8 tips to fill your sales pipeline

There is a very effective tool for getting a clear and precise view of all the deals a salesperson is working on: the sales pipeline (funnel).

It brings together all current sales opportunities (leads) and lets both the salesperson and their manager track all deals in progress by level of maturity.

The purpose of a pipeline is to give you a clear and precise view of your sales cycle. At a glance, you can tell budding deals from hot deals or those about to be signed. It gives a ruthlessly honest reading of the health of your sales activity.
It is possible to organise a sales pipeline in Excel, but CRM software that includes this feature is much simpler.

Here are our 8 tips to feed your sales pipeline

1. Prospecting: phone and field

Prospecting is certainly the most laborious way to fill your sales pipeline. A lot of time and investment for sometimes mixed results. Seasoned salespeople will tell you that, just a few years ago, it was all they had!

Remember to set yourself prospecting objectives (getting the name of the decision-maker, finding out more about the incumbent competitor,…), define a target (by geography, by business sector, by headcount, …), decide how to approach them (phone or field), prepare your pitch so you don't stumble over your words and find the words that hit the mark to spark interest, and measure the results of your efforts.

2. Business networks

They have been very popular in recent years. The idea is to be part of a group of entrepreneurs who all become each other's salespeople and pass on business referrals to one another.

Meet all your fellow members; they all need to know your product or service offering precisely so they can recommend you better. Don't expect immediate results – it can take time. Remember that your fellow members will need to get to know and appreciate you before they get involved and support you as best they can.

3. Trade shows

This is a more "market trader" approach to the sales profession. Remember to set objectives for each show, let your prospects and customers know, take care of how your stand looks, design your communication materials, make sure your stand is always busy, and learn lessons from each event to do even better next time.

Make sure your stand is always busy?? The idea is to create desire so that everyone wants to come and see you. Nobody wants to miss out on a good deal! How?? First of all, by booking appointments with your customers and prospects directly on your stand to come and discover your products and services… and why not have them take part in a prize draw where everyone wins?? They should all then welcome you to a meeting at their premises to collect their prizes…

4. Online visibility

Having a website is good; having a website that ranks well in search engines is better! And if it is surrounded by social media pages that bring visitors back to it, even better!

To put it simply, internet users who don't know you must be able to find your website through your products or services, because they don't necessarily know your company's name. Keep it lively and up to date, and provide as much content as possible to demonstrate your expertise. Also make sure social media acts as a feeder to your site. Someone who visits your Facebook or LinkedIn page and wants to find out more will be redirected to your website, which will showcase your whole offering.

5. Emailing, SMS campaigns, direct mail

Do you have customer and prospect databases? Why not use postal addresses, email addresses and mobile numbers to inform your customers about the launch of new products or services, the unmissable promotion of the moment, …

However, be careful to comply with the regulations in force, in particular the GDPR, and personalise your messages as much as possible.

6. Lost or deleted deals

It may seem paradoxical, but a customer who told you "no" or a customer who told you "later" – in both cases, it is not set in stone. True, personal pride means these are not the ones you feel like contacting again, given the bad memory they left you with and the time lost on their file. But it was nothing personal; you have to be able to move past it.

There are at least two good reasons to call them back:

• There may be a new project on the horizon.
• If they still don't need you, perhaps they know someone who might. You only have to ask.

7. Co-optation, recommendations, referrals, customer reviews

Your customers are happy and everything is going wonderfully between you. Have you thought of asking them whether they know anyone who might need your products or services and to whom they could sing your praises?

Of course, since you have read "The Little Illustrated Salesperson's Handbook", you won't ask whether they know someone… you'll ask them directly to give you 2 or 3 names and phone numbers – it will be more effective.

8. Be the architect of your own success

You are having success with a particular type of customer. It can be worth spreading the word among their peers and competitors, now that your pitch is well honed and you have analysed why your customers chose you.
Rework a concise pitch before contacting them, and remember to slip the names of those you already work with into the prospecting conversation … doors may open more easily…

To conclude

Those are several examples of things to do to feed your sales pipeline. The ideal, of course, is to combine actions to reach as many contacts as possible and trigger as many opportunities as possible. With good preparation and the right tools, you will turn your contacts into prospects and then into customers. But do you know what distinguishes them? Contacts are the individuals or companies whose details you have. At this stage, you know they exist but know nothing about them. Your database is just a vast directory. To know what a prospect is, you have qualified your contact records. And little by little, you find similarities between some of your records and your loyal customers.
That is what a prospect is: a contact who would make an ideal customer.
The customer is the one who has already chosen you as a trusted partner. All that remains is to keep them and build their loyalty.