Sales pipeline improvement is that untapped area, ripe for accelerating sales growth. Yet so few sales leaders fully exploit it!
For sales leaders who are ready to supercharge their sales pipeline management, in this comprehensive blog post, we’ve compiled a list of 30 essential questions that every sales leader should ask their sales representatives.
By probing into various aspects of the sales process, you can gain valuable insights, identify bottlenecks, and foster a culture of continuous sales improvement and positive performance management.
So, dive in and explore how these questions can help you optimise your sales pipeline health, volume, value and growth potential because all of these will help you drive exceptional sales results.
Managing Your Sales Pipeline to Maximise Growth
Sales pipeline management is a critical aspect of any successful sales strategy.
After all your sales pipeline is how you track the path that your sales prospects take as they move from leads through to buyer (or not!)
So, it’s your sales pump.
It’s the lifeblood of your sales engine – ideally (but rarely) in very simple sales processes, for non-complex sales, your sales pipeline will see a lead drop in the top of the pipeline and drop to the bottom fairly quickly, with as fewer touch points or interventions as possible.
For more complex sales there may be multiple touch points.
For larger sales with rows of decision makers, time driven budgets and larger implementation projects to plan then leads (at various stages of qualification) might sit in the sales pipeline for months and even years.
And I’m sharing this so that you know your sales pipeline should be unique to you, your buyers and the markets you sell in, with their inbuilt benefits and constraints.
There is no, one size fits all!
But there are basic rules around maxing the most of your sales pipeline and using your sales pipeline as an agent for sales improvement
Sales Pipeline Management Guidelines
To ensure your team consistently achieves its revenue goals, it’s essential to have a well-structured and efficient sales pipeline.
However, building and maintaining such a pipeline requires continuous evaluation and improvement.
This is where asking the right questions for your sales team comes into play…and way holding your sales team to account interms of sales pipeline quality is vital
So let’s set out what we’re looking for….what does good / great look like?
A sales pipeline that:
- Has clear go / no-go gates at each stage…including entry into the sales pipeline
- Has a pre-agreed set of lead criteria associated with each stage that denotes the level of certainty we have about the lead
- A set of actions that happen at each stage that test the validity of the lead and the likely sales conversion
- Is flexible – leads can go up or down the pipeline depending on new information
This is not a comprehensive list.
It’s the very basic level you would expect a sales pipeline to have. BUT get these elements right and you are 80% ahead of most sales organisations I spend time with….
Also note – GREAT sales pipeline management is a state of mind – it’s what great sales people do to convert!
Asking the questions below may shock you at first – but it’s a rapid way of improving the sales skill set and the ability to accelerate sales growth.
Diagnosing Poor Sales Pipeline Management Habits
In the spirit of full disclosure – working with many under-performing sales functions – the health of the sales pipeline is critical in their downfall. Poor sales pipeline habits will cripple the very best sales process, make a mockery of the sales pipeline stages and mean most forms of sales pipeline analysis will yield wildly misleading results (critical if you’re using these with the bank or investors)
But you don’t need to lift the bonnet to high because poor sales pipeline health is very evident.
So, if you’re suffering from:
- Bloated sales pipelines
- Sluggish sales cycle durations
- Inability to correctly forecast for the bank, investors, boards
- Poor / non-stable sales conversion rates
Then this blog post will:
- Take you back to basics about good sales pipeline health
- Help you empower your sales team so they can clean up the sales pipeline as they progress
- Give you the skills you need to start changing some of the hearts and minds with regard to how to maximise the usage and benefits of a sparkly clean and super health sales pipeline
Sales Pipeline Management to Sales Pipeline Improvement
In this blog post, we’ll delve into the 30 key questions every sales leader should ask their sales representatives.
These questions cover various stages of the sales pipeline, from prospecting to closing deals and beyond. Some sections may be more relevant to you thank others – but have a look at them all to be sure.
By regularly posing these inquiries to your sales team, you can pinpoint areas for improvement, and enhancement, enhance sales efficiency, and ultimately boost your revenue.
