Pipeline Management
Pipeline Management
Every bit of progress you make is a milestone in the sales process and has a % probability rating. These milestones and percentages will vary from organisation to organisation, yet the principle that the more milestones you reach the higher the probability for success remains valid for everyone. These milestones form goals against which you can plan specific activities. These can then be translated into specific objectives that you can review and monitor at each stage. The ability to leverage your probability for converting potential business in your pipeline is a vital part of the sales process and helps to focus your mind onto getting each prospect to the next milestone. Speed of follow-through is really important because it helps to create a momentum that consolidates your relationship with potential new customers.
The following suggestions can help you accelerate your prospects through your pipeline, and increase your probability for winning more deals:
● Agree the next steps with your prospect, and ensure that you are clear on the actions that will take you to the next milestone and closer to the sale.
● Before agreeing any actions with your prospect, ask yourself if these actions are leading you towards a sale. If you can’t see the tangible reason for doing an action then you could find yourself in a never-ending situation of fruitless discussions that dilute your results.
● Send an acknowledgement and confirmation of agreed actions to your prospect within 24 hours if possible. This conveys professionalism and provides another layer of reassurance for the prospect.
● At the end of every telephone call and meeting with your prospect, agree a specific time and date for your next contact. Lots of your valuable time can be wasted trying to get in touch with a busy buyer!
A well-managed pipeline helps to improve the consistency of results achieved, and creates a platform for more accurate sales forecasting. If pipeline management is not an integral part of an organisation’s sales process, this can result in a number of problems, including: longer sales cycles, reduced forecasting accuracy, inconsistent and unpredictable sales performance, declining win-rates and an inability to pinpoint reasons for decreased results.
Pipeline Management - To learn more about this author, visit Nikki Owen's Website.
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The moment you contact a qualified prospect you are committed to the time consuming process of ongoing discussions, and have created a real opportunity to convert potential business into actual sales. This is often referred to as ‘pipeline business’ because the more progress you make, the higher your probability for success.
Every bit of progress you make is a milestone in the sales process and has a % probability rating. These milestones and percentages will vary from organisation to organisation, yet the principle that the more milestones you reach the higher the probability for success remains valid for everyone. These milestones form goals against which you can plan specific activities. These can then be translated into specific objectives that you can review and monitor at each stage. The ability to leverage your probability for converting potential business in your pipeline is a vital part of the sales process and helps to focus your mind onto getting each prospect to the next milestone. Speed of follow-through is really important because it helps to create a momentum that consolidates your relationship with potential new customers.
The following suggestions can help you accelerate your prospects through your pipeline, and increase your probability for winning more deals:
● Agree the next steps with your prospect, and ensure that you are clear on the actions that will take you to the next milestone and closer to the sale.
● Before agreeing any actions with your prospect, ask yourself if these actions are leading you towards a sale. If you can’t see the tangible reason for doing an action then you could find yourself in a never-ending situation of fruitless discussions that dilute your results.
● Send an acknowledgement and confirmation of agreed actions to your prospect within 24 hours if possible. This conveys professionalism and provides another layer of reassurance for the prospect.
● At the end of every telephone call and meeting with your prospect, agree a specific time and date for your next contact. Lots of your valuable time can be wasted trying to get in touch with a busy buyer!
A well-managed pipeline helps to improve the consistency of results achieved, and creates a platform for more accurate sales forecasting. If pipeline management is not an integral part of an organisation’s sales process, this can result in a number of problems, including: longer sales cycles, reduced forecasting accuracy, inconsistent and unpredictable sales performance, declining win-rates and an inability to pinpoint reasons for decreased results.
Pipeline Management - To learn more about this author, visit Nikki Owen's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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