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Introduction
In sales, it’s almost like you’re the tour guide on a fantastic journey.
Every time you cold email a new lead, it’s the start of a new adventure. Your goal: Take these leads through the sales cycle and convert them into happy customers. And like any journey, this can be both exhilarating and exhausting.
It takes an insane amount of energy, knowledge of your product, and charisma.
But even the pluckiest of tour guides needs a good map to get started.
What’s the ‘map’ you use to take prospects on their journey towards a purchase?
Your sales pipeline.
Using your sales pipeline as a guide, you can smooth out the journey and make it easier for your leads to convert. This not only helps you increase customers for your product: it’ll make those customers even more valuable to your company.
If you’ve landed here, it means you want to know more about sales pipelines.
Well then, you’ve come to the right place.
You’re about to learn everything you’ll ever need to know about sales pipelines,
What is a sales pipeline?
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of your current leads and prospects in relation to your sales process.It’s normally set up in Kanban board style with each column representing a different sales stage.
It gives you a clear view of where your leads are in the sales process, how likely they are to close, and what kind of revenue you can expect when they do.
Here’s what a sales pipeline looks like in our CRM Close:
Each business has its own unique sales process.
This might include different stages in the buying process or different actions you or your reps take to close a deal. For a sales pipeline to be truly effective, you need to adapt it to your business, your customers, and your product.
In fact, many companies create multiple pipelines for different purposes, each with their own unique stages and processes. What are some different types of sales pipelines, and which one(s) should you be using?
What are the 6 main types of sales pipelines?
And what are they used for? Remember: the type of sales pipeline you choose will depend on how your business works and how your team sells best. A sales pipeline is only valuable to you if it helps your team close deals faster and convert more customers.
That said, here is an overview of six popular types of sales pipelines:
#1: Simple sales pipeline
This is your basic visual pipeline with stages such as prospecting, qualifcation, meeting, and close. This is best for a no-frills sales process that moves smoothly from start to fnish. Leads come in, they see your product, and they purchase it.
#2: Sales and marketing pipeline
While pipelines are mainly for sales teams, there can be quite a bit of overlap with the marketing team as well. A sales and marketing pipeline bridges the gap between these two teams, giving both access to the areas where they shine. For example, this type of pipeline might include stages at the beginning for lead generation and cater more to the inbound leads generated by marketing.
Tip: A sales and marketing pipeline works best with automation, sending leads directly from your marketing tools (website or landing page) to your sales pipeline and CRM.
#3: Post-sale pipeline
Just because a deal closed, doesn’t mean your work is done.
Depending on your business, you might need a post-sale pipeline that includes the work you’ll do after the contract is signed. This could include creating or designing a product, delivering or implementing it, providing a service, asking for a referral, or training
#4: Retargeting pipeline
When you lose contact with a lead, put them into your retargeting pipeline. This pipeline will have specific stages to retarget lost leads down the road with relevant follow-ups.
#5: Product/service-based sales pipeline
Depending on whether you’re a product-based or service-based company, your pipeline can be specifically adapted to what you sell. In fact, some teams and organizations create multiple sales pipelines based on the different selling processes they use for their different products or services.
#6: Profile-based sales pipeline
If you sell to very different customer profiles, a profile-based sales pipeline will help you sell to that specific type of customer. For example, a business that sells a product to both SMBs and enterprise companies will have a different selling process for each and could create multiple sales pipelines to refect that.
These main sales pipelines guide today’s biggest and fastest-growing businesses toward their next sales (and could be the basis for your sales pipeline). When deciding whether or not to create multiple pipelines, remember that this only makes sense if the sales process varies greatly. Depending on your business, you may only need one simple sales pipeline that takes your customers on a clear path to the sale.
When it comes to your pipelines, the simpler the better. If you want to sell faster and shorten your sales cycle, don’t overcomplicate your sales process.
But how does your industry affect your sales pipeline?
Are sales pipelines different based on your industry?
Yes and no.
It’s true: a SaaS company may have a different sales process than a real estate agent or a feld sales team. And a company that sells a service may have a different process than one that sells a physical product. However, the basic pipeline stages still remain the same:
- Prospect to find the leads that will be interested in your product or service.
- Qualify those leads by researching them,their needs, their location, or other factors. Ask qualifying questionsto see if there’s a ft for what you’re selling.
- Contact your prospect and set up a meeting, demo, phone call, or free trial.
- Sell them on the product and present your offer with a stunning proposal.
- Negotiateand close the deal.
Of course, different industries may have their own take on these stages.
For example:
- In a SaaS sales pipeline, the ‘contact’ stage would likely include a product demo.
- For a field sales team,the qualification stage will likely revolve around a geographic location, and contact will be done in person.
- In a B2B sales pipeline, the negotiation stage may be more complex, involving approvals from multiple stakeholders and decision-makers.
- A real estate sales pipelinewill develop qualification around the type of buyer, and may be adapted based on the properties currently for sale. The negotiation stage will also involve getting a home inspection, taking an offer back to the current homeowner, returning with a counter-offer, and so on.
- For a construction sales pipeline,proposals may be in the form of blueprints, and will likely need to be adjusted and approved before the contract is signed.
That said, the basic process remains the same. What really changes are the actions that sales reps take within those different stages. You can use the same basic process to build a sales pipeline that’s adapted to your business, customers, and product. When you do, there are some clear benefts you’re bound to see.
How sales pipelines enable sales and benefit your team
With a well-developed sales pipeline, you’ll see at least five clear benefits:
#1: Get a clear view of all deals going on
A visual sales pipeline allows you to see what deals are currently in your pipeline, what stage they’re in, and how likely they are to close. This not only helps your sales team set reasonable goals but also helps them achieve those goals. Conduct regular sales pipeline review meetingsto maintain a squeaky-clean pipeline that leaves you with no doubt on how to move forward and reach your goals.
#2: Know whether or not you’re going to reach your goals
Since your sales pipeline shows you exactly what’s going on with your sales, you won’t sit around guessing whether you’re going to hit your quota or revenue goals: you’ll know for a fact. For example, having a visual pipeline clearly shows you when you’re running low on leads and instead of waiting for your pipeline to dry up, you see the drought in advance.
#3: Shorten the sales cycle
A sales pipeline dictates an exact order for your sales process. Without that, reps are just guessing at what they should do next to push a sale forward. They might be trying to close too soon, or they might be delaying the sale for no reason.
With a sales pipeline in place, reps know exactly what they need to do, as well as the order they need to go in. Actions and next steps are outlined clearly, like a map that helps them take prospects on a smooth journey to purchase. The rest is just common sense: the smoother your sales process, the shorter your sales cycle will be.
#4: Monitor your sales team’s progress
A good sales pipeline will also help sales managers monitor their team. For example, managers will be able to see the stages where certain reps always get stuck, or where some reps truly excel. This information helps sales execs and leaders to give relevant training and encouragement, pushing all of their reps to sell better.
#5: Focus on the right deals and actions
With the right information in your pipeline, you’ll be able to see which deals are more valuable, which ones are losing speed, and which ones are more likely to close.
When you manage your pipeline effectively,your team will focus on the right deals. They’ll know which deals hold the most value, and which actions will lead those deals to a sale.
Ready to blow the doors off your competition?
Then let’s get into the nitty-gritty of sales pipelines. In this guide, you’re going to learn more about what a pipeline is and what it’s not, how to build one that works for your business, what metrics you should be tracking, and how to manage your pipeline.
Chapter 1: Sales pipeline vs. sales funnel: Which is best for your business?
When you work in sales, it can sometimes feel like you’ve learned a secret language.
Gatekeeper, churn, MQL, AE, customer acquisition cost, B2B, unique selling proposition, net promoter score… This is just some of the sales jargon thrown around on a daily basis, and while any outsider wouldn’t know an SME from an SMB, we’ve all learned the code and use these terms as if we learned them as infants.
Among this secret sales language are the terms sales pipeline and sales funnel, and while these terms may be used interchangeably at times, they refer to different things (looks like some of us need to brush up on our sales dictionary terms). While both are closely related to your sales process, they each have a unique (and important) perspective and role.
That’s why in this chapter, we’re going to discuss these topics:
- Sales pipeline vs sales funnel: key differences
- Do I need a sales pipeline or a sales funnel report?
