How to Effectively Manage the Sales Pipeline

As sales professionals, we sometimes need to stop and decide if we’re doing all we can to manage the sales pipeline including the basics or fundamentals. We sometimes get carried away with being creative that the foundation of what’s important gets forgotten or done at a minimum. Let’s take it from the top and understand what the sales pipeline is for.

Understanding the Sales Pipeline

The sales pipeline, which usually is depicted by a funnel used most often in the kitchen or pouring oil for the car, is a visual representation of the stages that a potential customer goes through before making a purchase: lead generation, qualification, proposal, negotiation, and closing. What are you doing as a sales professional to ensure the success of your sales leads as it makes it way through the process? Let’s take a look at a few best practices.

Best Practices for Managing the Sales Pipeline

1. Define the Sales Process: Set definitive and clear stages. First, consider what has been successful for your company and ask if what you’ve been doing now aligns. Now consider what changes can be made to make the process more effective. Be sure to include a bit about who you are to make the process your own.
2. Spend Time on Manage the Pipeline: If you spend at least 3 hours per month managing the pipeline, it’s proven that you’ll get at least 11% more revenue growth than others who spend less time on manage the pipeline. This time should be focused on helping sales reps move their deals forward.
3. Train Sales Managers to Manage the Pipeline: It’s proven that companies who train their sales managers to manage the pipeline saw an increase of revenue compared to other companies that did not. Experienced sales managers can work with the sales rep to negotiate price and services to ensure closure of the deal.
4. Monitor Sales Metrics: The sales manager should pay attention to sales metrics, or metrics that drive revenue. Metrics include the number of opportunities in the pipeline, size of deals in the pipeline, value of opportunities, conversion time and average time it takes for a customer to move through the pipeline. For example, if you notice your customers are taking a long time to buy compared to your competitions, look for ways to simplify the process. 

Next Steps

One way to continuously add to the pipeline is with identified industrial projects. How can that happen? With actionable industrial project reports from SalesLeads. Our researchers uncover industrial projects that are new construction, expansion, capital expenditure and/or relocation projects. It’s a highly effective way to fill the sales pipeline.