SALES PIPELINE

Basic Concepts - Pipefy Communication

Powered by

Table of Contents:

1. Sales Pipeline

2. How does a Sales Pipeline work?

3. Managing a Sales Pipeline

4. The averages

5. Sales Pipeline Stages

6. Manage your sales with Pipefy

Sales Pipeline:

Every capitalist business has to be profitable. That means that generically speaking they need to sell – without revenue coming in, there can be no progression.

Having a sales pipeline in place to make sure that sales are actually viable in the targeted market may be a good place to start.

Few businesses are lucky enough to have consistent customers falling on their lap through sheer luck and no strategy.

Sales Pipeline:

This is without a doubt, one of the most clinical signs of progress and health in any business: a healthy company will have plenty of sales shooting through that pipeline whereas an unhealthy one will have blockages and problems in their planning.

An effective pipeline converts a fair proportion of the people who come to the business from start to finish, meaning they eventually end up giving you money.

Sales Pipeline:

Outside an ideal - and slightly utopian - reality, it’s not possible to get a conversion rate of 100% as there are just too many factors influencing purchases, as opinion and taste, but a stronger and well developed sales pipeline will definitely increase conversions.

How does a Sales Pipeline work?

A sales pipeline is a systematic approach that looks to ascertain how your business operates when it comes to enticing customers through the front door.

What’s the process? How do you get them from simply being interested in what you have to offer to parting with their hard earned cash? What are the steps they go through?

How does a Sales Pipeline work?

A sales pipeline operates by showing you where the money really stands within your processes – you’ll be using your pipeline to build up common ground for where any transaction may be.

This lets you see where things are going right for you – and where things may be going wrong in the process.

How does a Sales Pipeline work?

Using your business sales pipeline you’re able to identify specific points of the purchase process, such as where the largest portion of people get to and then either drop off entirely, or fulfill their order?

You need to use the sales plan to work out what parts of the sales pipeline are letting you down and stopping you from converting more.

How does a Sales Pipeline work?

Studying the results presented by your sales pipeline you’ll be able to work on your approach and create new ideas and theories to improve the performance in the specific parts that need improving to help you convert more.

The operation of the pipeline, though, is not literal. You use the plan to take people on a destination that you have set, ensuring that all customers who turn up can be taken through a specific process that should, in the end, see them purchase your products or services.

Managing a Sales Pipeline:

There is a lot to be done when it comes to managing a sales pipeline. The first thing you need to look at is the overall metrics of the pipeline, ensuring that it is managing to bring people in who are spending as much as they possibly can.

It’s very important, however, to start looking at very important metrics to ensure that success can be ascertained by your sales pipeline as you move forward with your plans in future.

The averages:

The first thing you want to know is what you’re aiming at, or what will you try to reach – you need to create a business average.

Whilst there are pre-defined business averages out there you can use as a general plan to follow, it can be hard to replicate average global results in specific businesses thanks to the diversity in everything from the targeted market to where the business is based.

The averages:

The best way to proceed, therefore is to work out what the averages are for your business and how you can, at the very least, hit those averages.

This will be a vital factor in improving your business and a failure to do so can make it very hard to take your business any further.

You are required, consequently, to think clearly about the averages for the following four metrics to begin with.

The averages:

• How much people are spending in an average deal

• How many open potential transactions you have at any one time on average

• The average customer conversion rate (the % of customers that actually end up buying what you’re offering)

• The average time spent within the sales pipeline (i.e. from when they first discover you to when they purchase)

Sales Pipeline Stages:

In every good sales pipeline, as in everything in the business world, knowledge is power and you need to make sure that it features quite heavily throughout the process.

There are five main areas that you’re expected to have any good sales pipeline take your customers through, and these five stages can be categorized as: Initial Contact, Qualification, Meeting, Proposal and Close.

Sales Pipeline Stages:

Initial Contact is, as the name itself defines it, is the first contact your potential customer has with your brand, product or service.

It’s your first opportunity to make a good impression and attract customers further into the sales pipeline.

Qualification is when the customer comes across your business and feels comfortable making the next move and moving forward with the purchase process, or at least being open to see what you have to offer.

Sales Pipeline Stages:

The meeting stage happens when you’ve actually had some kind of dialogue with the client.

It can be quite hard to judge if you’re running an online business, it can mean they looked at your site and thought about buying something (at the very most, it means they emailed you!)

Proposal can also be hard to quantify. In an offline business it means you've actually given the client a price and guarantee for your work. You need to understand that getting the proposal accepted is the most important step.

Sales Pipeline Stages:

The close is the stage when the purchase is actually made concrete, meaning the client will agree to pay for it.

You need to get used to this as it’s the last stage that you need to get the person through.

Once they agree with the proposal stage, they need to present the payment method/receipt.

Sales Pipeline Stages:

Managing a Sales Pipeline is all about managing the interdependent interaction stages your customer will go through as well as managing the conversion rates from initial contact to close, passing through all steps.

The higher your conversion rate from one stage to the next, the higher your final conversion rate is going to be and, consequently, the more effective – and profitable – your business will become in the future.

Manage your Sales with Pipefy!

Pipefy’s Sales Pipeline Template is a step-by-step, easy to work with workflow developed to enhance your team’s focus and productivity.

This template will guide your team through all the steps of the sales pipeline, from the initial contact, to the qualification of leads to effectively closing the deal, helping them keep better track of the opportunities and always staying on top of their game.

Start managing your sales on Pipefy!Enjoy the 30-day free trial and leave mistakes in the past.

get started for free