipeline to watch.
• Pipeline Stage: the stage to watch, such as Negotiation.

Add other filters from the list, such as assigned user or tag, to focus on specific deals.

Set it up

1. Open Automation > Workflows and click Create Workflow.
2. Click Add New Trigger and choose Stale Opportunities.
3. Name it, such as "Stale proposal follow-up".
4. Click Add filters, then set Duration in Days, In Pipeline and Pipeline Stage.
5. Click Save Trigger and add actions.
6. Use Test Workflow to check it, then publish.

Action ideas

• Email the deal owner a reminder with a link to the opportunity.
• Send an internal notification to the manager.
• Create a task due today to call the contact.
• Move the deal to a "Needs review" stage or add it to a different workflow.
• Send the customer a friendly check-in message.

Tips

• Create one trigger per stage with different durations; early stages can wait only a few days, while long sales cycles might wait weeks.
• Stage the response: a reminder to the owner first, then escalate to the manager if the deal is still stuck.

Good to know: Moving the deal to a new stage resets the clock, so a tidy follow-up action keeps stale deals from being flagged again immediately.