5 Tips on Building a Sales Pipeline
I’ve been in sales for over 17 years now, and I’ve seen SO many people who do not know how to build a sales pipeline. So here we go! I am going to give you 5 solid tips on how to help your team build a strong pipeline.
Data. This seems like a no brainer but the amount of Companies that I have worked with who DO NOT have the data for their reps would blow your mind. Guys, we need to give them the data in order to do their job. Every rep should have a list of their territories. Every rep should have a list of their customers. If they don’t have this, stop reading here and come back when they have this.
Prospecting. Yes, of course TL. Obviously we need to prospect, duh! But what exactly does prospecting mean? It’s seed/soil preparation. We need to constantly be continuing to plant seeds in order to grow a kick ass garden. Or Pipeline. Same thing. How to prospect? That’s a whole blogpost for another day.
A CRM. Not just any CRM. whatever CRM works for you. It doesn’t have to be the fanciest thing on the market. One thing you need though is to be able to build a sales process in it. That’s a must.
A sales quota. Another one that you may be thinking “Well obviously they need this” but lots of Companies I work with haven’t really set this for reps. How do you know how to build a pipeline when you don’t know what your quota is?
A strong leader. Your reps need you. You should be getting into the weeds too. Can you build a pipeline? Can you prospect? You need to show them what you know. SHARE it.
Being in B2B sales and retail is some of the toughest work out there. We are constantly busting our butts to get business, build pipelines, hustle, sell, hit quotas, grind it out, blah blah blah. The last question to ask yourself as a leader is:
“Do I know what motivates every member of my sales team?”
It’s ok if you don’t, but that’s your homework. Guess what? Just because we are in sales does NOT mean we are all motivated by $$$. Read that again. Go find out what motivates them. Is it leadership, helping others, money, exercise, family? Etc. Building a pipeline is the easy part, it’s determining what drives your TEAM is where you need to spend some time.
