Without a strategic sales pipeline, your business is doomed to fail. If you haven’t defined the steps that make up your sales life cycle, you can’t possibly tell the difference between prospects who need more information and prospects who are ready to buy.
Search less. Close more.
Grow your revenue with all-in-one prospecting solutions powered by the leader in private-company data.
Even worse, you can waste your time and energy on people who aren’t a good fit for your organization or burn bridges with prospects who would have bought had you talked with them at the right time.
To get more control over your sales, you need a strategic approach to pipeline management. With the right process, you can not only drive growth, but also avoid needless activities and save time.
To help you out, here are four ideas to strengthen your sales process, along with some examples to illustrate the points.
1. Remove needless steps
An effective sales pipeline is a bit like a slippery slide. Your prospects should climb to the top, sit, slightly tip over the edge, and slide down to the bottom with ease.
If the “slippery slide” (read: sales pipeline) is rusty, your prospects will go through a lot of friction, which is a deal-breaker. Any further step you add will decrease your results, so you must remove nonessential stages.
So, where should you start?
With your landing page, of course.
By optimizing your qualifying process, you can bring in prospects that really need your products and services and get rid of a few steps in the sales stages.
Even for apps like EarlyBird, having an engaging landing page is vital for informing customers, collecting their data, and repelling “unsuitable” prospects.
If you take a look at the EarlyBird page above, you’ll find it clearly describes the people it’s addressing: parents, family and people who want to invest in a child’s financial future.
If you don’t fall into one of those categories, you probably won’t be interested enough to continue to the next steps, which is a time-saver for both you and your customers — you won’t waste time talking to someone who’s not a good fit.
And this isn’t exclusive to service-based business, by the way. By reducing the steps needed to complete a purchase, e-commerce ventures can benefit from this principle, too.
Allstate Insurance, an online car assurance service provider, is a great example. When you land on its homepage, you’ll find a simple description of what it offeres and a clear CTA button.
When you click it, it takes you directly to the product page. So, in a few clicks, you are able to purchase the company’s products. Even more, by adding your zip code, you get products that are personalized to your place of residence.
No matter the industry you’re in or the business model of your company, by getting rid of the friction in your sales processes, you’ll increase results proportionally.
2. Consider external factors in your sales process
The consideration stage impacts sales results more than many people realize. According to a recent study, 60 percent of customers decide to talk to a sales rep during this stage of the sales prospecting process.
At this point, potential clients have already made a list of options and carefully researched each of them. That’s why designing a strategy to position your product or service before them is crucial to success.
Here’s where social proof should play a crucial role in your sales process.
Managing your pipeline can also include external factors like accredited reviewing sites, recommendations from friends and family, testimonials from previous customers, and even comments on social networks like Facebook or Instagram.
Make sure to always use your reviews to advertise yourself on your website but also elsewhere. By adding a “view our review” page for example, like Oberheiden P.C. is doing, you are supporting your sales process.
Potential customers will likely check that page before hiring you or buying anything on your website. In the decision-making process, peer review is a factor that no one can ignore. So why not use those reviews for your own marketing?
For instance, research finds that the average person conducts three to four Google searches per day, but what does that mean for you?
Well, when your prospects are still in the consideration stage, they’re likely to compare solutions through search engines. And if you position your service in front of these prospects, they’ll probably add your company to their list of options. Nurturing your prospects before a sales call will increase your chances of closing the deal.
Just take a look at this nursing school comparison guide.
Imagine that you’re in charge of selling a nursing program and want to attract more qualified leads. Well, by getting your program listed in a guide like this, you’d achieve that goal.
Simply head over to Google and search for comparison sites in your industry — there’s plenty of them — and reach out to discover how to get your company listed. Most of these sites are open to negotiate.
Credit repair companies have mastered this process.
The comparison site shown below is a good example of an affiliate marketing sales pipeline where credit repair companies get clients through their affiliate programs.
These sites not only describe each service, but also tell you which of them is a better fit for you depending on your specific situation.
This is by no means a new strategy, but social proof will never get outdated. And it’s a great way to qualify leads.
3. Optimize your accounting systems
Pipeline management isn’t only about what happens before the sale, but also about what happens after a prospect becomes a client.
You must design a process to get paid, manage your numbers, and measure the overall health of your business.
In other words, you should have a system in place to know if your current sales pipeline is working in the first place. No matter how neat your sales process is or how much you work on it, if you can’t properly manage your accounting and ensure your clients pay you on time, it’ll all be worthless.
In today’s day and age, you need an accounting system to manage your finances and optimize your processes through features like automatic invoicing and income tracking.
Remember: delayed decision-making is the killer of the sale, and if you can’t automate collection of payments, you’ll lose money and time. Not only that, but you’ll lose control over your cash flow.
Now, accounting software doesn’t need to be bank-breakingly expensive. The pricing structure of most platforms starts as low as $10 per month. So, even if you’re on a shoestring budget, companies like Wave, for example, offer free accounting software for small businesses. So, there’s absolutely no excuse.
4. Use video to target prospects at each stage of your sales pipeline
You should reach your prospects at a specific point of intent and show them relevant content based on their level of awareness.
Video is a great way to connect with your audience at a personal level while also achieving this goal. Depending on which stage of the funnel you’re targeting, you’ll use different types of video.
For instance, if you’re a SaaS that helps e-commerce businesses accept payments online, you could segment your videos into three categories: awareness, consideration and decision.
Then, you should create videos that address specific questions people commonly have at each stage. Your video topics might look something like this:
- Awareness: How to accept payments online
- Consideration: The top three payment processors
- Decision: How to choose the right payment gateway for your business
This way, you can address the specific question a prospect is asking at each stage and strategically position yourself as the best option.
Video content is one of the most effective and shareable ways to lead prospects through your sales pipeline.
As you share stories, lessons, and valuable information, you can build trust with potential customers. A good idea is to ask previous customers to react in videos and give their opinions about your services, like Legacy Healing is doing. This way, potential customers can listen to satisfied customers, which will help in their decision stage.
The question is: How do you create videos that actually work?
Well, according to Richter Studios, the key to successful corporate videos is to be unique.
In the company’s own words: “The purpose of a corporate video production is to answer standard business questions. This typically includes clarification about a company’s goals, objectives, and mission statement. […] Begin by being true to your corporate video. Seek to tell your unique story. That alone will create differentiation”
I suggest you organize a meeting with your customer support team as well as some of your sales reps to figure out the most common customer objections. By creating videos that overcome such objections you’ll reduce friction and improve your overall results.
Conclusion
A clear and well-designed sales pipeline is a must for any team.
Unfortunately, so many businesses ignore this fact and still wonder why they aren’t seeing results. Hopefully, you aren’t one of those.
To get the most out of your sales efforts, you can rely on a variety of tactics including: developing an affiliate program, considering external factors, removing needless steps, accepting online payments, and using video to reach your prospects at their specific level of awareness.
By using these ideas, you can improve your results, save time, and reduce waste.
Joanne Camarce is a digital marketing expert specializing in SEO, e-commerce, and social media. She loves meeting new people and embraces unique challenges. When she’s not wearing her marketing hat, you’ll find her fine-tuning her art and music skills.
