The more sales opportunities in a pipeline, the greater the chance of reaching revenue goals.
That’s according to a sales enablement report that showed 72 percent of companies with fewer than 50 new opportunities per month didn’t hit their targets. Conversely, when companies had 51 to 100 new monthly opportunities, 85 percent of them met revenue goals.
But a pipeline is only as strong as the opportunities within it.
If a rep’s pipeline is projecting $200,000 in bookings, but more than half of its value sits with accounts that haven’t responded in months, the pipeline is bloated with inaccurate information.
“When our pipelines are not accurate, it results in unrealistic revenue expectations and could negatively impact other departments,” said Jeff Dunn, a senior manager of business development at FRONTSTEPS.
So, how can sales reps bolster the health of their pipelines and, in turn, close more deals?
Trustpilot’s Alex Erickson said he organizes and updates his pipeline by accounts with the best product fits. If a company stops responding but remains a high fit, he’ll pivot his approach.
“Better fits according to your company’s ideal customer profile both book and close at a higher rate,” Erickson, a manager of account development, said.
For more pipeline best practices, Built In Colorado turned to Erickson, Dunn and LogRhythm’s Regional Sales Manager Jennifer Kellogg.
It’s in the details.
In addition to keeping a pipeline updated with only true opportunities, Jennifer Kellogg stressed the importance of providing key details. Kellogg, who is a regional sales manager at the security information and event management (SIEM) platform LogRhythm, said her team follows the “MEDDIC” sales process to determine which details to include. What’s MEDDIC? Kellogg defined below.
What’s the single most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management?
Keep it real, keep it clean and keep it up to date. Ask yourself: Is this truly an opportunity? Am I being realistic about what can close and when it will close? Does my team know exactly where we are in the sales process? A clean, realistic pipeline ensures that you and management know exactly what expectations to set and what goals can be met.
Ask yourself: Is this truly an opportunity?”
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
Years ago, we adopted the sales process known as “MEDDIC,” which stands for metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, identify pain, and champion. By adding these details into Salesforce, we are able to show every participant in the sales cycle who the decision-makers are, what problems our solution solves for, what is the realistic timeline for a decision, and what next steps are needed to win the business.
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
Ensure you build relationships with the prospect at different levels within their organization, like end users, management and C-levels. Build a cadence with each one by bringing value each time you meet with them.
Know when to cut your losses.
After organizing his accounts by product fit and priority to close, Trustpilot’s Alex Erickson said he saw higher-quality meetings and closing rates. Erickson, a manager of account development at the consumer review website company, said he spends time every week cleaning out unresponsive accounts and rethinking strategies for ones that remain a great fit.
What’s the most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management?
Knowing when to cut your losses. There’s no sense in putting excess time and effort into accounts that aren’t yielding any successes or responses after a certain amount of time, even when you’ve tried multiple approaches. Whether it’s weekly or monthly, regular pipeline cleanups make a difference by targeting low upside accounts and deciding whether it’s worth the additional effort and cutting ties when not. Then you can replenish the dropped accounts with new ones that you have never reached out to. This is important because if your pipeline remains bogged down with accounts without a ton of potential, then it is harder to focus on accounts that have a higher likelihood of closing.
There’s no sense in putting excess time and effort into accounts that aren’t yielding any successes.”
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
Tiering the accounts in your pipeline based on fit and priority to close. Improvements come when you can focus more of your time on the best-fit companies and the ones you feel most confident in their ability to close. This allowed me to focus the majority of my outreach into accounts I knew had the highest chance of closing, which led to higher-quality meetings and higher conversion rates. Stick to your ideal customer profile, find the best fits in that industry that aren’t working with your company yet and approach them with more tenacity and effort than those you’re unsure of. Better fits according to your company’s ideal customer profile both book and close at a higher rate.
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
Scheduling personal time at the end of each week or month to clean out dead-end accounts. If you have a great fit account but haven’t been able to reach them or schedule time with them, you should use this time to think of a different approach when applicable. Whether that’s a new pain, value point or contact, this will be a great way to keep solid fits in your pipeline while doing something different than what the last few sales reps did previously.
Always include next steps.
To help with pipeline management, the marketing team at FRONTSTEPS recently developed a personalized weighted sales pipeline system. Jeff Dunn, senior manager of business development at the residential engagement platform, explained how this tool has led to positive changes for his reps and the company.
What’s the most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management?
Be realistic. As sales professionals, we typically have a “glass half full” outlook on any prospect we’ve had a conversation with that didn’t result in an immediate, “No, thank you.” We need to maintain a positive attitude in our day-to-day since it correlates to the level of excitement in our voice as we present and ultimately, our success as a sales professional. As it relates to pipeline management, we need to be cognizant of the fact that our pipelines are often used by the organization to make business decisions on things such as future marketing, advertising and hiring initiatives.
You should always know what and when the next step is on any opportunity.”
When our pipelines are not accurate, it results in unrealistic revenue expectations and could negatively impact other departments. During our weekly pipeline reviews, my team provides concrete reasons as to why they feel their specific prospects should remain in the pipeline. Asking questions like, “What were the buying signals or established next steps that lead you to believe this account should remain in the pipeline?” help to identify whether or not the sales representative is being honest and realistic with themselves about the chances of closing the deal.
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
Our new personalized weighted pipeline system helps us gain more visibility into the actual percentage to close expectations based on the opportunity’s stage in a sales representative’s pipeline. As a manager, this allows me to provide more accurate weighted pipeline forecasts to the executive team and helps to identify areas where my sales representatives might need assistance or additional training on providing accurate pipeline forecasts. The key benefit to this system over the typical weighted pipeline forecast model is in how it adjusts to the individual representative over time. I like to track the success and professional growth of my employees, and this tool allows me to identify, address and track how the changes we discuss affect their ability to provide more accurate pipeline forecasts. There is nothing more enjoyable than being able to show an employee how the changes they made to their sales process positively impacted the organization and their commissions earned.
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
The best sales representatives in any industry all share one common trait. They are organized. That means carving out time daily to ensure that all the reports are updated and accurate. Keeping a clean and up-to-date pipeline means you have the most recent notes on the opportunity and established next steps. You should always know what and when the next step is on any opportunity. If you notice that the client continuously pushes back the timeline on the next step, you might want to ask yourself — and the prospect — if you’re being realistic by keeping the deal in your pipeline.