Let’s define both sales pipelines and sales funnels, and find out which one you need.
What is a sales pipeline?
A sales pipeline is built from the perspective of your reps.Your pipeline is a clear overview of how many open deals your sales team has on the table, and gives sales reps a clear path to push that deal towards a sale. It’s modeled after the different stages in your sales process but focuses on the actions reps take to cultivate and sell to new leads.
By building stages around rep actions rather than the condition of the lead, a sales pipeline shows your team what actions they need to take to get leads through the different stages and convert them to customers.
What is a sales funnel?
A sales funnel is built from the perspective of your leads.It’s based on the stages your leads go through before they become customers, and shows you how your leads are reacting and converting through each stage.
By measuring key sales metrics, a sales funnel report gives you a visual overview of the average conversion rates of each stage in your sales process. As people travel down the funnel, the number of qualifed leads will drop. In the end, you’re left with leads who successfully converted into customers. Here’s an example of a sales funnel.
Sales pipeline vs sales funnel: key differences
Now that we know what each term means, what are the key differences between sales pipelines and sales funnels? Let’s discuss fve aspects where these two terms differ:
Obviously, sales pipelines and sales funnels are two very different things.
So, which one does your business need?
Do I need a sales pipeline or a sales funnel report?
Both sales pipelines and sales funnels can be extremely useful: Let’s discuss situations when you would need a sales pipeline vs. times when you need a sales funnel…
You need a sales pipeline if:
- Your sales reps are unclear how to convert leads to customers:Maybe they’re bringing in demos too early, or they’re pushing trials when they should be pushing sales. A pipeline shows reps exactly what steps to take (in the correct order).
- You don’t have a clear view of where current deals stand:You may know what deals are going on, but what stage is each in? How long have they been in those stages? A pipeline will show you this data, and help you move deals forward.
- You want to see what actions have the most impact on conversion: Which is
better: a meeting or a product demo? Should reps be cold calling or cold emailing? A sales pipeline that’s customized to your business and customers will tell you this and uses inside sales metrics to show you what’s working and what isn’t.
- You want to create more accurate forecasts:To forecast accurately, you need to know how much each lead is worth to you, where each deal stands, and how likely they are to close. You can gather and analyze this information in your pipeline.
- Your reps are having trouble reaching their quota:With a sales pipeline, reps can more accurately view current deals, the value of those deals, and where they need to place more priority to close deals and reach their sales quota.
You need sales funnel reporting if:
- Your team has a hard time getting into the shoes of their customers:Since a sales funnel shows the sales process from the perspective of the customer, this will help reps understand where their leads are and how best to approach them.
- You want to see how effective your reps are at qualifying: How many leads are getting through qualifcation stages but not converting? Your funnel will tell you that and will help you see where there’s room for improvement.
- You want to see where conversions are happening (or they aren’t):At each funnel stage, how likely is a lead to move to the next stage? Knowing this conversion rate and measuring against sales benchmarks can help sales leaders improve their processes to better ft the customers’ needs.
- You need to understand which sales actions are most effective at which stages in the customer journey:At each stage of the sales funnel, what actions help a lead convert, and which actions make them run in the opposite direction?
In summary, if you want to help your sales reps have a smooth selling process, reach their quota, and forecast better, you need a sales pipeline. If you want to help your reps be more customer-focused and see how leads convert through the different stages of the buyer journey, you need a sales funnel report.
Never underestimate the power of sales pipelines and sales funnels
Congratulations: you’ve just become a bit more fluent in the secret sales language.
After comparing sales pipelines and sales funnels, you may have realized your business is under-utilizing one or both of these important tools. Want to create a sales pipeline that can accelerate your sales and improve your business?
Keep reading.
Next up, we’re going to discuss essential sales pipeline stages…
And how to implement them in your sales process.
Let’s get right into it!
Chapter 2: 7 essential sales pipeline stages and how to implement them
Have you ever had to deal with a blocked pipe at home?
It’s a frustrating situation, and it means that whatever was supposed to go through that pipe isn’t getting through easily. This can result in a huge mess in your home, and can cost you valuable time and money.
Unfortunately, the same thing can happen to your sales pipeline.
If that ‘pipe’ isn’t clear, it’ll be harder for prospects to travel through it and turn into customers. Without the right processes and stages in place, you and your team could be wasting valuable time and money using a pipeline that isn’t adapted to your needs.
That’s why we’re going to discuss:
- 7 essential pipeline stages to follow
- How to implement these stages into your sales process
By the end of this chapter, you’ll know exactly what stages to include in your sales pipeline to keep it running smoother than ever.
7 essential sales pipeline stages to follow
The stages in a sales pipeline are built around the actions that reps take to turn prospects into customers. While these stages loosely follow your sales process and buyer journey, they are more focused on rep activity.
That way, your whole sales team will have a clear view of how to move prospects towards the sale. Here’s a quick infographic that dives into the seven essential pipeline stages:
Of course, every business is different and will need to adapt these stages to its own needs and customers.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these stages…
#1: Lead generation
For the most part, lead generation is a job that’s reserved for the marketing team.
Does this mean you can forget about lead generation as part of your sales pipeline?
Heck no! In fact, sales can do a lot to help generate new leads.
That’s why this should be the frst stage in your pipeline.
Here’s what your team should be doing at the lead generation stage:
Create clear customer profles:Take a look at closed deals that have been mutually benefcial to your company and theirs: what common denominators do you see? By defning clear, specifc customer profles, your team will get one step ahead on lead generation. This is a task that both sales and marketing should have a hand in.
Join forces with marketing to create and promote relevant content: Yes, content marketing makes up a large part of the best lead generation tactics.However, this doesn’t mean you should just leave the marketing team to do it on their own. Schedule frequent brainstorming sessions between both the marketing and sales teams, to share valuable insights that will make your company’s content even more attractive to prospects.
Get better at asking for referrals: Sometimes we don’t ask because we’re shy. Sometimes we don’t ask because we think they’ll say no. And sometimes, we just forget. But when you learn referral sales tacticsand put them into practice, the resulting leads are likely to be highly qualifed and have high buying intent.
#2: Prospecting
Unlike lead generation which involves reaching out to many people at a time, prospecting is a more 1-on-1 approach to pull in prospects that may want to buy from your business.
At the prospecting stage, these are the actions you should be taking with your leads:
- Build relationships at industry events:Have a lot of leads heading to an industry event? Make sure your sales team is there and visible. Whether you’re making the rounds and having meaningful conversations with people or speaking on a relevant topic, make sure you work these events to your advantage and leave a memorable impression on your prospects’ minds. (And if you're unable to attend industry events, you can still leverage them creatively!)
- Share your knowledge as an expert consultant: In the prospecting stage, your leads still have very little trust in you or your business(if they even know who you are). So, don’t immediately sell to them. Instead, offer to share your knowledge. Be an industry expert, someone they can trust for good information. Set up a meeting for coffee, just 15 minutes to talk about strategies to reach a relevant goal. Then, your company will be on their radar.
- Do some cold outreach: Ice, ice baby! But seriously, reaching out to prospects, whether through cold emailsor cold calls, can (and will) work for your business if you do it right. Once you’ve created your customer profle as mentioned above, take to the internet and fnd companies that ft that profle. Then, reach out!
#3: Qualification
By now, your pipeline should be full of people who are hungry to buy your product.
Or are they?
Up to 67% of lost sales are a direct result of improper qualifying. If you take an unqualifed prospect through the sales process, you’re just wasting your time on a deal that will never close. That’s why during the qualifcation stage, you’ll need to make sure that the prospects you’ve discovered are really a good ft for your business.
These are the things you should be doing during the qualifcation stage:
- Use the BANT method: BANT stands for budget, authority, needs, and timeline. This method, developed originally by IBM, serves to establish the 4 most important characteristics of a qualifed prospect. If your prospect has the budget, authority to make decisions, needs that are flled with your product or service, and the right timeline to purchase, then odds are this deal will close.
- Ask the right questions to match prospects to your customer profles: Above, you created clear customer profles that defne the people who are most likely to purchase your product and beneft from it. So, how do you fnd out whether your prospect fts that customer profle? Ask the right questions.
