How will you finish the year?

As we come down the home straight of the final quarter for 2021, the question most business leaders may be thinking is:

How are we going to finish the year?

Are we going to finish strong? Or are we going to limp over the finish line under budget, licking our wounds and complaining about what to do differently next year?

If you are unsure how you will finish, the answer should reside within the accuracy and health of your sales pipeline. This should be a vital instrument that acts as a crystal ball to determine future success.

Here are the signs that you have an unhealthy pipeline

• The CEO and Sales Leaders worry about unpredictable and lumpy sales forecast
• The pipeline is not aligned with a milestone centric sales process
• The opportunities are not good quality as salespeople fill it with a quote and hope approach
• Opportunities are based on gut feel rather than science and probability
• Deals seem to slip through the cracks
• You’re not growing your fair share of new business

So how can we improve the health of your sales pipeline?

• Develop a milestone centric sales process and align it with your pipeline, I speak more to this here
• Use a suitable sales pipeline management system that aligns and embeds your sales process and methodology for example a tool like Membrain, our CRM of choice at SalesStar. More on this here
• Ensure Sales Managers have the capability and discipline to manage the pipeline opportunities weekly.
• Make sure you wrap science on probability in forecasting and remove the tendency for salespeople to use gut feel. Salespeople are internally optimistic, if you ask them the probability will always be 90%.
• Ensure you qualify each deal based on your qualification in your sales process. Disqualify opportunities so you do not fill your pipeline with poor quality and non-closable deals.
• Reap the benefits of developing your sales process, just like our client, Aurora. Learn more