This document outlines 7 tips for inside sales professionals to transform their sales pipeline reports from a routine exercise into an effective sales driver. The tips include: 1) Mirroring the customer's decision-making process in the pipeline stages. 2) Tracking the specific next steps agreed to with customers. 3) Using the report to flag opportunities requiring urgent attention. 4) Basing the report on commitments from customers rather than optimism. 5) Having focused conversations with managers to plan next steps. 6) Removing stalled opportunities after 3 periods of no progress. 7) Knowing key metrics like average sales cycle times and attrition rates.

1. Inside Sales Series
7 Tips to transform your sales pipeline report from routine exercise to
sales driver.
Last time, we looked at the questions a sales manager should ask their sales
team to improve sales forecasting accuracy. However, in reality the inside
sales professional should not have to wait for their manager's intervention
to challenge the way they are managing and evaluating sales opportunities -
they should be asking the questions themselves.
• Every Inside Seller needs to act and behave as if they were their own
sales manager.
• Every Inside seller needs to ask some 'hard questions' of themselves
to challenge the judgment (or otherwise) they have used this week to
move their sales efforts forward.
This week's blog will outline tips and ideas that will help you interrogate
hoe effectively you manage and move your sales pipeline process and
report.
Setting yourself up for success: The 7 steps to creating an effective sales
pipeline reporting process.
1: MIRROR
The steps in your sales pipeline (and pipeline report) should mirror the
decision making steps the prospect takes along the path to purchasing a
product such as the one you can offer.

2. Inside Sales Series
2. NEXT STEPS
Your pipeline report should track 'the next steps' you have caused the
prospect to take that effectively moves you one step closer to closing the
deal.
For example, in the table on the - the activity at 'stage one' of this pipeline
process is making contact ... but the desirable 'next step' to be achieved is the
'meeting' with someone who can qualify the sales opportunity'.
Example : Stages in the Sales Pipeline
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6
Sales
Activity
Devising
target list
1st contact
made
Contact /
Meeting to
qualify sales
opportunity
Sales
proposal
Contact to
obtain
verbal
agreement
Contract
signed /
sale closed
Next Step N/A Meeting to
qualify sales
opportunity
Agreement
to propose
sales
solution
Timeframe
for decision
making
Time
frame for
contract
signed
Solution
dispatched /
delivered
Tip: Always report and monitor whether you have (asked for and) achieved
movement towards the next step. Remember, an activity with no agreed next
step - is a stalled stage in your sales pipeline.

3. Inside Sales Series
3. RED FLAG
The report should act as a 'red flag' to help focus the inside seller’s efforts
and create urgency in the areas that require attention. Anything else is just
a historical record.
4. EVIDENCE BASED
All the information presented in the pipeline report should be based on
evidence, in the form of commitments given by the prospect at each stage
of the pipeline, and not the blind optimism of the insider seller.
5. CAUSE A FOCUSED CONVERSATION
The report document should be used to cause a focused conversation
between a seller and their manager to create a set of activities that will
move the opportunity on to a next step.
Do you have this conversation? Or do you see the report as a routine
exercise that has to be completed for your boss?
Tip: Create a section in your report that quotes the commitment / conditional
commitment the prospect has given you at the end of each stage of your
pipeline process. Remember: No commitment means less chance of the
prospect following through to the next stage within your preferred timeframes.

4. Inside Sales Series
6. THREE STRIKES AND YOU ARE OUT!
The 'Rule of 3': If an 'opportunity' in your report has not moved forward
for 'three pipeline' reporting periods (Or if the prospect has totally ignored
your last three attempts to engage / reengage) assume something has
changed. It could be their timing of the project has moved out, or that their
priorities have changed - either way it's time to remove or reduce (or
remove) the opportunity in your pipeline reporting.
*Assumes they haven't told you they wouldn't be in touch for a period of
time.
7. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS. The inside sales professional must know the
average length of a typical sales opportunity from start to finish. Get to
know your attrition rate at every stage of your sales process. When you
know the average length of the sales opportunity and the attrition rate at
each stage - you'll very quickly be able to work out how many new
opportunities need to be added to your pipeline to ensure your sales quota
or target keeps on track.
Lastly, remember, it doesn’t matter whether you use an electronic sales
pipeline tool or a paper based pipeline tool, what matters is that you use
the pipeline to drive movement through your sales process not just to
record the sales activity that you have engaged in. Have a look at our blog
on getting movement called

5. Inside Sales Series
davemalonesalescoach
More tips and resources freely available at
www.evolve.ie/resource-centre/