Sales Pipeline & Process
Get your sales flowing with a proper sales pipeline
A sales process or pipeline is a set of repeatable steps that your sales team makes to convert a prospect into a customer. It’s a best practice path to a sale, the simplest journey.
We review your sales systems and process, the sales growth strategy, the pipeline quality, as well as the key metrics you are measuring and what you do with the data.
With a standardised sales process, you add structure and accountability to your sales activities, leading to a higher success rate and shorter sales cycles.
Studies have shown that B2B companies that have a defined sales process experience 18% more revenue growth than companies who don’t. Those few steps set you on a much clearer path to profit.
Why is an efficient sales process important?
When you plan a sales process or pipeline it seems simple – physics almost – do this, which leads to this and this, and then sale! The logic tells you it should flow this way and always equal the desired result.
But we’re human – over time and without enough intentionality, the flow of our sales pipeline can slow. Follow up, distractions, other tasks all knock the pipeline and extend the time spent closing a sale. And that time is money.
Our clients are also human, and lots of little influencing factors often affect the way they move to decision point. Without clear and timely encouragement from your team on when to make decisions, the sales process goes stagnant. That’s a whole lot of interaction with little outcome.
Eight benefits of investing in your sales pipeline
1. A clear path to follow
HeadingOrder matters – we help refine and organise your sales pipeline, without legalism and constraint for your team.
2. Faster onboarding of new staff
HeadingFast, simple, and nearly foolproof, a standardised sales pipeline makes it simple to train new salespeople on what they need to do in various sales situations – less pressure on sales managers to do all the training too.
3. Constant improvement in sales methods
HeadingWith a standard process in place, your team will see what actions are working or failing, where any hold ups are happening in the pipeline, and how those can be smoothed out for quicker sales conversion and customer satisfaction.
4. More qualified leads, increased customer value
HeadingWith better understanding of their sales pipeline, your team will be more effective at filtering out low-potential leads, and focus efforts on more valuable customer relationships.
5. Predictability of sales and revenue
HeadingA more accurate understanding of sales success rates using a standard pipeline, allows you to plan and closely forecast potential revenue off the number of leads you’re working with.
6. Improved communication in your business
HeadingCommunication between teams becomes simpler when you’re all speaking the same language. With a standardised sales process, customer service, account management, logistics and marketing teams use the right terms at the right time. Easier for your team, much easier for your customers.
7. Deeper understanding of sales performance
HeadingOther than sale wins or losses, it’s hard to measure performance in any depth when you have no benchmarks set. A standard sales pipeline provides far more data from the actions the team takes, and how those impact sales targets and the sales funnel.
8. Better customer experience overall
HeadingA researched and measured sales pipeline gives your sales people the cues and boundaries they need to carry a customer through the pipeline without damaging the relationship. As much as possible, it gives every customer the ‘same’ experience of your company allowing sales reps to build trust and EQ. A sales pipeline is tried and tested, adapted for best use – and is there to enable your team, not restrict them.
How do we help you shape your sales process?
In many teams sales is looked at as a competition – everyone for themselves. It makes sense, when most, if not all, of a sales person’s income comes from closing deals. But instead of a competition, what your sales culture should look like, is a well coordinated team effort.
As part of our guidance we walk you through sales templates to help you refine or develop your pipeline to meet the needs of your business specifically. These are some of the steps often considered:
Not all of these might be relevant for you, but we work together to create a sales pipeline that takes into account the ebb and flow of how your customers purchase your product or service.
Ready to refine your sales process?
Statistics show profitability can rise close to 20% with a standardised sales process in place for your team to work from.
- It supports, focuses and streamlines the way your team do business – can be a massive time saving tool.
- It gives your customers a much better experience with your team. Rapport is essential in sales, but it’s the cherry on top. Your sales pipeline is the bedrock of closing a deal well.
Let’s talk sales pipelines
About Us
Our name, Sales and Leadership Performance, spells out a little of what we do. We're a team passionate about sharing the skills we've honed through the years working in and around sales teams.
