Sales automation pipeline management nurtures a lead throughout which plays a crucial role as it increases the maximum chances of lead conversion.
First, let us give you the definition of sales pipeline management.
What is sales automation pipeline management?
The Sales pipeline is an optical picture of where the leads lie in the sales process at different times. It also helps to understand how you expect the sales rep to close a lead on a monthly or weekly basis or how fast are they reaching their sales quota.
According to research done by Vantage point, about 72% of sales manager does a review meeting every week with their sales reps just to know their progress. Also, pipeline management has to improve a lot as it has a report that 63% of people agree that their organization has poor sales pipeline management.
Visit the link below to know about a few more ways to handle pipeline management using HubSpot CRM.
Cite source-https://databox.com/hubspot-crm-to-manage-your-sales-pipeline
If you can follow the pipeline and analyze it properly, the conversion rate is more likely to increase.
We will discuss 7 proven ways of automation for sales pipeline management through which you can get success in your business:
1. Follow up regularly without delay
As the competition is higher in today’s market, prospects have lots of choices they can go for. Therefore following-up is a very essential part of the sales team. Not an easy task it is, but before giving up you should make sufficient follow-ups. Delayed and last-minute interactions will result in low performance and low conversions. So, you must start early with the lead calls.
2. Emphasize on best leads and remove the dead leads
The better way to successfully close a deal is to concentrate on the best leads as it almost takes the same time to close any of the leads. You can make use of the data you have collected through sales automation tools and tech solutions. Others might not notice to make use of the data. You might also train the team so that closing the lead becomes easier and in a systematic manner.
Try to remove the dead leads from your database and move on to the next lead opportunity. Because, they clearly state that they are do not have interest anymore, therefore it is of no use to convince them further.
3. Add time for sales training and monitor metrics
The sales team works hard to interact, qualify, and close deals. So you always need to keep an eye on their progress. An employee can lack the knowledge because of that he might not achieve his best in the sales process. A group meeting can be scheduled to search for solutions for big challenges.
Besides this, you also have to check on your pipeline metrics as it keeps on changing all the time.
Like the number of leads in your pipeline, the percentage of leads your team is closing, the average period of the lead before they close it, etc. You must go through the metrics and keep it updated regularly so to improve the pipeline process.
4. Review and clarify your sales pipeline process
A sales method or technique does not always work in the same way. It keeps on changing according to the time and need. We need to review it on a regular basis so that things are in place and improve efficiency. Everything in the sales process- be it follow-ups or pitching, the offers to the leads can be enhanced with time. If you want to run your pipeline smoothly without wastage of time, then you have to be alert of every minor mistake or warning sign that could ruin your efforts and reputation. Else it could create a serious issue for your organization.
5. Provide your prospects with better content
Yes! We agree that the best way to communicate with the prospect is through phone calls or email. But, they also require information so that they can educate themselves about a particular product or service. You should provide them with content for each phase of your sales pipeline so the prospect could understand it and take the relationship to the next level. A very less percentage of the sales rep who works in the field participate in content creation, which is not a very good thing.
6. CRM for managing your sales
Usually, we have a huge number of leads in our sales pipeline, it is important to manage it efficiently. Therefore, you are always suggested to use CRM while managing sales leads. For a big organization, where there are lots of leads and the growth required is high, you have to use CRM to keep track of the activities. CRM tool is used by maximum organizations nowadays where they want high performance from their sales team.
7. A Short length of your sales cycle
If you pull your sales cycle longer then there are chances that the prospect might lose interest in you or changes mind and searching for someone who can solve their problems earlier. If you have issues like less number of lead conversions, then probably you have a long sales cycle. Reduce the gaps between the follow-up dates and plan out the steps that you are going to follow to close the lead.
Also, read Form optimization through sales automation:
https://digitalwoods.net/en/blog/form-optimization-through-sales-automation
Wrap up
To maintain a healthy sales pipeline after you create it is pivotal for carrying out the entire sales process.
If not maintained then the risk of losing new clients are higher. Therefore, always concentrate on the right prospect, follow-up as per the schedule prepared, and also on pipeline management ideas to enhance the lead conversion rate.
