Changes in Pipeline Management
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In the old days of SFA, pipeline management was the main feature proposed as
part of the justification for the investment in the sales force. Of course, we
now know that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is much more than a vision
for the sales organization. In fact, it's hard to justify the expense to achieve
simple efficiency gains in the sales process. This is only part of the total
picture of a complete
CRM strategy.
The
Sales Funnel
Pipeline management is performed thru a sales funnel in many organizations.
Traditionally, the funnel starts at the top where it is broad. The broadness
indicates the number of prospects in that particular band. Obviously, the
earlier in the process, the lower the likelihood of closing the deal, and the
more prospects and dollars fall into this category.
-
Awareness
-
Interest
-
Evaluation
-
Commitment
-
Referral
This type of sales funnel is a traditional way of projecting both weighted
dollars over time, but it can also be used in manufacturing businesses to help
predict fulfillment requirements in specific periods. Of course, there are sales
behaviors that can cause serious problems here. Namely, strong>not entering
prospects into the pipeline that suddenly close,
placing enormous pressure on the manufacturing resources.
The Marketing Funnel
In
a customer-centric business vision, this funnel may make some more sense in
understanding your customer. The marketing funnel segments emphasize the source
of your prospects vs a subject measure of probability of close. Using
this approach will make it plainly obvious which marketing methods are working
in both attracting and then converting leads and prospects.
It can also provide insight into where prospects leave. This could be due to
bottlenecks in your process, or an ineffective message, or simply a bad user
experience. This gives you the information you need to make the necessary
changes in these points of contact.
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Stickiness Efforts
- Repeat Visits and Clicks
- Engagement Offers
- Calls To Action
- Contact or Callback
- Orders
- Repeat Visits
- Repeat Orders
Pipeline management takes on a whole new meaning when you begin to address the
reality that understanding your customer's needs and behaviors is a
corporate-wide issue, and not simply a sales tool. These are critical
points to measure when developing an increase in customer loyalty is the goal.
Bob Chernet of Viewmark wrote a
great
blog on this topic. I recommend that you mark that site in your favorites
folder if you're interested in developing a real CRM strategy for your business.
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