Is your current sales pipeline like 4am in a nightclub?

This is a running joke we have in our team. A sales pipeline with not many new leads is like 4am in a nightclub;

• Everyone that you wanted to chat to has already left
• The ones that haven’t left yet probably have ulterior motives or are sticking around for the wrong reasons

Every sales pipeline has a handful of prospects who are ‘umming’ and ‘ahhing’ on price. They take a long time to decide, they continually need more information, never return your calls and continually drive down on price. They’re the ones who usually take a lot of your time and aren’t very valuable to you.

When you are low on options, any option seems like a good one

There’s a reason why it’s called a sales pipeline, because prospects continually flow through it. Prospects are never still, flowing through the pipeline to reach a yes or a no. If you are not using lead generation to continually replenish the prospects, things can get dry quite quickly

It’s in those situations where you’re left with a pipeline drought. The quotes you have left in the pipeline might be low value or continually facing delays. But if you haven’t got any other options, these might start to seem more appealing. For the sake of a sale, you may be more tempted to offer products or prices that aren’t good for you

What do you do in this situation? Increase the amount of options you have! If you have another 100 leads come into the pipeline, these low value sales are soon going to lose their appeal. Use lead generation to continually increase the options that you have available

Low options don’t make for a strong bargaining position

Sales is about finding clients that work for you. You need to filter through the time wasters and the penny-pinchers to find the Prospects that see a lot of value in what you do!

Your sales team should have the parameters that they can work within, like a minimum price. So that they can find you lots of valuable sales, they need to be able to sift through the low value leads to find the prospects that see your solution as incredibly valuable

How do you do this? Have strong lead generation sources so that there’s a steady flow of qualified leads. This allows your sales team to hold steady and focus on the sales that work for you

Haven’t hit sales target?

Having a problem with hitting target? The first question you should ask is where are your new leads coming from? Strong lead generation is like the foundations on which a steady flow of sales is build

Is your existing pipeline dragging their feet?

Do you have clients in your pipeline that are taking forever to close? There’s always another meeting or review date which moves the close date further away from you. Don’t bang your head against a wall, just find other options elsewhere. Where are your new leads coming from?

More lead generation = good for your sales

Check out the very scientific mathematic formula above. I think it was Madame Curie that worked it out. Take Madame Curie’s advice and give your sales team more leads to speak to