As a B2B seller, the health of your sales pipeline is critical to your success. A well-managed pipeline allows reps to forecast accurately, prioritize your efforts, and ultimately, close more sales. However, many sellers struggle with pipeline management, leading to missed opportunities and inaccurate projections.
Here are six key areas to focus on to ensure sales reps’ pipelines are working for them, not against them.
1. Create a Sales Opportunity Plan
A healthy pipeline starts with robust opportunity management. Research shows that top-performing sellers excel here compared to their peers. But too often not enough attention is paid to the sales opportunity plan. Devote time from the outset to write it out. Start by answering the questions you can and iterate as you go. You can spend more time on big opportunities and less time on the smaller ones.
- Opportunity snapshot: What is the desired outcome, solution, revenue, timeline, qualification, stage, win strategies, etc.?
- Team members: Who is, or should be, involved on your side? Theirs?
- Buyers’ needs: What are their explicit needs and hidden or suspected undisclosed needs?
- Value case: How will you make the value case to the buyer? What difference will your solution make for the buyer?
- Competitors: How does your solution compare to competitors?
- Advance the sale: What is your action plan to move the sale forward?
2. Keep Your Pipeline Current
The foundation of effective pipeline management is accurate and timely data. Enter all your opportunities into your CRM system as soon as they arise. Dedicate time each week to review and update the stages, close dates, and amounts for each opportunity.
If an opportunity has stalled and is no longer progressing, move it to a separate list to keep your active pipeline clean and focused. By maintaining a current and accurate pipeline, you can make informed decisions on where to invest your time and energy.
3. Focus on the Right Opportunities
Not all opportunities are created equal. To maximize your pipeline’s potential, prioritize the opportunities most likely to close based on factors such as deal size, stage, and engagement level. Give your highest-value, late-stage opportunities the most attention and resources.
However, don’t neglect your smaller or earlier-stage opportunities entirely. Regularly spot-check a sample of these to ensure the data is accurate and that they are progressing as expected. By striking the right balance, you’ll ensure you’re not missing out on valuable deals while still being efficient with your time.
4. Validate Your Opportunities
It’s easy to get excited about a potential deal, but it’s crucial to make sure each opportunity in your pipeline is legitimate. Look for objective evidence that the buyer has the Funds to make the purchase, the Authority to make the decision, genuine Interest in your solution, a specific Need that your offering addresses, and a clear Timeline for making the purchase. The FAINT qualification criteria can help you assess the strength of each opportunity. If an opportunity doesn’t meet these criteria, it may be time to remove it from your pipeline or adjust its likelihood of closing. By being ruthless in your qualifications, you’ll avoid wasting time on deals that are unlikely to materialize.
5. Take Action to Move Opportunities Forward
To keep your deals moving, identify the next steps needed to progress each opportunity and act. This may involve scheduling a demo, scheduling a meeting with decision-makers, sending a proposal, or another action.
For your most important opportunities, consider conducting a deal strategy session with your manager or colleagues to brainstorm ways to overcome obstacles and win the business. Don’t forget about your stalled opportunities either—create a thoughtful outreach plan to re-engage buyers and bring those deals back to life. By being proactive and action-oriented, you’ll keep your pipeline healthy and flowing.
6. Work with Sales Management
Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of collaborating with your sales managers on pipeline management. Schedule regular 1:1 meetings to review your pipeline, discuss your forecast, and get coaching and support. Be open and honest in these conversations and avoid the temptation to sandbag or posture. Remember, the goal of pipeline reviews isn’t just to report out, but to get help and guidance to improve your performance. By working closely with your managers and being receptive to feedback, you’ll not only improve your pipeline management skills, but also contribute to the overall success of your sales organization.
Effective pipeline management is a critical skill for any B2B seller looking to maximize their performance. By starting with a written plan for each opportunity, keeping your pipeline up to date, focusing on the right opportunities, validating your deals with FAINT criteria, moving things forward, and collaborating with sales management, you’ll be well on your way to a healthier pipeline and more closed deals. While it may take some effort and discipline, the payoff in terms of increased efficiency, accuracy, and revenue makes it well worth the investment.
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