- Gain deeper understanding of who’s competing for their attention: It’s critical to fnd out what other options are currently on the table. Learn more about the other vendors they’ve worked with, what they liked or didn’t like about other solutions, and (if you can) fnd out who else they’re currently considering. This helps you determine whether or not this prospect is really qualifed.
#4: Contact
Now that you’ve narrowed down your prospects to the most qualifed opportunities, you’re left with the people who are interested and may actually buy your product.
It’s time to get in there and really sell it.
This will require contact, whether that’s a phone call, a physical meeting, a product demo, or an email or text message.Here are some important tips for the contact stage:
- Make sure everyone has a clear understanding of the goal or purpose of this meeting: When setting up your meeting, start by making sure you know exactly who is going to be involved, including any relevant decision-makers. Then, make it very clear to everyone what the goal of this meeting is. That way, everyone will come into the meeting ready to get things done.
- Prepare a clear agenda ahead of time, and keep things rolling:While it’s fne to answer questions along the way, don’t let your meeting get hijacked by a “chatty patty” in the group. Set your meeting agenda so things will continue to run smoothly, and you’ll accomplish what you came for.
- Have the right resources on hand: Case studies, webinars, data sets, and other relevant resources can help seal the deal at this point. Make sure you can back up each of your most powerful statements with clear, hard data.
- End with clear next steps, and follow up promptly: Don’t EVER leave the meeting without an exact plan of what’s to follow. With this in place, you can send a friendly follow-up emailthe next day with a brief meeting recap and a summary of the next steps you agreed on.
#5: Proposal
If you get this part right, you’ll knock the ball out of the park and close the deal.
Proposals should generally include information such as:
- A summary of your prospects’ key pain points
- The solution you’re offering (with specs)
- Clear pricing info
- Timeline for implementation, training, etc.
- Exact terms
Don’t forget these essential guidelines for the proposal stage:
- Personalize the proposal to their wants and needs: Inside your proposal, you have the opportunity to make your prospect feel special. Show off the fact that you personalized this to their needs by including details you gathered during the qualifcation and contact stages.
- Be hyper-focused on customer benefts: This proposal is NOT about your product, it’s about your customer. Instead of dumping features, dig down into the benefts. Whenever possible, include specifc stats on the kind of benefts they’re going to get with your product. Don’t let them get bored for even a second!
- Include an FAQ:At this point, there are probably some common questions that arise. A back-and-forth discussion at this point could seriously slow down the sales process. So, include common questions in an FAQ section. Problem solved!
#6: Negotiation and close
Both sides have put all their cards on the table.
A decision is about to be made: so let’s make it a yes!
Maybe you’ll need to answer some last few questions, respond to discount inquiries,or r enegotiate some of the terms. In the end, if you play your cards right, you’ll have closed a deal. And that’s worth a bit of celebration.
Here are some tips for the negotiation and close stage:
- Be prepared to walk away from the deal: Defne the point where you’ll walk away and then stick to it – that way, you won’t waste your time or theirs, and who knows: you might still get the deal even after you walk away.
- Make signing the contract easy:In other words, make it digital. Digital signing is super easy for everyone involved, and helps you and your customers keep all in one place. With a solution like PandaDocthat natively integrates with most CRMs, you can remove friction from the sales process and save everyone’s valuable time.
#7: Retention
Just because you closed the deal, doesn’t mean your work is over.
You need to retain that new customer into the long-term.
Here’s why it’s important: when you increase your retention rates by just 5%, you can boost your profts by as much as 95%. That’s why customer retention is its own stage in the sales pipeline.
Here’s what you should be doing during the retention stage:
- Help the customer onboard successfully:Whether through training content, help docs, or just being available to answer their questions, make sure your customer is getting the best use out of your product with an effective onboarding process.
- Schedule a time to check-in and see how things are going: After you close a deal, set a reminder in your CRM to follow up with the customer in a month and see how things are going. This helps show you care about them and keeps them engaged.
- Ask for feedback: Not only will this help the customer feel appreciated, but you’ll also get some fantastic insights on how to improve your product.
By implementing these seven typical sales pipeline stages, you’ll have a smoother process that helps turn leads into happy, long-term customers.
How to implement these stages into your sales process
Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all sales pipeline. We’ve just outlined the general stages that your sales pipeline should include: but to fully implement these stages, you’ll need to adapt them to your own particular sales process.
Let’s examine how to do this step-by-step:
#1: Define your process for lead generation and prospecting
Who brings in the leads at your company: Sales or marketing?
Obviously, both teams have their roles to play.
But, how do those roles work in your business?
It’s time to get specifc: have both the sales and marketing teams write down a brief list of
the ways they generate or prospect for leads. Then, check the data: which of these methods is consistently delivering quality leads?
Finally, set a clear process for lead hand-offs between marketing and sales.
How this accelerates your process:
When both marketing and sales teams have a defned process for lead generation and prospecting, everyone knows what they’re supposed to be doing. With the steps for hand-offs clearly in place, your sales pipeline will always be full of valuable leads.
#2: Understand your qualification methods and needs
What research tools does your team use for qualification? What questions seem to hit home the most when on a discovery call? What are the most important aspects you need to learn about your prospects in order to qualify them correctly? Is the timeline more important than the budget? What are their priorities?
By defining clear characteristics you need to see in a prospect and analyzing your reps’ phone calls with prospects to see what works best at this stage, and you’ll be able to set clear processes for qualification.
How this accelerates your process:
By knowing exactly what qualities or characteristics your prospects must have to become customers, your reps won’t waste time with prospects that aren’t likely to buy.
#3: Choose your best contact and negotiation strategies
Each industry and feld has its own personality and methods. If you’re selling to enterprises, or older, more established companies, you may need to add steps in the contact stage to run things past more stakeholders.
When selling to younger, more digital-age companies and startups,you might try
implementing more video sales callsor interactive demos.
How this accelerates your process:
With your customer base clearly in mind, setting rules for the best contacting and negotiation strategies will help your reps sell more effectively to that particular group. If you have multiple customer profles, you can create adapted processes for each.
#4: Identify stages that are unique to your business
Since your sales pipeline must be unique to you, it’s important to adapt the above stages to ft your particular business. B2B sellers may need extra stages to include stakeholder, SaaS sellers might include stages for demos instead of meetings, Real estate agents might include stages for visits to the property, and so on.
How this accelerates your process:
When you add the stages that are specifc to your business, the process will be smoother and more effective for you and your team.
#5: Work out specific steps for post-sale follow-ups and retention methods
What kind of follow-ups seem to resonate more with your customers? How many respond to a ‘checking in’ email as opposed to a phone call? Are they more likely to fll out a survey with their feedback, or would they rather talk to someone about their concerns?
How this accelerates your process:
By answering these questions, you’ll have a clear view of the kind of follow-ups that work best with your customer base. Then, your sales team can focus on those efforts rather than letting their follow-ups fall on deaf ears.
These fve sales pipeline steps will help you analyze the stages of your sales pipeline, defne your processes, and ultimately create a pipeline that is adapted to your business.
Build your own sales pipeline with custom stages
Your pipes are all clear: it’s time to let the customers flow in.
Above, we highlighted the seven essential stages your sales pipeline should have.
They are:
- Lead generation
- Prospecting
- Qualification
- Contact
- Proposal
- Negotiation and close
- Retention
Then, we developed five steps you can take to define and implement these stages:
- Define your process for lead generation and prospecting
- Understand your qualification methods and needs
- Choose your best contact and negotiation strategies
- Identify stages that are unique to your business
- Work out specific steps for post-sale follow-ups and retention methods
With these steps, you’ll be able to outline a sales pipeline that is effective for your sales team and unique customer base.
Chapter 3: 7 Steps for building a sales pipeline and 6 pipeline strategy tips
Building a high-converting sales pipeline can be like putting together an elaborate puzzle. There may seem to be an overwhelming number of pieces, but when they all ft together, the end result was certainly worth the effort.
The smoother your pipeline is, the faster your leads will convert to customers.