Section 1: Prospecting and Lead Qualification
1. How do you identify potential leads?
2. What criteria do you use to qualify leads as high-potential prospects?
3. Are there any common characteristics or behaviours among leads that tend to convert?
4. How do you prioritize leads within your pipeline?
5. What tools or techniques do you use for lead generation and prospecting?
Section 2: Building Relationships
6. How do you initiate contact with prospects and build rapport?
7. What strategies do you employ to nurture leads over time?
8. How do you tailor your approach to different buyer personas?
9. Can you share any success stories about turning a prospect into a loyal customer?
10. How do you keep track of interactions and conversations with leads?
Section 3: Qualifying Opportunities
11. What methods do you use to assess a lead’s budget and purchasing authority?
12. How do you identify a lead’s timeline for making a purchasing decision?
13. What objections or concerns do prospects commonly raise, and how do you address them?
14. How do you determine if an opportunity should advance in the pipeline or be disqualified?
15. What’s your approach to evaluating competitors and understanding the competitive landscape?
Section 4: Closing Deals
16. How do you tailor your pitch and proposal to align with a prospect’s specific needs?
17. What strategies do you use to overcome objections and objections during the closing stage?
18. Can you describe your negotiation tactics for reaching mutually beneficial agreements?
19. How do you handle the logistics and paperwork involved in finalizing a deal?
20. What steps do you take to ensure a smooth handover from sales to the fulfilment team?
Section 5: Post-Sale Relationship Management
21. How do you gather feedback from customers after a sale is completed?
22. What strategies do you use to upsell or cross-sell to existing customers?
23. How do you measure and track customer satisfaction and loyalty?
24. What processes are in place for handling customer complaints or issues?
25. How do you encourage customers to become advocates and refer new business?
Section 6: Analytics and Metrics
26. What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you regularly monitor in your pipeline?
27. How do you use data and analytics to identify trends and areas for improvement?
28. What tools or CRM software do you rely on for pipeline analysis?
29. Can you share any insights from past data that led to pipeline optimization?
30. How do you communicate pipeline insights and progress to the sales leadership team?
Conclusion | Using Good Sales Pipeline Management Habits to Drive Sales Performance Improvements
Asking these 30 essential questions to your sales team can be a transformative step toward enhancing your sales pipeline management, and accelerating the growth of your revenue, margins and market share.
By understanding each stage of the pipeline more deeply, AND HOW YOUR SALES TEAM OPERATE IN THESE STAGES can can unlock sales in even the most complex of sales pipelines
Over a longer term, by addressing pain points, and leveraging data-driven insights, you can create a dynamic sales environment that drives revenue growth.
Remember, “Sales Pipeline Management” is not just another way of describing how your sales leads move from the top to the bottom of the pipeline but the fundamental sales conversion engine in a thriving sales operation.
Continue to ask these questions regularly, adapt your strategies accordingly, and watch as your sales team excels in reaching new heights of success.
And, as an additional benefit, it’s highly likely you, your sales team and the prospects will enjoy the process more too!
Optimize your sales pipeline today and unlock your team’s full potential.
Sales Pipeline Improvement – Do You Need Help?
If you’re looking to develop stronger habits around your sales pipeline management or thinking about how you can use your sale pipeline to improve sales performance in your team, then we have a range of solution to help you.
One of the starting points is the Sales Improvement Workshop – high impact, practical and designed to cover much of what we’ve talked about above – check out the link.
For a broader chat about sales improvement – you can contact Carol on 0779 002 1885 or fill out the contact form here and we’ll be back in touch
What are your biggest sales challenges?
0779 002 1885 / carol@mortonkyle.com to get in contact.
- The Top 15 Books Every Cold Caller Should Read and Why - September 8, 2023
- Mastering Objection Handling in High-Performance Sales Teams - September 6, 2023
- Unlocking Success: A Comprehensive Guide to the 21 Stages of Sales Performance Audit - September 5, 2023