Sales Funnels, Pipelines, and More...

We’ve all heard the buzzwords “sales funnel” and “sales pipeline”. What are they and what do they have to do with small business? I have a different twist on this stuff.

The Sales Funnel

The traditional definition of a sales funnel is a series of stages that will take a lead all the way thru the funnel to a customer. Usually there are somewhere between 5-10 phases or stages of a sales funnel. The sales process works by moving the lead down to the next level of the funnel. The time it takes to go from “lead” to “client” is your sales cycle. This will vary significantly from industry to industry and company to company.

Most people don’t realize that a sales funnel can be created for a B2C business as well as B2B businesses. If your company is not using a sales funnel – you are leaving a ton of money on the table. A ton.

Pipelines

I view a pipeline as a series of events or tasks necessary to deliver a desired result. We can create pipelines for just about every aspect of our business. Funnels and pipelines can literally make your company run like a well-oiled machine. Here are some pipelines I use in my business:

• What happens when we get a new client? This pipeline answers that question with a very detailed set of tasks and events – from the moment the sale is closed until the project is started (another pipeline takes over). We know EXACTLY what happens.
• What happens when we hire a new person? Again, the pipeline takes us from the ad thru the interview process to the employment manual and indoctrination into our company culture. It is nice to know exactly what will happen when we hire someone – there is no guessing. There is no making it up as you go.

So pipelines are geared more towards actions and workflow after the sale and the funnel is designed to develop the new business. I have multiple funnels and pipelines in my company and advise you to do the same.

Summary

When something happens – anything – you or your staff should know EXACTLY what to do next. Take all of the guesswork out of business. Create these pipelines as you go, as you run up on different situations. I recommend learning Trello and using Trello boards as your funnels and pipelines.

Just imagine – knowing exactly what to do?

• What if it snows tonight and nobody can get to work? Pipeline.
• What if you fire someone? Pipeline.
• What if a customer refers you to someone else? Pipeline.
• What if a tornado demolishes your building? Pipeline.
• What if all of your data is lost? Pipeline.
• What if your customers credit card accounts are compromised? Pipeline.
• You come in on a Wednesday morning to find a flood with water pipes busted. Pipeline.
• What if your biggest client starts talking to a competitor? Pipeline.

You get the picture. This requires a lot of work on the front end but the payoff and ROI are so big I cannot imagine not taking the time or money to implement a system like this. Where there is a hiccup – or a problem rears its ugly head – it is so much easier to identify exactly where the problem is at (looking at your pipeline) typically fixing the issue will require small tweaks. You know where the bottleneck is at – no guessing.

If you would like more information about how these systems can fit into YOUR business give Dennis a call at 706.994.6213or shoot him a message here. I can help with Trello as well as setting up your well-oiled machine. 

Dennis Lynn - Inbound Solutions Group