The world is changing for sales people. When information is available in abundance, buyers no longer need sales people to purchase commodity products. Harsh estimates say that the number of sales people will drop with as much as 75% over the upcoming 5 years.

The “funnel” is one of the most powerful metaphors in B2B sales and marketing. It describes the passage of prospects through a buying decision process that hopefully will (but often does not) result in your successfully selling something to them.

A big headache for sales managers and sales directors are pipelines full of opportunities that stall and don’t materialize, also known as leaky pipelines. This leads to inaccurate sales forecasts, missed targets and embarrassing moments with senior leadership. The reasons behind stale and leaky pipelines can be plentiful. And, without a structured sales process and focused coaching, the problem may never go away.

Shortening the sales cycle has become a priority for companies working with b2b sales in recent years. And rightly so, the more time that passes by, the more difficult it can become to close opportunities.

Sales process and methodology sometimes get mixed up, which can become very confusing and costly. In order to maximize the effectiveness of a sales team, there can’t be any confusion between the two.

Imagine a sales person who was just hired for a B2B sales position. What type of sales organization will she be joining? Will she be treated to a full introduction program and learning the ropes from top performers? Will her sales manager assign realistic goals and dedicate time to coach her? Will she receive a steady flow of marketing qualified leads where there is already promising customer engagement?

The funnel/pipeline is a key tool for sales people and managers to assess performance.  It provides so many insights beyond knowing whether you will make your sales goals.

Historically, sales people have been responsible for both generating new opportunities (prospecting) and closing deals in the pipeline (opportunity management). However, this stance is being challenged. Spurred on by the trend towards inbound sales teams, and the importance of adding more value during the sales process, the sales space is a buzzing with ideas on how organizations can manage their sales efforts more effectively.

Over the years I have heard from numerous CEOs and sales managers alike that believe that they should not have to help motivate their people to do their jobs. They believe that if they just hired “highly motivated” people they can just let them go. Well I say “Good luck with that.”

If there’s something that we all have in common, I’d reason it is time. How we choose to spend it determines how we feel and what accomplishments we achieve. A big problem is that there’s often a conflict between what’s important and what’s urgent, between short and long-term gains. Checking emails every five minutes may increase your dopamine levels, but it probably won’t take you much closer to your sales targets.