If you want a smooth and effective sales pipeline, you’ll need to ft these two delicate pieces together: your business process and your customers’ needs. To create a pipeline that fits these two pieces of the puzzle together, you’ll need more than just the essential pipeline stages we discussed in chapter two of this guide. Using those as a basis, you’ll need to construct your own pipeline based on your process and your customers.
In this chapter, I’m going to show you:
- 7 steps for building a sales pipeline that flows smoothly
- 6 ways to level-up your pipeline
Ready to get started?
7 steps for building a sales pipeline that flows smoothly
Here’s how to build a sales pipeline that’s adapted to your business:
#1: Decide where you’re going to build your sales pipeline
As mentioned in Chapter 1, a sales pipeline can be built in a spreadsheet or a dedicated sales CRM. Which one is better for your business? If you’re a freelancer or solopreneur who handles less than 10 deals at a time, a spreadsheet might work just fine.
For businesses with more than one salesperson handling more than 10 deals at a time, using a CRM is the best choice for maximum efficiency (and faster conversions).
#2: Define the stages of your buyer’s journey
It’s true: a sales pipeline is built around the actions your reps take, such as prospecting,
qualification, meetings, and closing (for a full pipeline overview checkout Chapter 2).
However, when building your sales pipeline, it’s essential to keep in mind the perspective of your customers. Take some time and sort through the data to find out how customers actually come into your business.
Obviously, no two customer journeys are the same, especially in the digital age.
However, see if you can find common entrance and exit points; how do people frst fnd out about your business or product, and at what point do they buy?
Once you have the ends, dissect the middle of this journey: where do they look for information? At what point are they willing to speak with a sales rep? How do they decide between you and the competition? By understanding your customer journey, you’ll be better able to build a pipeline that adapts itself to their needs.
#3: Decide how many separate pipelines you need
When analyzing your buyer journey, you may discover there’s more than one clear path to a sale. If so, don’t panic: this might just mean you need more than one pipeline.Sometimes this has to do with the product you’re selling: if you sell more than one product, each product may have its own unique customer journey.
Or, it may have to do with your customers themselves: for example, if you sell a SaaS product to both small and enterprise-sized businesses, the sales process and customer journey for each will be very different.
In these cases, you’ll need to develop separate sales pipelines.
That way, your pipeline is always efficient for the opportunities inside it and adapted to the correct customer journey. You don’t want your sales reps improvising in the middle of the sales process: instead, build separate pipelines that give them clear guidelines on how to conduct a sale for a certain product or with a certain type of opportunity.
#4: Create your sales pipeline stages and review with your team
Using the 7 essential sales pipeline stages we discussed in chapter two as a basis, it’s time to create your own pipeline stages. Just as a recap, here are the stages you should include:
- Lead generation
- Prospecting
- Qualification
- Contact
- Proposal
- Negotiation and close
- Retention
Remember: everything is better when it’s done with your team!
Your reps are in the action every day, and they probably have some powerful insights to help build and adapt these stages to better ft your business. So, set aside some time as a team to go over the pipeline stages and optimize them to your needs.
#5: Calculate your ideal pipeline size
Now that your pipeline is starting to take shape, you’ll need to calculate the right pipeline size for your business. In other words: how many opportunities do you need to have in your pipeline in order to reach your sales goals for the quarter or the year?
By calculating this at the outset, you’ll make sure you’re giving the right priority to prospecting and lead generation, and will be better prepared to reach your goals on time rather than scrambling at the end of the month.
Here’s how to do it:
First,determine your target monthly or quarterly revenue (eg: $10,000).
Next,divide that by your average deal value (eg: $10,000 ÷ $1,000 = 10).
Now you know how many deals you and your team need to close to reach your goal.
Lastly, divide that by the average conversion rate for each stage. For example, if 50% of deals in the negotiation stage end up converting and you need to close 10 deals to reach your goal, you’d need 20 leads to reach the negotiation stage every month. Complete this by moving backward through your pipeline following the same steps above and determine how many leads should land in each stage per month. Then, you’ll have a clear view of how many leads should be entering the top of your sales pipeline per month.
#6: Define trigger behaviors and actions that help conversions at each stage
What are some clear signs that an opportunity is going to convert to the next stage in the pipeline? What are the common behaviors that indicate they’re interested in buying, or what rep actions seem to have the most effect on conversion in a certain stage? Analyze your customer data and try to find these commonalities.
This will help you improve your process and build better strategies to close more deals.
For example, let’s say that out of the opportunities that go through a product demo, 45% continue on to negotiations. Why that 45%? What was it about the demo that sold them? Was there a specific feature you showed to that 45% and not to the others?
If so, you might be able to increase conversions by showing that feature in all your demos!
By defining these trigger behaviors and actions, you can adapt your sales process and maximize the power of your pipeline.
#7: Perform regular sales pipeline reviews and clean-ups
- Set a time every month to do a quick purge of your sales pipeline: Start by identifying prospects that have been in your pipeline longer than your average sales cycle, and be prepared to remove them. Just remember to follow up before you take them out of your pipeline, and leave the door open for future sales.
- Double-check your data:Every week, run through your pipeline to make sure the information there is accurate. Do any opportunities need to be moved to different stages (either forward or backward)? Are your value estimates correct? Are your estimated close dates accurate?
- Meet with your team once a week to discuss the big fsh: While it may not be feasible to sit down and talk about every deal currently on the table, you can set some time to sit with all your reps and discuss some of the more valuable deals that are open. This kind of brainstorming session brings all the reps on board to identify risks, come up with responses to objections, and build ideas to move the deal forward.
Using these 7 steps, you’ll not only build a highly-effective sales pipeline that’s adapted to your business: you’ll also be able to maintain it. That said, there’s always room for massive improvement. Once your pipeline is up and running, it’s time to take it to the next level.
6 ways to level-up your pipeline
Use these 7 steps for a better pipeline development strategy, leading to a more efficient pipeline and accelerated sales.
#1: Segment your lost leads by the reason they were lost
Just because a lead is lost for now, doesn’t mean it’ll be lost forever. In order to perform a valuable follow-up down the road, you’ll need to know why they were lost in the 1st place.
Did the lead specifically say they weren’t interested in your product?
If so, was there a reason (budget, timing, etc.)? Or, did you simply lose contact over time? Did the lead stop responding to calls and emails? Was there just no way to push them through to the next stage?
Maximize your follow-up efforts by segmenting these lost leads by the reason they were lost. That way, you can make a plan to re-engage with them down the road according to their particular circumstances.
#2: Create a pipeline with specific steps to re-engage lost leads
When you purge your pipeline of leads that just aren’t moving forward, as we discussed above, you don’t need to delete them forever. Instead, create a separate pipeline just for leads that have been lost. Here’s why this works:
- You’re getting lost leads out of your regular sales pipeline and clearing the view. That way, reps can focus on deals that are currently on the table.
- You’re creating a separate space to focus on leads that were lost, and your pipeline stages can specifically reflect this tailored approach to selling.
In this separate pipeline, you can set stages that are unique to re-engaging with leads that have been lost. For example, your beginning stages might include steps such as:
- Maintaining contact through social media and reaching out with relevant content
- Using the HUCA follow-up techniqueto turn a no into a yes
When a lead from your regular pipeline gets falls off the radar, move them to your lost lead pipeline and set a date in the future to start following up again – if you’ve segmented your lost leads by the reason they were lost, you can adjust that frst follow-up to ft the case.
For example, if the lead was lost because the timeline wasn’t right, send a follow-up email in a few months with information on a product update or to congratulate them on a recent event or accomplishment at their company (such as a promotion). On the other hand, if the lead was lost because they simply stopped responding to emails, you can set a follow-up date in less than a month to reach out.
By nailing down your best processes for follow-ups depending on the situation, you can 10x your follow-ups and bring your sales pipeline to the next level.
#3: Analyze the performance of individual reps
Each sales rep has their own strengths and weaknesses. If you want to give more power to your pipeline, you need to understand those strengths and weaknesses, and use them to your advantage. To start, you need to dig into the data.
Then, use this data to your advantage:
Match the reps that perform best in certain areas to the right tasks and prospects. For example, is there a rep on your team that’s a stunning emailer? Match her to the prospects that prefer email communication. Is there one rep who doesn’t handle product demos very well? Team him up with a rep who excels at this so they can work together to seal the deal.
