Managing Sales Pipeline - 2 Thing You Should Be Doing
- Grant Parker
- Mar 18, 2024
- 4 min read
Two critical things that every sales manager needs to do in order to manage their sales flow is
1. Define the stages of the pipeline
2. Understand the flow of deals on a weekly basis.
Define pipeline stages
"Pipeline Stage" is the specific point where the lead or the prospect is in the process of our sales motion. And between each distinct stage is a gate or a threshold—some decision that the prospect made that tells me that they have objectively taken one step forward. This could look like a signed NDA, showing up for a scheduled call, or sending back red-lines to a contract.
NOTE: Sometimes these stages can happen simultaneously or concurrently—don’t think about it in terms of how many calls we’ve had, but in terms of how the relationship is progressing.
This simple CRM lays out each stage of the pipeline, the gate to enter that stage, and the Must Be True's to keep moving forward from there...
Stage 1 is always going to be Total Stranger. They know nothing about our product. My job is to get them to agree to come onto a quick call where we can get to know each other.
Stage 2 is Initial Qualifying. All we’re trying to do is figure out if they’re crazy or not. We have a high-level list of things that must be true about somebody who would use our product. The purpose of this call is to figure out whether this prospect meets those requirements.
These could be simple such as 'Based in the US', 'Has a support team in-house', 'Does $5,000 minimum MRR'. Whatever makes sense for your product.
If all of my must be true’s prove to be true, they are qualified to move to the next stage. I ask them to take the next step—whether that’s a demo, or a deep dive with their boss, or whatever.
Stage 3 is a Deeper Dive. This is where we ascertain their pain, the value they ascribe to that pain, and whether my product has the ability to fix it. We ask second layer questions that are important to being able to buy my product, and use it successfully. We also want to understand their ethos: do they spend money on things like my product? Do they see the world the same as me?
And rinse and repeat. Each time we prove the must be true's true, we keep moving them down the sales funnel—each time asking for a very concrete action to prove they’re bought in.
Stages will be different for every company, and could even change quarter to quarter as our sales process improves. Never be afraid to change up the pipeline layout!
In order to truly create momentum in my pipeline, I have to know at every stage what the next step I’m trying to get this person to take is, and what action I must perform to get them to take that step. All I’m doing when I’m talking to them is trying to drive that result.
REPEAT: Every time you talk to the customer, you must already visualize your desired outcome, and the game plan in order to drive that result. If you go into calls unprepared, the call will be awkward and ultimately unfruitful.
Weekly Pipeline Review
The second thing that every sales manager should do on a weekly basis is look at their full sales funnel and figure out where each deal is along the way, and what we’re doing to drive it forward. This is how we build accountability. This is how we make sure things don’t fall through the cracks.
A very simple CRM is all you need to accomplish this. It should be set up in such a way that makes it very clear what stage each live deal is in. That way I can look over a list of all opportunities and know exactly where they all are.
Every week I review the deals one-by-one to make sure they're on the right track. My CRM needs to help me do this as quickly as possible.
The weekly sales meeting becomes little more, therefore, than going line by line and asking each deal: what’s the next step we need to get them to take, what is my required action to make that happen, and when am I going to do that?
Clarifying the most immediate next action of the team, and assigning a due date to it, will ensure deals don't stagnate in our pipeline.
If we don’t keep on top of that information every single week, deals will start to slow down. That’s how we build accountability with ourselves or our sales teams, and that’s how we make sure that deals are moving through the pipeline and closing at a constant pace.
Remember: It's always the sales manager's job to do this. Don't leave your sales people and assume they're on top of it. You set the pace. You keep the ship aright.
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