In this HBR article, research on B2B companies about sales pipeline management reveals that companies with a solid sales process and that pay more attention to sales pipeline management enjoyed 28% revenue growth versus those that didn’t, and only had 4.6% revenue growth.

The article goes on to give best practises, and here are the 2 biggest takeaways.

2 best practises for pipeline management

1. You need a clearly defined sales process

The most effective sales pipeline management boils down to a solid sales process. What is a sales process? It’s a series of clearly defined milestones, from qualifying a lead through to a close. It’s about how you help this client along the journey to lead to a close. For example, when you qualify a lead, what’s the next step? To answer this question, ask yourself, how can I help them? How can I add value to them? The best way to answer this question is ask your prospects; get to know them.

It’s important to develop a sales process unique to your company.

2. Invest time in pipeline management

Pipeline management doesn’t mean you sit and forecast likelihood of deals coming through or fiddling with percentages next to each prospect. It means you look at your pipeline of prospects and “think how can I guide more sales towards a close?”. “What actions can I take to move my clients forward”. “What can I give them or how can I help them”. Invest at least 4 hours a month to look at all your qualified clients and think of actions you can take to help them. EG: can you host a free webinar sharing insightful research?

The golden rule of any sales process

It has to be predictable and repeatable. Each client is different with their own unique challenges. But you can still have a process that helps each one along their way to get to where they want.

If you’re serious about taking your revenue to the next level, I’m running a 5-week live webinar series to help you create a predictable and scaleable sales process to grow your sales without the stress.

Learn more here.