In their recent report on "The Case for Dynamic Pipeline Management", CSO Insights - the globally respected sales effectiveness research organisation - make a compelling case for adopting a proactive approach to managing sales pipelines. They point out that pipeline management has evolved through a number of phases.
They refer to the first era as "measure and punish", in which sales reps would promise a number they had no ability to validate and their managers had no ability to track. The rise of SFA and CRM systems ushered in the era of "stare and compare", which relied on the sales manager's memory or ability to cross-refer between spreadsheets to track changes in the pipeline. In both eras, by the time a change was recognised it was usually too late to take corrective action.
CSO Insights point out that the rise of specialised sales analytics is now offering sales leaders the chance to identify changes as they occur, in close-to-real time, rather than after the event - while there is still time to react to ensure that deals stay on track and close as promised. They refer to this new era of proactive, evidence-based pipeline management as "detect and correct".
They recommend - as we do - that before sales people can move a deal from one stage in the next in the CRM system, they are required to confirm that they have observed the necessary evidence of buyer behaviour and commitment, and have implemented the prescribed sales tactics. CSO Insights quote a number of impressive benefits from proactive sales pipeline management. We’ve certainly seen dramatic improvements in terms of shortening sales cycles and increasing sales win rates.
Proactive sales pipeline management depends upon a foundation of both accurate data and timely reporting tools. CRM systems must be configured to track overall both sales velocity and time-in-stage for every deal in the pipeline. Changes to the status of individual deals must be immediately visible to managers. Managers must be equipped to manage by exception.
We work with clients to configure their CRM systems and management reporting frameworks so that sales managers have the information they need to establish accurate forecasts and to “detect and correct” before a change becomes a catastrophe.
Take the Next Step
We would be pleased to share what we’ve learned about helping high-growth-potential organisations to implement proactive sales pipeline management as part of a balanced programme of sales and marketing performance improvement. As a first step, you may find it useful to self-audit your current sales and marketing processes.
As soon as you are ready to learn more, please email us at pipeline@inflexion-point.com, or call us on +44 (0) 118 975 0595. We look forward to discovering whether we might be able to help your organisation to improve its performance in this critical area.