How Leaky is Your Sales Pipeline?

Does your Sales Pipeline leak? If you answered no, you don't even understand the question. Every business' Sales Pipeline leaks to some extent. The question is: Have you done everything you can to ensure that it does not leak excessively? Do you even know what your Sales Pipeline looks like?

Very simply, a Sales Pipeline starts with an initial enquiry and ends with a sale. While the Sales Pipeline looks different in each business, there are still some similarities between them. In all businesses, there is a need to generate enquiries. This can be done through advertising, cold calling, public relations or word of mouth. This enquiry may be a phone call in response to an ad. Or, in retail, a customer may walk in your front door attracted by your shopfront marketing. This is the first step of the Sales Pipeline for any business. However, there are usually a number of steps from receiving an enquiry to generating a sale.

The next step might be getting an appointment with the prospect to establish their needs. In a retail situation, the sales staff will ask: Can I help you? Once need is established, a second appointment may be made to present a proposal, or a quote may be provided. The final step in this generic Sales Pipeline would be to close the sale.

It is essential that every business owner understands their Sales Pipeline and where it leaks. Using the generic pipeline above, what percentage of enquirers agrees to an initial appointment? How many of those agree to receive a formal proposal or ask for a quote? And finally, how many who receive a formal proposal or quote, are converted to sales? By understanding each step in your Sales Pipeline, you can measure the success in moving prospects along the pipeline, and spot where your sales process needs to be improved.

No Sales Pipeline is leak proof. In fact, there are some people who you don't wish to become your customers. They may be the bargain hunters, the time wasters or people who are poor credit risks. So there should be a screening process to remove people who are not qualified to become your customers. To be effective, this screening process should remove unqualified prospects early in the pipeline, before you have invested too much time with them. But if you are turning away a high number of unqualified prospects, you should be looking at your enquiry generation strategy. If you sell luxury cruises, advertising in a tabloid newspaper will probably produce mostly unqualified enquiries.

All other prospects, however, are by definition, qualified. And their loss is one that you wish to minimise. If there is a large loss in getting that initial appointment, perhaps a script needs to be developed for staff to turn that initial enquiry into an appointment. If the losses are large in getting a request for a proposal or quotation, sales training on establishing rapport and need, creating desire and building value should be considered. If proposals (or quotations) have a low rate of acceptance, there could be a problem with the offer, or the way the sales person tried to close.

Put in place monitoring systems to measure the movements of prospects through your Sales Pipeline. Analyse the losses at each stage. By understanding your Sales Pipeline, you will understand what you are doing well, and where your pipeline leaks. Only then can you start plugging those leaks!

Copyright 2005 Empower Business Solutions

Dr Greg Chapman assists small to medium sized businesses with business planning, business systems and marketing strategy. To find out how you can Multiply Your Profits & Make Your Business Run without You, and to find out How Good Your Business Really Is with a Free Online Business Medical, go to Empower Business Solutions website at: http://www.empowersolutions.com.au

---

How To Profit From Initial Consultations

"I'd love to work with you, but?"How many times have... Read More

5 Ideas for Writing Effective Sales Letters

Sales letters, sent via e-mail or snail mail, are an... Read More

Getting Referrals

ReferralsA substantial part of your business can come from referrals.... Read More

Aamazing Tips To Increase Your Sales

1. When you make your first sale, follow-up with the... Read More

Schedule Telemarketing Time For More Success

Telephone canvassing, or cold calling, is the practice of sitting... Read More

Chicken Little And The Disintermediation Myth

If Chicken Little were alive today he wouldn't be running... Read More

Unique Selling Propositions

If you have competitors, then you should have at least... Read More

Lock, Stock, and Barrel!

The other night I was watching a classic western from... Read More

Create A Killer Product by Writing Your Sales Letter First!

You may not realize this, but when if you are... Read More

An Ideal Selling Situation

The largest sale that I ever closed was negotiated over... Read More

How to Sell: Selling Tips of Master Moms

"If you don't think well of yourself, no one... Read More

Are You Scaring Your Customers Away?

"Hello, is (pause) puh-TREE-shuh home?"So started my weekend lesson in... Read More

A Pause For Thought

You can have your cake and eat it.What is it... Read More

Three Big Ol Tips for Better Sales Letters

Growing up in the South, I used the phrase "big... Read More

Follow the Long Yellow Copy: Do Long Scrolling Sales Letters Work?

Have you ever sat through a movie and got to... Read More

The Trusted Advisor Relationship: What Is It, and What Should It Be?

For the past months, maybe a year, I've been hearing... Read More

Lead Companies, Eight Features To Consider

So now the time has come to invest in Lead... Read More

Is Cold Calling Dead?

Is cold calling dead? And if laws are being passed... Read More

How Improve Conversion Rates

Do you know your conversion rates? Conversion rate is the... Read More

Creating Your Perfect Pitch!

Why should you describe your business to others in 5... Read More

Leads, Prospects, and the Huge Gap Between

The leads marketing delivers to the sales team never seem... Read More

Aikido and The Art of Cold Calling

Imagine being in a crowded concert or bar. All of... Read More

Lead Generation Sins - 7 Of Them!

I really just don't get it.How can so many businesses... Read More

17 Tips for Bringing Your Event to Life

Your job as an event planner doesn't stop with the... Read More

More Cleaning and Janitorial Customers Using Yahoo

We use this method to find new cleaningcustomers, and it... Read More

Telephone Techniques

TELEPHONE TECHNIQUESSelling face to face is different from selling on... Read More

Money Does Talk!

When buying something, you can buy in one of two... Read More

Turn Your Wisdom Into a Workshop

The Technical Revolution has done a lot for us --... Read More

It Isnt A Sale Until Youre Paid

Back in the days when I sold for CTV and... Read More

Use Pain To Get Commitments

Whenever I speak with new salesreps and entrepreneurs, I hear... Read More

A Brief History of the Sales Profession

The formula for defining a "profession" is similar throughout many... Read More

Psychological Tricks in Selling

Psychological Tricks in Selling By Stephen Bucaro In this article,... Read More

Mortgage vs. Real Estate Lead Generation

It is fairly common for real estate companies and mortgage... Read More