On-demand webinar
Make your pipeline tell the truth
What you’ll learn :
- Why one of four CRM roll-outs failed: it was chosen by an executive committee because it came free with the ERP
- How a platform moves you from "I think" to "I know", and why it must mirror your sales process
- What happened when one client cut its pipeline by a third, and another simplified a 45-stage Kanban view
- How to squeeze forward or squeeze out using the DOUBTS checklist and a compelling reason to change
What's covered
Inside the session. Watch a clip, then get the full recording.
Clients spent 2024 risk averse: pipelines bloated, prospects went quiet and sales cycles blew out. Yet some still hit record months by sticking to the process, the activity and the right mindset.
Andre led four major CRM roll-outs. Three succeeded. The fourth, picked by an executive committee because it came free with the ERP, took the sales team backwards.
The right data and dashboards remove the guesswork. Look for a platform that fits your type of selling, a visual Kanban view, and stages you can overlay with your own best-practice process.
Most CRMs hold good data but present it poorly, so a dashboard tool may need to sit alongside. Breaking each stage into steps and actions gives managers something specific to coach to.
Placeholders and close dates pushed out again and again give a false reading. One client cut its pipeline by a third and doubled its conversion ratio within six months.
One team's Kanban view was too long to fit on one screen. Another had only three stages and couldn't tell where deals were. Plus why supply chain and manufacturing depend on an honest forecast.
Squeeze forward to the next stage or squeeze out by disqualifying. Use DOUBTS to find what you don't know, check for a compelling reason, and do it at least weekly.
A one-on-one agenda that starts with a temperature check, when account growth needs its own pipeline, and why transactional sales don't belong in it.
Resources
Get the recording
Frequently asked questions
Common Questions
In Andre's experience, the successful ones were selected and set up to support the sales team and sales leaders with their sales process. The one that failed was chosen by an executive committee as a cost saving, because it came free with the ERP, and it left the sales team worse off than before.
Look for placeholder deals, opportunities left over from months ago, and close dates that keep getting pushed out. They give you a false reading. Steve's client cut its pipeline by a third, refocused prospecting on the right target market, and doubled its conversion ratio within six months.
Enough to show where a deal really is, but few enough to follow. Andre worked with one client whose 45-stage Kanban view couldn't fit on a screen, which left the team confused, and another with only three stages, where nobody knew where deals sat. Simplifying and clarifying the process got deals moving in both cases.
At least weekly, in one-on-ones or sales team meetings, according to Andre. Alex agrees for most cases, with major enterprise opportunities possibly needing less. As a fractional manager he ran a squeeze in every weekly one-on-one and says it turned non-performers into high performers in six weeks.
Start with a temperature check on how the person is doing. Review leading activity and behavioural metrics, ideally pre-populated by the salesperson before the meeting, then examine the pipeline. Leave time for coaching on an area of development the pipeline reveals.
Not usually. Steve says account growth typically follows the same steps as new business: contact, discovery, present, close. Andre separates them when the processes are genuinely different, such as project sales, and warns against mixing in transactional quote-and-process sales.
The next step
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Whichever way you work with us, the same proven Revenue OS runs underneath. Book a growth session and we’ll show you where to start.