Ruthless Prioritization Wins the Back Half
We are at the midpoint of the year (or year-end for some), and the back half is where the number gets decided. This is the stretch that determines how the year ends. The deals that close in Q4 are the ones you are advancing right now, and the budgets you get access to for next year is being shaped by the conversations you are having this quarter.
Your buyers build their budgets in the second half of the year. If you are not already in a qualified conversation when that planning starts, your solution does not make it into next year's budget, and the deal is gone before Q4 ever arrives. Which deals you choose to prioritize over the next several weeks directly determines how much revenue you can still win this year.
When I advise a revenue team, I have them sort every deal in the pipeline into what they need to do, what they want to do, and what they should do, and then get ruthless about cutting the third bucket. At mid-year, that discipline matters more than anything else you do. Your activity falls into those same 3 buckets, and the difference between a strong second half and a disappointing one usually comes down to how honest you are about the last one.
Need: the activity that moves revenue this year
These are the opportunities that can realistically turn into closed revenue before the year ends. They include advancing the deals already in cycle with a real champion, qualifying hard with BANT-C so you are not mistaking interest for intent. At mid-year, the question is how many opportunities you can close given how long the cycle runs, and whether you are spending your hours on those specific accounts. Everything in this bucket protects the number you committed to in January.
Want: the activity that builds the next two quarters
These are the investments that pay off later. They include thought leadership, relationship-building inside the ecosystem, content that compounds over time, and early conversations with accounts whose timing is further out. This work is worth doing, and it builds the pipeline you will close in the first half of next year. The risk at mid-year is letting it consume the hours that belong to deals that can still close now. Keep it moving in a contained block of time, and when time gets tight, pull from here before you touch anything in the need bucket.
Should: the activity that feels like progress and is not
This bucket is full of work that looks productive and moves nothing. It includes customizing demos and proposals for prospects who were never going to buy, responding to every RFP including the ones you can't win, chasing warm intros that are not real opportunities, and attending events where your buyers are not in the room. None of them advances a deal that can close this year. Mid-year is the time to cut this.
Run the mid-year audit
Block 15 minutes before Q3 begins and put every active opportunity into one of the 3 buckets. Be honest about which deals belong in need and which ones you have been carrying in your pipeline out of optimism. Move the want work into a defined block so it keeps progressing without consuming your selling hours. Then look hard at the should column, because that is the time you are about to get back.
A strong back half comes from spending your hours on the few deals that can close, and protecting your time by cutting everything that can't. It requires some discipline and can feel scary to move deals into the should bucket or cut them, but deciding now where your hours are allocated for the rest of the year gets more predictable results.
Angi Milano
Founder of Maven Advisory
Hope is not a strategy.