By knowing what your reps are capable of, you’ll know what to give them in the pipeline and maximize the results they get.
#4: Prioritize the best leads
You’ve worked hard to set up a pipeline that runs smoothly and gets fllled consistently, but now your reps may start to get overwhelmed by the number of new leads coming in. If you’re facing this problem, it means you’re doing something right. Kudos to you!
To maximize the time your reps are spending on new leads, it’s essential to prioritize them based on how well they ft your product and how likely they are to close. In other words, you need to set up lead scoring. Start by defining specific actions and behaviors that consistently appear in your best customers.
- Do the majority of your good customers come in when they start a free trial?
- What about your email subscribers: how do they interact with your emails?
- Do the subscribers who click through end up being customers?
Once you identify these behaviors, set up a points system that ranks leads based on how they interact with your website or emails. You can also add negative scores for behaviors that indicate a low-value lead. Your points system could look something like this:
Clicks through newsletter
+20
Visits pricing page
+30
Attends webinar
+15
Signs up for a trial
+45
No-show for demo
-20
Never opens newsletter
-25
Pro tip: Use Zapier to create automatic lead scores and add them to your CRM. You can even set up a multi-step zap that alerts reps of a new lead’s score via Slack.
#5: Define when to purge deals from the pipeline
While you want your reps to do as much as possible to salvage leads that have gone quiet, it’s also essential to set proper limits and remove dead leads from your pipeline. Start by defining when to move a lead from the main pipeline to your lost lead pipeline.
For example, if there’s been silence for more than 30 days, move that lead out of the main pipeline to make room for new, hot leads. But, when should you purge a lead completely from your pipeline? There are some obvious signs that it’s time to remove a lead from your pipeline, such as:
- They tell you clearly they’re not interested
- They purchase from a competitor
- They stop responding completely
But you can also set your own definition of a dead lead depending on your experience with customers. For example, has a lead been in your pipeline longer than your average sales cycle without making progress?
Or, was a prospect excited about your product but got shot down by the higher-ups at his company? By defning the right moment to purge your pipeline of dead leads, you’ll keep your pipeline clean and your reps focused.
Pro tip: Before you remove a lead from your pipeline completely, send them a breakup email. This gives them one last chance to convert before you end the relationship.
#6: Create templates for your most common actions
To spend more time selling and less time doing repetitive, manual actions, it’s essential for your pipeline to include templates for your most common actions.
With a well-built pipeline, reps will always know what they should be doing.
But by including reusable templates, you’ll help your reps complete these actions more effciently, moving deals through the pipeline faster. For example, when dealing with new leads in the prospecting or qualifcation stages, reps should have access to cold call scripts
and email templates. Or, when sales reps are ready to send proposals, pitch decks, and contracts, these should be pre-made and ready to adapt to the current customer.
All of this internal sales content is essential to moving deals quickly through the pipeline.
You can use a sales enablement tool such as Showpadto manage and surface relevant content right when reps need it the most.
Build your sales pipeline, then take it to the next level
We’ve just given you the pieces to the sales pipeline puzzle: it’s your turn to put them together and build something incredible. Above, we gave you seven key steps that you can use to build your own sales pipeline:
- Decide where you’re going to build your sales pipeline
- Define the stages of your buyer journey
- Decide how many separate pipelines you need
- Create your sales pipeline stages and review with your team
- Calculate your ideal pipeline size
- Define trigger behaviors and actions that help conversions at each stage
- Perform regular sales pipeline reviews and clean-ups
Then, you saw 6 ways to level-up your pipeline, including smart ways to organize and follow up with lost leads, prioritize hot leads, and use sales templates. Using the methods and tools we’ve discussed above, you can get a head start on creating a pipeline that not only works for your team but also works for your customers.
But once your pipeline is up and running, how can you analyze it and keep it running as effectively and efficiently as possible? Keep reading to discover the most critical metrics you should be watching in your sales pipeline, as well as proven methods to analyze the health and efficiency of your pipeline.
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Chapter 4: Sales pipeline analysis: Key metrics and 3 steps to set up reporting
By now, your sales pipeline is starting to take shape. You’ve taken the basic pipeline stages we discussed and customized them to your own unique business process and customers.
But once your pipeline is up and running, that’s not the end of the story.
Building a sales pipeline is just the beginning. To make sure that pipeline is effectively helping your team close more deals, you need to know how to analyze it. Analyzing and maintaining your pipeline is essential: That way, your sales pipeline will stay healthy well into the future. With proper sales pipeline analysis, you’ll empower your team to reach their sales goalsand make sure no deal gets left behind.
In this chapter, we’re going to discuss:
- Sales pipeline analytics: what to track and how
- Sales pipeline analysis: how to set up reporting
- How to know if your sales pipeline is healthy
By the end of this chapter, you’ll know exactly what to track, how to track it, and how to use that information to make better decisions with your pipeline.
Sales pipeline analytics: what to track and how
There are scores of sales metricsthat you can track in your sales pipeline.
But let’s face it: who has the time to analyze all that data? (Not me.) So, let’s talk about some of the most important metrics you should be tracking, and how to do so:
Pipeline value
Your pipeline value is exactly what it sounds like: the value of the opportunities in your pipeline. Knowing this will help you accurately forecast your goals, and be better prepared to reach them.
How to calculate pipeline value:
Start with the number of deals in your pipeline. Then, multiply that by your average deal size. The calculation would look like this: 50 deals x $5,000 average deal size = $250,000
Sales pipeline velocity
This shows you how much money is passing through your sales pipeline every day, based on how fast leads are going through your sales pipeline. This metric helps you understand how healthy your pipeline is and identify opportunities that are taking too long to close.
How to calculate sales velocity:
First, take the number of deals in your pipeline. Multiply that by your average deal size, then divide it by your average sales cycle lengthin days. Here’s an example calculation: 50 deals x $5,000 average deal size ÷ 60-day sales cycle = $4,166. So, in this case, there would be $4,166 moving through your pipeline every day.
The higher this number, the better!
Conversion rate per stage
To make sure your pipeline is healthy as a whole, it’s essential to keep an eye on the conversion rate for each stage. In other words, what percentage of opportunities in a certain stage will convert to the next stage?
Keeping track of this metric will help you ensure each stage of your pipeline is working well, and will also alert you to any potential shifts in the market or with your customers.
How to calculate the conversion rate per stage:
Most CRMs will calculate this for you. Keep track of historical data so that you can compare the conversion rate over time.
Sales rep pipeline performance
Tracking how each rep performs within your sales pipeline tells you where each rep needs help and encouragement individually.
For example, if a certain rep moves a higher-than-average amount of sales opportunities through the qualifcation stage but then has a lower close rate, they may need help qualifying better. Or, if a certain rep struggles to get new leads into the prospecting stage, they may need direction on where to identify and contact potential customers. Using this sales data, you can build actionable insights that help your team improve.
How to calculate rep pipeline performance:
Separate your pipeline view to see only a certain rep, and then see the average conversion rate per stage. Then, compare this to the overall average conversion rate, and see how each rep is performing.
So, now you know what you should be tracking. Let's talk about how you can set up your sales analytics.
Sales pipeline analysis: how to set up reporting
Once you’ve got your sales pipeline set up and you know what metrics to track, it’s time to set up reporting. With automated sales pipeline analysis, you’ll not only see the right data at the right time. You’ll be able to take that data and turn it into powerful action items for your team. Here’s a simple, three-step process to set up and automate reporting:
#1: Set up automatic opportunity confidence reporting
Using what you already understand of your conversion rates for each stage, you can create automatic confdence levels for each of your opportunities.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Close CRM
- Zapier
- Google Sheets
First, set up your Google Sheet with a percentage of confidence for each stage in your sales pipeline. For example, if 50% of leads in the negotiation stage eventually convert, then opportunity confidence at this stage would be 50%.
Next, connect that Google Sheet to your Close account using Zapier. When an opportunity status in Close changes, run a zap that will search for the opportunity confidence level in your sheet.
Then, set up a second zap that will translate that data into a custom confidence level and update the opportunity in Close.
#2: Automate pipeline value calculations for each stage
Understanding your pipeline value is essential to understanding where your deals stand and how close you are to reaching your goals. It also helps you see whether or not your pipeline is healthy.
