Here are 6 simple yet very effective hacks that you can use to help your sales pipeline
1. Understand your process – This is a very basic yet important aspect of sales pipeline. Make sure you are aware of where you stand as in the stages of the sales pipeline. Do proper assessment to qualify leads after you successfully find and engage them. Coming to understand what ways a lead can be reached will give you amazing insight as well as it will help the agent connect better with the lead. The agent should stay focused on the leads and act appropriately depending on their response. One effective marketing strategy is to look for leads that are in need rather than creating need and then attempting to sell them. Looking for an appropriate percentage of such customers can help the business greatly.2. Study the metrics – Once you start tracking your metrics, you will get amazing insight on the performance of your sales pipeline. Interpret the metrics well by studying it closely. Look into all aspects of your leads, like from where they are coming the most, where you are losing them or what you are getting right. Never underestimate or overestimate the power of the cold call. Encourage knowledge sharing amongst the team members, it ensures that the agents have better understanding of how there peers are performing. It helps enhance performance.
3. Know your customer better – It is a great idea to know your customer better. Instead of going ahead with just the dreaded cold call, keep it as a follow-up after an email. Study your customer behavior, make note of their preferences, the influencers that work well for them. Make a detailed study of what entices them and use it to make your sales happen. Your customers will be impressed by the hard work and knowledge curation you put in, it will definitely boost the stages to move forward in the sales process rather than just stagnate at certain difficult junctures.Treat each customer as individuals first. Once you can successfully curate customized services, rest assured, the customer will take more note of your approach. Give attention to details and treat your customer with care. Encourage your sales representatives to be adaptable and flexible. For example, if a customer prefers to be called at one particular time, make sure all efforts are made to make the call at that particular time.
4. Be prepared – The sales pipeline will inevitably run into objections. It is a great idea to stay prepared on how to deal with common problems. Knowing how to deal with obstacles will actually give you an edge rather than turning it into a negative experience. Armed with that competitive advantage the agent can easily anticipate and fix potential hindrances. Encourage the sales managers to let the sales representative do a good turnaround by studying closely the delays or other types of problems. Incorporate regular troubleshooting practice so that the agents become a pro. They will gain tremendous confidence through such exercises.
5. Social media – It is in best interest that you use all social media channels in combination. Which platform to give more importance or how to prioritize your approach, depends completely on your lead. Social media with its ever growing and all-encompassing reach gets your message delivered well. The content should be curated by the agent to fit the brand they represent. Develop a good social media marketing strategy. Social media keeps your business relevant. It not only catches the attention of your leads but helps your leads stay engaged in your product. Intelligent use of social media can help you gain the brownie points.
6. Networking – Participate in events and causes. Whichever way you chose to network, always remember to focus on your goal to channel towards your sales pipeline. You would not only be able to find your next set of leads but be rewarded with partnerships. These partnerships are very important as it will help you generate future leads as well. You will also know how to carry out lead generation, or the kind of events that interests your customers. you will have a steady flow of leads. Depending on your sales pipeline use your networking abilities to proceed in a successful way. Not just try to sell to your existing customers but keep looking for new customers as well. That certainly does not mean you should ignore the old customers.
When you are dealing with a sales pipeline, concentrate on what you want to do or where you want to get at. Your main aim should stay in place, but considering other factors keep the sales pipeline full and happening. Identifying the right decision-maker at the right juncture can help immensely in the sales process.
I think that the best ways of increasing sales pipeline is Increasing the number of leads. This sounds a little bit obvious but a lot of sales managers ignore it. One thing that I have learned from “Predictable Revenue” written by Marylou Tyler and Aaron Ross garcinia is that lead generation and sales, actually, can be predicted. If you measure the percentage of your past conversions from leads to customers you can know what exact number of leads you need to increase your sales.
ReplyDelete