Analyzing your current performance gives you a clear idea of what is required to fill the long gap between prospecting and closing a deal. What if, though, you need help with what to do? What if you need to know how many leads you still have in the pipeline?
Tracking and managing the sales pipeline can help with this.
You can get more precise information about what is impeding your sales teams and preventing them from meeting their quotas. A healthy sales pipeline helps you see where your reps are in the sales cycle and visualize the sales process, helping inside sales management. Taking the necessary actions will be easier after that.
Let’s see how sales pipeline management works and what improvements you can make to make it more efficient.
How does managing a sales pipeline work?
Your sales process, divided into stages, comprises your sales pipeline. Effective pipelines that handle complicated deal-closing procedures are advantageous for inside sales management.
Your pipeline and sales processes’ effectiveness directly affects the rate of increase in sales. Because of this, effective pipeline management is essential for any company that wants to expand. It enables sales professionals to increase productivity, hit quota, and aim to close more deals.
So, how will you get the most out of your sales pipeline? Let’s find out.
Tips and tricks to turn your sales pipeline into an effective one
1. Automation is the key.
Sales technology is developing quickly to manage all those interactions over months or years for dozens or hundreds of prospects. You will be well ahead of the game to continue your follow-up, lead scoring, and other activities if you use a robust CRM (customer relationship management) platform. Since:
- CRM automates repetitive procedures and maintains everything in one place, saving time.
- It enables transparency among your sales force, tracks interactions and phone calls, helps you arrange each sales opportunity, and sets reminders.
Overall, using a CRM will streamline your pipeline.
2. Focusing on the best leads saves time.
Prioritize high-quality leads because acquiring them is the main difficulty for 61% of B2B marketers (source). You can’t afford to take them lightly.
For instance, to determine which leads are most important to your company, rank them from highest to lowest. Then, you can keep track of your interactions with each one and consider which one has the highest level of engagement and needs more attention.
As a result, a robust pipeline full of profitable leads will save a significant amount of time and energy.
More leads in, more revenue out – it’s as simple as that!
Related: What are the 2 main types of lead generation businesses?
3. Dead leads are worthless.
Putting this into reality can be challenging since it might be difficult to let go of someone after spending weeks or even months cultivating a relationship with them.
But, it’s one of the best practices, so you can win a more valuable deal and stop wasting time attempting to persuade prospects who aren’t interested in doing business with you. Therefore, it’s crucial to concentrate on high-value leads, but it’s also crucial to know when to let go of an unsuitable lead.
Related: 5 things to know when generating leads with inbound marketing
4. A short sales cycle works well.
You might have an issue with the length of your sales cycle if you discover that most of your leads are turning cold.
Statistics say:
By clearly specifying the sales stages in a funnel, B2B companies can boost their success by 20–30%. (source)
So, consider trying a new and quicker sales process and monitor how it affects your sales performance. By keeping your sales cycle as brief as possible, you can be confident that you’re earning worthwhile, significant sales that spur the expansion of your company.
5. A standardized sales process is good for all.
A fantastic method to move prospects along the sales funnel is by developing a standard sales procedure or a template. It’s a procedure that the entire team adheres to, and be sure to update it as you discover new optimization techniques.
Additionally, it facilitates onboarding new team members because everyone is on the same page, thanks to the standardized sales process.
6. KPIs and metrics are life savers.
You don’t want to work in the dark and pass on the best leads. Here enters data that is the driving force behind inbound marketing and sales. Therefore, monitoring your sales pipeline KPIs and metrics to plan your activities accordingly is a wise practice.
Some important metrics are:
1. Number of Qualified Leads
2. Average Sales Cycle
3. Customer Acquisition Cost
4. MQL to SQL Conversion Rate
5. Win Rate
6. Sales Velocity
7. Average Deal Size
8. Total Pipeline Value
9. Deal Profitability
7. Content always wins.
How can you produce more content for potential clients and demonstrate to your target market that you have a workable solution? Because everyone interacts with content differently, mix text, video, social, and interactive media. Well-written blog articles, case studies, and ebooks will also support and establish the legitimacy of your message.
Your prospects will be more inclined to trust you and collaborate with you if you can convince them that you are an authority on a topic that has caused them problems.
8. Following up leads never disappoints.
Follow-ups are challenging for sales teams, whether because of the number of chances or unproductive use of time. Therefore, closing a sale demands persistence. Do everything you need to stay in front of your prospect, such as responding to inquiries and sending thoughtful emails with informative content. Because sales from nurtured leads are 47% bigger than those from uncultivated prospects, you must take the follow-up challenge (source).
We have finally come to an end. The combination of staff, techniques, and technology will determine your success. Keep these tips and tricks in mind, and you’ll be successful. Inside sales management will also be more straightforward.