In Close, these pipeline value calculations are done for you, automatically.
That means you don’t need to recalculate everything when an opportunity moves to a new stage. The pipeline value is calculated at the moment and adjusts automatically when you move opportunities to different stages.
You can also see different types of values, including annualized value, monthly value, or one-time value. With Close, your pipeline value is always at hand.
#3: Analyze the performance of individual reps within the sales pipeline
For this, you’ll need an activity-based CRM that your reps are using to track and record their actions, like Closewhere reps can send emails,text messages,and even make phone calls and these actions are all automatically recorded and can be reported on later.
For example, on the dashboard, you can set up your own custom leaderboard to see how your reps are performing. You can also see different types of values, including annualized value, monthly value, or one-time value.
This helps you see how reps are performing with the opportunities in their pipelines. You can also see the actions they’re taking, such as with calls, emails, SMS messages, and relate these to the opportunities that have been won, helping you identify the methods that are working within your sales pipeline. Once you’ve got your reporting set up, though, how can you tell if your pipeline is healthy or not?
How to know if your sales pipeline is healthy
Maintaining a healthy sales pipeline takes constant analysis and effort.
A healthy pipeline can’t be judged by how many opportunities it has or the total value: you’ll need to evaluate all the key metrics we discussed above to understand the health of your pipeline. With good reporting in place, you’ll be able to answer these questions and determine the health of your sales pipeline:
Where do you see the most significant drop-off?
Is there a certain stage that is seeing more drop-off than normal?
In general, the stages towards the left of the pipeline will see more drop-off than those to the right. If you’re seeing something different, you may need to make some changes.
Are prospects spread out through the different stages of the pipeline, or are there more on one side than the other? Typically, you’ll have more leads on the left of the pipeline than on the right. In reality, if your leads are evenly spread across all the stages or if there are more leads on the right, this could be a sign that your pipeline is going to dry up.
Use the pipeline size calculations we discussed in Chapter 3to know how many opportunities should be in each stage and work to make that a reality.
Is your pipeline velocity increasing or decreasing?
How much money is going through your pipeline on a daily basis?
Using the calculations we discussed above, keep a constant eye on your pipeline velocity.
That way, you’ll be aware if it starts to drop.
Are reps actively using and updating the sales pipeline?
Another way to measure pipeline health is by its adoption rate on your team. Are your sales reps really using the pipeline? Is it up-to-date, or have they fallen behind in updating the opportunities they’re working with?
Using these questions and the data you’ve collected, you’ll be able to see whether or not your pipeline is healthy, and adjust where needed. Run through this check once a month or so in order to keep a constant eye on how your pipeline is doing.
Use sales pipeline analytics to boost productivity
A good doctor analyzes the symptoms to give an accurate diagnosis before it turns into something more serious. Just like that doctor, you can use your sales pipeline analytics to regularly check the health of your pipeline. This allows you to ‘diagnose’ any issues in your pipeline, and correct them before they cause issues with your team or your sales.
Above, we showed you the essential metrics you need to watch in your sales pipeline, including pipeline velocity, conversion rates for each stage, pipeline value, and sales rep performance, as well as how to track these metrics and draw conclusions from data.
We’ve also seen what questions you need to ask in order to assess your sales pipeline health. By keeping up a regular routine of pipeline analysis, you’ll be in a better position to manage your pipeline effectively.
Chapter 5: Sales pipeline management: How to maximize the power of your pipeline
You’ve built a thing of beauty.
Your sales pipeline is practically gleaming, and all that effort you put into building it is certainly paying off. Or is it?
The real question is: are you taking full advantage of your sales pipeline?
For a sales pipeline to remain valuable in the future, you need to learn how to manage it correctly. In fact, sales pipeline management has been proven to have a huge effect on revenue: according to a study by the Harvard Business Review, companies that had effective pipeline management saw their growth rate increase by 15%.
Want to see that kind of increase for your business?
In this chapter, we’re going to discuss:
- Sales pipeline management: what it is and how it works
- 5 essential aspects of sales pipeline management
- How to hack the sales pipeline process with trackers, forecasting, and more
With the skills you’ll learn in this chapter, you’ll be able to effectively manage your pipeline over a long period of time, getting the most out of it now and into the future.
Sales pipeline management: what it is and how it works
Put simply, sales pipeline management is the act of analyzing, tracking, and organizing your pipeline so that it runs smoothly and stays clean. It’s the job of sales execs, leaders, and managers to take care of the pipeline, make sure it’s up-to-date, and improve it over time. Why is this so important?
Because your pipeline as it is now will not continue to serve you well in a year or fve years or ten years. The market is in a constant state of change, and your sales process needs to change with it. When that happens, your pipeline must adapt to ft current conditions.
When your pipeline is updated, improved, and cleaned over time, this allows reps to focus on selling and not get lost in the noise of the pipeline.
It also helps sales managers and leaders to see exactly what’s happening in the pipeline, where the most important deals are, and how their reps are performing at each stage.
So, what specifically does sales pipeline management involve?
5 essential aspects of sales pipeline management
Basically, managing your pipeline requires you to do these fve things:
#1: Build and maintain a clearly defined sales process
Building a sales processthat involves developing a collection of repeatable steps that your team can use to push leads through the pipeline and convert them into happy customers.
When your sales process is clearly defned, that will help you understand what needs to happen in your sales pipeline. For example, perhaps your process needs to be adjusted because of a change in the market or to your product.
Maybe the customer journey has shifted, and the way people discover or interact with your business has changed. In that case, you’d need to adjust the sales pipeline stages to match current market conditions.
#2: Forecast like a pro
Your sales pipeline should not involve any guesswork.
To successfully manage your team and what’s going on inside your pipeline, you need to use the data you have to forecast accurately. Never be left wondering what’s going to happen with your sales.
To forecast like a pro, start by tracking your sales process and goals for your team.
Next, take into account information about your product costs, what you spend per lead, the potential market, and any upcoming fuctuations in price. Finally, collect data on your pipeline and conversion rates. With this information and an effective CRM, you’ll be able to translate this data into accurate forecasts. Since there are several different forecasting strategiesthat are equally valuable for different teams, you’ll need to decide what kind of forecasting you need to reach your goals effectively.
#3: Eat your key metrics for breakfast
Within your sales pipeline, there are tons of important sales metricsthat you need to be aware of. To manage your sales pipeline successfully, focus on a few key metrics and avoid getting lost in a complex whirlwind of data.
- Pipeline value
- Sales pipeline velocity
- Conversion rate per stage
- Sales rep pipeline performance
#4: Implement effective rep tracking
Monitoring what your reps are doing inside the pipeline is essential to managing it effciently. It’s the job of the sales manager to make sure deals are assigned, prospects are contacted, and opportunities are moved forward through the pipeline.
By monitoring your reps’ activities during the sales cycle, you’ll make sure everyone is
playing the right part in building a sales processthat wins.
#5: Conduct regular sales pipeline reviews
The final key aspect of sales pipeline management is reviewing your pipeline from time to time. Schedule regular reviews every month or quarter, and use this time to analyze and clean up your pipeline.
This is the time to review opportunities that were lost during the month, purge your pipeline of leads that went cold, analyze the data, and defne areas in your pipeline where you can improve.
You can also use these sales pipeline review meetingsto talk with your reps about current deals that are on the table, especially any big fsh in the pipeline.
Together, the team can discuss obstacles and brainstorm ideas to close faster.
How to hack the sales pipeline process with trackers, forecasting templates, and more
To manage your sales pipeline effectively without wasting time, you need to put specifc processes and automations in place. This gets you the information you need without forcing you to sift through loads of data.
Let’s talk about 5 methods to hack the sales pipeline process and manage it more effciently.
#1: Use a sales pipeline CRM to 10x automations
While building a sales pipeline in a spreadsheet can work for smaller organizations and teams, you can seriously boost your productivity by using a CRM to keep track of the data and organize it automatically.
#2: Use forecast templates that integrate with your data
Choosing the right forecasting tools and templates will help you manage your pipeline better and have a more accurate view of where your sales team is headed. For example, if you use a sales forecast template that can be converted to a Google Sheet, you can easily integrate this to other tools and data points using Zapier.
