Sales pipeline uncertainty is the gap between the expected and the actual outcomes of your sales process. It can affect your revenue forecasts, your resource allocation, and your decision making. How can you manage this uncertainty and improve your sales performance? Here are some tips to help you.
The first step is to evaluate the quality of your sales pipeline. This means looking at the quantity, the quality, and the velocity of your leads and opportunities. You can use metrics such as conversion rates, win rates, deal size, and sales cycle length to measure these aspects. You should also review your pipeline regularly and remove any stale or unqualified leads that are inflating your numbers.
Deep deal reviews are a must here. You can do a reverse timeline, a pre-mortem exercise or use a deal review framework like MEDDPICC.
Sales Coach @ Gert Scholts Sales Coaching Pro | Confidence builder. Sales Leadership
Top of funnel activity, quality and qualification should be numbers driven and stops uncertainty before it begins. A sales person / sales leader who does not know their conversions and other numbers, invites uncertainty from the word go.
Uncertainty is associated with any sales pipeline. Conversion can take place in a shorter period or that can take time. But it is essential to assess the quality of the pipeline and have a some certain conventions on a regular basis. I always encourage teams to maintain some near 100% converting sales spread throughout their pipeline and make sure to break even with the high probability eals where you are certain of conversion on the planned time frame.
The next step is to align your pipeline stages with your buyer's journey. This means defining the criteria and the actions that indicate when a lead moves from one stage to another. You should also align your sales activities and your content with each stage, so that you can provide value and guidance to your prospects. By aligning your pipeline stages, you can ensure that you are tracking the right signals and moving the deals forward.
The third step is to apply scenario planning to your sales pipeline. This means creating different scenarios based on the best-case, the worst-case, and the most likely outcomes of your sales process. You should also assign probabilities and impacts to each scenario, and identify the factors and the triggers that can influence them. By applying scenario planning, you can prepare for different situations and adjust your strategies accordingly.
The fourth step is to optimize your sales process based on the data and the insights from your pipeline analysis and scenario planning. This means finding the areas where you can improve your efficiency, your effectiveness, and your customer experience. You should also test and measure the results of your changes and implement feedback loops to ensure continuous improvement. By optimizing your sales process, you can reduce your sales pipeline uncertainty and increase your sales performance.
The fifth step is to communicate your pipeline status to your stakeholders. This means sharing your pipeline data, your scenarios, and your action plans with your sales team, your management, and your customers. You should also use clear and consistent language and formats to convey your message and avoid confusion. By communicating your pipeline status, you can build trust, alignment, and collaboration among your stakeholders.
The final step is to learn from your pipeline outcomes and use them to improve your future sales pipeline management. This means analyzing the reasons why you won or lost a deal, the gaps between your expectations and your results, and the feedback from your customers and your team. You should also document and share your learnings and best practices, and apply them to your next sales cycle. By learning from your pipeline outcomes, you can refine your sales process and reduce your sales pipeline uncertainty.