Investing time and effort into improving sales process management is a great way to increase efficiency, but knowing where and how to implement changes that will make a difference isn’t a simple task. To help, 12 Newsweek Expert Forum members share strategies for how leaders can effectively approach managing a business’s sales pipeline.
1. Conduct Reviews of Current Processes
Continuous review is a critical step to maintain an effective sales pipeline. This includes a thorough review of open opportunities, as well as wins and losses. Although it may not seem like the best idea to invest more time in analyzing a loss, sometimes the most valuable lessons can be learned from understanding why we weren’t successful and adapting our approach to achieve future success! - Israel Tannenbaum, Withum
2. Develop a System to Track Leads
There are several steps that a leader has to take to manage a sales pipeline. The first thing that must be done is developing a system to track leads. Using a spreadsheet or some sort of database can be really helpful for this. It’s also important to follow up on the leads throughout the pipeline. - Elliott Smith, The Ohana Addiction Treatment Center
3. Use a CRM Tool
Use a customer relationship management tool (CRM) to effectively manage your sales pipeline. It can be easy to lose track of where clients are in the process and the next steps. A CRM tool keeps you organized and provides visibility across the organization. By building a campaign using your CRM tool, you can consistently execute best practice processes for sales. This allows for more organized and consistent follow-ups. - Krista Neher, Boot Camp Digital
4. Develop Discernment for Promising Prospects
Exercise professional skepticism to discern what has real potential as opposed to what’s just a possible wish. Use technology to create a dashboard that scores the attributes of each potential client, and then apply your intuition and experience to identify the leads worth pursuing. - Margie Kiesel, Avaneer Health
5. Leverage Data
The more accurate, measurable data from multiple stages is in your deal flow, the better. We measure roughly 20 different metrics that impact our sales production. - Doug Robinson, LGCY Power
6. Drop Dead Leads
Remember to always drop dead leads. It is OK to follow up with your favorite or potential clients for sales purposes, but you also need to know when to stop. As an entrepreneur, you need to learn to identify dead leads quickly so that you can move on to the next sales opportunity. Indeed, letting go can be hard, but time is money—and you can then redirect your efforts somewhere else. - Kira Graves, Kira Graves Consulting
7. Regularly Look at Outbound Sales Strategies
One effective way to manage a business sales pipeline is to regularly look at your outbound sales strategies. It’s easy to grow stale with how you do your cold calls and email campaigns. Your social media strategies can also look the same year after year, especially with holiday campaigns. - Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
8. Personalize Communications
Do not underestimate personal approaches. For example, send a personal email instead of an email blast. People are good at recognizing and filtering out these types of emails. I have found greater success in sending fewer emails that are specific to that person or company versus sending out a mass-produced message. - Sonja Wasden, Speaking Mental Health
9. Diversify Your Offerings
Look for opportunities to diversify your product offerings so that your organization can show its value to customers in more than one place. This approach can deepen relationships with current customers and expand the business into new markets, ultimately helping the sales pipeline grow. - Faisal Pandit, Panasonic Connect North America
10. Maintain Short Sales Cycles
We keep our sales cycles short because it offers us better insights to see accurate results. A company can successfully do this in a biweekly manner without too much of an overload. It’s highly manageable since it doesn’t lengthen out quarterly reports. - Tammy Sons, Tn Nursery
11. Stay Focused on the Big Picture
Celebrating success is great, but it is crucial to keep feeding the pipeline with new leads. The more we know about our company’s sales cycle, target audience and more, the better we can prepare and focus our efforts. - Krisztina Veres, Veres Career Consulting
12. Continuously Fill the Pipeline
Never stop filling your pipeline. If you don’t feel like you need to keep selling, you are wrong. Don’t be enchanted by success. Always filling your pipeline, even into the far-off future, creates more stability and can flatten the sales curve a bit. - Chris Tompkins, The Go! Agency