#3: Combine rep activity data and pipeline conversion rates to plan more effectively
Knowing exactly what your reps are doing at different stages of your pipeline is only part of a high-level sales pipeline management strategy. When you combine this information with other relevant data points, you’ll practically be able to see the future. Start by comparing rep activity data for a particular stage to the conversion rate.
For example, in the qualifying stage, which activities lead to conversions? Are sales reps who focus on calling getting better conversion rates than those who email? Or is there a combination of phone and email touches that lead to a higher conversion?
Using questions like these, take time to analyze the data for each stage. Next, use this data to draw accurate conclusions and record these. For example, you might find that:
- It takes at least 4 touches to get a meeting with a prospect
- Demos work better than sales presentations 74% of the time
Once you have these conclusions, you can more accurately guide your team to the right actions. Reps who accomplish more of the target actions go higher on the ranking.
These conclusions also help you forecast more effectively.
For example, if you know that it takes an average of 3 follow-ups to fnalize negotiations, and can more accurately predict when the deal will close.
#4: Integrate different tools to automatically track the right KPIs
Your CRM is a great place to collect important data, but it’s not the only tool you’ll use to gather information and analyze metrics. If you want to keep everything in order, you’ll need to set up a system to automate the collection of important data and gather it together to one central location.
That way, you won’t have to keep checking different tools and systems to fnd the data you need. So, once you have which metrics you need to track clearly in mind, make a list of the tools you need to do so. Start with your CRM. This is where you’ll collect data about your customers, open opportunities, and rep activity.
Then, add other tools: For example, do you use customer communication tools like Drift, MailChimp, or Zendesk? What about analytics tools like Gong or Google Analytics?
Once you have this list, find a way to integrate all of these tools.
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#5: Use templates for pipeline reviews
Another way to level-up your pipeline management is to automate your pipeline review meetings. Although this is an essential part of managing your pipeline, it’s true that preparing for and attending meetings takes time out of your busy schedule.
To reduce the time spent on pipeline review meetings, use templates to automate your workfows. For example, why not create an agenda template? This ensures your meetings always follow the same pattern, which helps everyone stay on track.
If you create your agenda template in Google Docs, your whole team can collaborate and add their talking points directly into the agenda.
This agenda template could include items such as:
- Review action items from the last meeting
- Mention victories from the last week/month
- Reps highlight one or two opportunities they’re excited about
- Reps highlight faced challenges and get feedback from the team
- Set clear action items for each rep over the next week/month
By using the above steps to manage your pipeline effciently, you’ll be able to track the right metrics and your reps’ actions and fully optimize your sales pipeline. Your reps will be better prepared to attend to the leads in their pipelines, and you’ll have a clearer view of your current sales and future forecasts.
Chapter 6: How a sales pipeline CRM accelerates
Sales: 5 tools and how to use them
Your sales pipeline gives you the clearest view of your current sales situation and helps your reps build their process effectively. But where should you build your sales pipeline?
There are many tools that you can use to build and maintain a sales pipeline, but one particular type of tool stands in a class of its own: a sales pipeline CRM.
What makes a CRM so special, and how will it help your team? More than that, how can you make sure that you’re using your sales pipeline CRM to the fullest?
In this chapter, we’re going to discuss:
- What is a sales pipeline CRM and how does it help accelerate sales?
- 5 sales pipeline CRMs for different sales teams
- How to effectively use a pipeline CRM to accelerate sales
What is a sales pipeline CRM and how does it help accelerate sales?
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is used to collect and organize information on leads and customers, including contact information, touchpoints, or current status.
A sales pipeline CRM allows you to visualize where your leads are in the sales process by creating your own pipeline and adding leads into it, and it’s more than just a place to create your sales pipeline.
This is where you’ll store your lead and customer information, gather data on what’s working and what isn’t, forecast your sales, and analyze your reps’ activity. It’s also the place your sales reps will go to keep prospect information updated, focus better on the tasks on hand, and simplify their workflow.
With a sales pipeline CRM, you’ll see at a glance what deals are currently on the table and exactly what action you need to take to bring them to the next stage in the sales process.
When your data is stored in a sales pipeline CRM, you never need to worry about sharing fles back and forth or constantly asking for updates on prospects.
Since your CRM records completed tasks and rep activity automatically, the information in your pipeline is updated in real-time, meaning, no more wasted time updating sheets and no more outdated pipelines.
Just a smooth, updated workfow that everyone uses to sell faster and smarter.
5 sales pipeline CRMs for different sales teams
Which sales pipeline CRM is right for your business?
Let’s face it: there’s no shortage of options when it comes to choosing a CRM.
However, different CRMs have different strengths and weaknesses, and many are adapted to certain types of sales teams. That’s why we’ve analyzed 5 different types of sales teams and discovered the best CRM for each one:
#1 For SMBs and startups: Close CRM
The goals and needs of a small business are very different from that of a multinational company. So, you’ll need a CRM that’s aligned with your small business: like Close. This sales pipeline CRM is ideal for SMBs and startups for three main reasons:
- Easy to set up and use:You won’t waste hours learning or setting up your CRM. Even building a custom pipeline that’s adapted to your business can be done in a matter of minutes.
- Saves your team loads of time: With power dialing, email automation, and smart reporting, your team will spend less time doing repetitive tasks and more time actually selling.
- Won’t break the bank:The big names in CRM also come with big price tags. Close, on the other hand, fts right into the price range you need it to.
Cost:Between $25 and $145 per user, per month.
Best feature:Close automatically logs all of the interactions you have with prospects and leads, including emails, SMS messages, and phone calls. That means your small sales team can stop wasting their time on data entry and start selling more.
#2: For Solopreneurs and freelancers: Bitrix24
If you’re a one-man-business with a limited (or nonexistent) budget, Bitrix24 is a great option. The main reason for this is that it has a free version you can use endlessly and even as a free tool, Bitrix24 is very robust.
You have a customizable pipeline view that allows you to see and update current deals easily, as well as free email, calling, and invoicing capabilities. It also has a mobile app that you can use to sell on the go.
Cost:Free, or between $19 and $159 per month for more comprehensive plans
Best feature:Bitrix24 allows you to customize your pipeline statuses, as well as your view of the pipeline: See all deals, deals with tasks due today, or deals with overdue tasks.
#3: For mid-market companies: Zendesk Sell
For large, multinational companies, one of the best options is Zendesk Sell.
This extremely powerful tool is built to keep reps selling and helps smooth out communication so that your team can collaborate better and sell smarter.
With a fully customizable pipeline, adaptable integrations, and drag-and-drop reporting dashboards, Zendesk Sell is the perfect tool for large companies who want to build and manage complex pipelines.
(For more robust features like activity reports, power dialing, and lead scoring, you’ll need the Enterprise plan, starting at $99 per user, per month).
Cost:Between $19 and $199 per user, per month
Best feature:Communication is the main feature of Zendesk Sell. With smooth communication and easy hand-offs that provide full context, Zendesk allows sales, marketing, and support to work together and sell better.
#4: For field sales: SPOTIO
For teams who work in the field and not in the office, it’s essential to have a CRM that’s adapted to the field and works while your team is on the go. That’s why SPOTIO is a great sales pipeline CRM for field sales teams.
Not only does this CRM give you territory mapping options, but it also gives reps a clear view of their pipeline and next best actions right from an app on their phone.
Sales managers can keep track of their reps with an activity feed, monitor where they are with location tracking, and communicate easily.
Meanwhile, feld reps can easily update the status of leads on the go, pull up important documents to be signed digitally, and get accurate information on the best route to their next destination.
Cost:Between $39 and $129 per user, per month
Best feature: As a dedicated feld sales CRM, it’s no surprise that SPOTIO’s mobile app works wonders for reps on the go. It even includes an in-app chat feature so that managers in the offce can communicate smoothly with reps in the feld.
#5: For enterprise companies: Salesforce
Arguably the most well-known CRM on the market, Salesforce is a powerhouse tool that can do just about anything (for a price). For enterprise companies looking to expand their sales tracking and pipeline abilities, Salesforce is defnitely a good option.
