Colleen’s Blog

What is the one thing you can do right now to improve you sales pipeline accuracy? Take the quiz and find out!

All to often, sales professionals use sales forecast and sale pipeline interchangeably. And that can lead to trouble! What the exact relationship? Take the quiz and find out!

Pipeline management and pipeline reviews are the most important tasks you complete in sales because they help you prioritize what activities to complete each month as well as give you an accurate indication of how healthy your sales pipeline really is

This week, I want to discuss your pipeline metrics. Our clients are noticing an unstable marketplace and, if you're not paying attention to this instability, it can dramatically change your pipeline metrics and lead to disastrous results.

When I ask sales teams what's the number reason why their pipeline isn't more full—how come they're managing a pipeline so lean it's going to be impossible for them to hit their targets—they give me an excuse. They abdicate responsibility, claiming that their marketing department has not provided them with enough leads. You have to be responsible for your own pipeline.

I want to focus on what's on the top of my mind, which is the end of the year for many of my clients. Right now, we're moving towards the end of the calendar year, but the strategy that I want to talk about can and should be done every single month and quarter.

Taking the occasional peek at the sales pipeline is not effective pipeline management. Managing and reviewing the sales pipeline helps salespeople prioritize what activities to complete each month, it also gives them an accurate indication of how healthy their sales pipeline truly is. Here are a few steps for you to consider and that you can pass on to your sales force so that they can efficiently manage their pipeline: