The Deal That Reopened Itself Four Times

A deal got marked “Closed Lost” in the CRM, then a rep re-engaged the prospect a month later out of habit, without ever formally reopening it in the system — he just started emailing again like it was still live. That happened three more times over the year, with three different reps, none of them realizing the others had already tried.

When the quarter closed, that one deal had been counted as lost revenue four separate times in four different reports, quietly dragging down numbers that were never actually true — and nobody caught it, because “lost” deals don’t usually get a second look.

The prospect, for the record, eventually did buy — just not from whoever technically “owned” the deal on paper, because by then it wasn’t clear who that even was.

When a deal gets marked lost at your company, is there any process for someone to reopen it properly — or does it just quietly get chased again off the books?