This software is a combination of pipeline and lead management, sales analytics, marketing automation, customer service features, and so much more. It offers visual workfows, AI capabilities, and adaptable modules for whatever you need.
That said, since Salesforce gives you so many options when it comes to purchasing, you’ll probably need to hire a consultant to help you decide what you need and what you don’t need. While it’s nice that you can customize your purchasing plan to your exact needs, it can be a bit confusing when it comes to making a decision.
Cost:Between $25 and $300 per user, per month for Salesforce.
(Other modules such as analytics, enablement, marketing, etc. have their own pricing)
Best feature: For enterprise companies that have the budget to purchase all of Salesforce’s modules, this is the perfect connection between sales, marketing, customer service, and success.
Now that we’ve discussed the best sales pipeline CRMs for different teams, you’re on the right track to picking a tool that will work best for your business. But how can you get the most out of your CRM and effectively scale your business?
How to effectively use a pipeline CRM to accelerate sales
Want to optimize your pipeline for faster sales?
You’ll need to get the fullest possible use out of your CRM.
Here are four ways to do just that:
#1: Get a clear view of pipeline value at different stages
Pipeline value is one of the main sales metricsyou need to track. This will help you forecast more accurately and guide your team better.
By checking the value of the prospects in each stage in your pipeline, you’ll understand where you stand, what your current sales projections are, and how likely your team is to reach its goals.
#2: See where reps are excelling
One advantage of using a sales pipeline CRM is that you have special insights into the actions of your reps. To use your CRM to the fullest and optimize your pipeline, keep track of rep activity within your pipeline and use that information to better plan your tasks.
With Close’s customizable activity reports, you can check what reps are doing, how they’re accomplishing their tasks, and what actions they’re using to push leads through the pipeline faster. You can also see time-based comparison reports that show you how reps performed in different quarters, and how their actions impacted sales.
#3: Prioritize the right deals
A sales pipeline CRM gives you more in-depth information about your prospects at a glance. Managers can use this information to their advantage when planning and assigning tasks to their team, and reps can use this information to better prioritize their time between different prospects.
#4: Provide continual training for reps
For better adoption of your sales pipeline CRM, your reps need to know how to use it.
That’s why training is such an important part of getting the most out of your CRM.
Even once you’ve been using your CRM for a while, keep reps up-to-date on how it works.
Get everyone involved in discovering new features, or reviewing how to do specifc tasks.
By giving continuous CRM training, your team will be more effectively selling.
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Chapter 7: 11 sales pipeline templates (Excel, Google Sheet and more) to power up your sales
You know that a sales pipeline is essential if you want to scale your business and grow your customer base. But if you’re a startup that’s just getting off the ground, you may not have the cash to purchase new tools, such as a CRM. That said, you need a way to keep track of your prospects and the deals in play…
Even if you’re just looking to start with your first 10 customers.
Looking for a free tool to track your sales?
Try a sales pipeline spreadsheet template that you can use in Excel, Google Sheets, or other apps. That way, you can have your business organized as you build your frst sales processand start to turn that million-dollar idea into something tangible.
In this chapter, we show 13 different templates you can start using today, including:
- The best sales pipeline Excel templates
- Google Sheets templates for sales pipelines
- Native app sales templates: Asana, Airtable, and more
The best sales pipeline Excel templates
Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular spreadsheet programs, meaning you probably already have this on your computer and know how to use it. Plus, with Offce 365, you can collaborate with others on your team and keep everything up-to-date. This tried-and-true program is perfect for building your frst sales pipeline. If you’re ready to dive in, here are 4 Excel templates you can download for free and start using today:
#1: Free Sales Pipeline Template from Salesmate
If you want the ability to customize your pipeline spreadsheet, this template from Salesmate gives you all the instructions you need. Not only can you adjust your deal stages, but you can also adjust the formula for win probability for forecasts.
#2: Sales Pipeline Template from Tipsographic
This spreadsheet separates deals into quarters and also allows you to customize the win probability depending on the deal stage. You can also add the expected close date, the rep working with this customer, and notes on next steps. When downloading this template, you can choose to download as an Excel spreadsheet or open with Google Sheet.
#3: Sales Pipeline Template from Smartsheet
Designed for small businesses, this template is organized into quarters and includes all the necessary information for your pipeline. You'll be able to see the status of the deal, who is the lead rep, next actions, and even forecasted earnings for each quarter.
#4: Detailed Sales Pipeline Management from Microsoft Office
Coming straight from the creators of Excel, this template fts nicely into your favorite spreadsheet program. With three sheets, there's plenty of space to fll in the information you need. This Excel template gives you detailed forecasting, plus a visual forecast graph to help you see if you're reaching your sales goals.
Google Sheets templates for sales pipelines
Google Sheets definitely has some serious advantages when it comes to creating your
sales pipeline because when you use Google Sheets in place of a CRM, one of the biggest advantages is that everything is stored online. That means you can collaborate in real-time with your teammates, and all the information stays current.
Another advantage of using a Google Sheets sales pipeline template is that this program can easily be linked to other tools.Using Zapier, you can create automations that add information to your spreadsheet from other sources.
For example, you can create new leads in your Google Sheet when someone completes a Typeform form on your website. In fact, there are over 2,000 connections you can make between Google Sheets and other apps in Zapier.
#5: Free Startup Sales CRM Template from Salespol
It’s an easy, straightforward spreadsheet with a visual dashboard that summarizes your current sales efforts, plus the ability to easily track leads and their important information.
#6: Sales Pipeline Tracker from Indzara
The dashboard on this template allows you to quickly see where the value is in your pipeline, what your average conversion rate is, as well as how long it takes on average to close a deal. You’ll also see which stage is losing more deals on average, and total value vs. expected value based on win confidence.
#7: Pipeline Tracker Spreadsheet from Sales Hacker
Everything a small business needs to keep track of their pipeline: with space to add the probability of the deal, weighted forecast, pipeline stage, and notes.
Native app sales pipeline templates: Asana, Airtable and more
While Excel and Sheets are popular options, they’re not the only programs you can use to create an easy, online sales pipeline. Many of the productivity apps we use every day have integrated templates for sales pipelines. Check out the 6 best templates that our favorite productivity apps have created:
#8: Sales Pipeline Template from Monday.com
Productivity app Monday.com offers this great template for users. It includes excellent visuals, such as a progress bar, color-coded task updates, time zones for businesses with international customers, and expected close dates that turn red when you go past. There is also a star rating for the priority of deals, and customizable labels for orientation.
#9: CRM Pipeline from Trello
This Trello board template allows you to add teammates, assign tasks to them, and organize your prospects with custom tags. You can also add more information in the descriptions, and add custom checklists for important tasks.
#10: Sales Pipeline and Lead Tracking from Asana
Since Asana is a productivity-based app, it's no surprise this template is easy-to-use and extremely intuitive. But it gives you something the other native app templates don't: the ability to forecast. In your lists, you can see all active opportunities and their estimated value, plus add custom lead statuses and priorities for each prospect.
#11: Sales Pipeline Template from Airtable
For fans of Airtable, this template is extremely intuitive and powerful. You can easily switch views from a list to a Kanban board, an expected close calendar, or a list grouped by the rep assigned to each deal. Airtable also allows you to open up records, work through the data, and add comments for your teammates. You can even customize your view by adding Blocks (like add-ons) with custom charts, batch updates, maps, and more!
Create your own sales pipeline today
When you’re just starting to grow your business, it can be hard to justify investing in software and tools. That’s why these sales pipeline templates are perfect for new startups who are just getting off the ground.
They’re easy to set up and use, they’re great for online collaboration with team members, and they’ll help you organize those frst few deals in your pipeline. But while using a spreadsheet sales pipeline is great at frst, there is one serious disadvantage:
None of these were built to scale the way your business will over the next few years. That means your startup will eventually outgrow the sales pipeline spreadsheet template you’re using. You’ll know when it’s time to move to something better suited when:
- You start losing important information about current deals
- You grow your sales team to more than one or two people
- Multiple people on your team start accidentally calling the same prospects
When these things start to happen, you’ll know it’s time to take a step up and invest in a sales pipeline CRM that can handle all the new deals you’re raking in. Your business is going to keep growing, and the tools you use should be able to grow with you.
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