sales pipeline management
Funnel/Pipeline Games
The funnel/pipeline is a fundamental tool for sales professionals and managers. It’s the tool that helps us understand whether we are on target to meeting our goals. I spend a lot of time looking at funnels. I’ve seen all sorts of issues and potential games (inadvertent and purposeful) that are played with pipelines. I thought I’d spend a little time on a few of them.
What is your sales pipeline definition?
Do you have a clear sales pipeline definition? Unless you do, you will struggle to track your sales effectiveness and continuously improve your efforts. With some techniques and improved prospecting and qualification criteria you can reshape your team's sales funnel into a sales tunnel.
Sales pipeline or pipe dream?
Monday mornings start off with sales meetings and the infamous sales pipeline review. The sales manager interrogates, the salesperson fabricates and the CFO wonders how she can run a company when the sales department isn’t able to accurately forecast sales. So what’s the answer?
“Checking in” is not a next step!
For those of you that know me, this won’t be a stunning confession, but I really struggle with my impatience. I try to rein it in–I’ve stopped tapping my pen, incessantly, on tables in meetings (though my legs are bouncing up and down under the table). I’ve learned to count to 10–well maybe 100, before jumping in on a review. But my tolerance level for waiting is virtually non-existent.
Reduce the fluffy sales pipeline syndrome
Okay, so if you are monitoring your salespeople’s pipelines, that's a start. Many sales managers focus on getting opportunities into the pipeline. This is also a start. If you want to be ultimately effective predicting closed deals and therefore revenue growth then you need to stop focusing on the pipeline value and focus on the pipeline velocity.
Is your pipeline managing you?
Proper pipeline management is crucial to achieving sales excellence and everyone is (or should) be aware of this. However, many confuse having a pipeline with actively managing their pipeline. The distinction between the two is highly relevant. The question quickly becomes: Are you managing your pipeline, or is your pipeline managing you?
