How To Build A Sales Pipeline To Hit Your Quota

Sales Prospecting is a skill that no First-time Founder or a Salesperson can ignore. We all know that when we decide to take up sales as a career it’s understood that you are ready to deliver numbers. You must have heard from your bosses/managers that sales is about hitting numbers. For some, it can be a really daunting job full of pressure chasing customers and making sure they buy from you. That’s a dilemma every sales person faces in his career. Think about it. Are Sales that hard? Is there a mystery to it? How come many salespeople suck at it? How come top 1% Sales folks are so good at it that they can sell anything in this world?

I’m continuously looking to find answers to such questions. My keen desire to become a really effective salesperson has made me curious to dig deeper into this.

There are 3 qualities that really differentiate them from the pack:

1. Technique

2. Discipline

3. Attitude

They never stop sharpening their sales skills. They are continuously working on it to improve it. They believe in mastering it.

The top 1% are the folks that never let their pipeline dry. They understand the gravity for doing right prospecting.

They have an action plan & they follow it diligently every day. They review it from month to month & keep iterating to suit their objectives. As a Sales Manager, it is imperative that you do have an action plan for your team & review it to fill the gaps. This will help you to be on top of the game & will help minimize the frustration you go through every time your team does not hit the numbers.

Let’s look at the variables:

Ideal Prospect list: The first step is to make your salespeople understand whom they are talking to. For this, they need to have a deep understanding of who is using their product & why exactly the chose you over others.

Ask your salespeople to find answers to below questions:

* Who are your best customers (not necessarily the biggest, but the best)?

* Where did you find your best customers?

* Is there an industry in which you have experience that might make it a good target industry?

* What is your ideal company size?

* Who at the organization is the decision-maker for your products and services?

Now its time to think deeply about customers & understand their business context. It will give you a competitive edge over other folks who are also reaching out to them. Having a solid understanding allow you to stand out in the eyes of your client & help you quickly build repo and trust with them. If done successfully you will be able to win their business smoothly. Sales People should learn to build trust and leverage to win many more accounts. Below questions will help you learn a lot about your customers.

* Who are your prospects’ customers?

* Why do their clients buy from them?

* What industry events (such as trade shows) do they attend?

* What type of social functions are your clients most active in?

* What books, magazines, and blogs do your prospects read?

With this understanding you should keep your eyes and ears open to find new customers. Some of the habits you should being to build as soon as possible.

Always be prospecting:

No matter which day of the month you should always spend some time on prospecting. You can use Linkedin to do this research , look for their buying triggers and make calls or send new emails to prospects.

Ask for referrals:

Your customers are your best source to get new referrals. They believe in you and your product & hence will go a long way in helping you.

Note your key triggers:

Always keep track of triger which lead to buying decision. They can be anything:

• Hiring a new VP
• Raised a new round of funding
• Opening a new office

Know your customers:

You should have a sharp of understanding which market segment is responding to your product really well and also which department is receptive to you and is struggling with the problem you’re trying to solve. This can very well help you pick up speed by avoiding obvious dangers.

Automate as much as possible:

At every stage of your prospecting process you can use tools to improve your productivity.

Prospecting tools introduce automation, which grants back time that human behavior can’t. SaaS products find prospects faster, remove manual tasks for sales reps, and prescribe the right messaging.

Some of the activities which can keep your reps from closing deals faster:

• Researching Right Prospects and doing competitive Analysis
• Finding their contact details like Emails/Contact Numbers
• Crafting perfect message for emails
• Carrying out email outreach to get responses
• Scheduling/Running Meetings
• Analysing Engagement

By plugging the gaps, I feel you can produce some awesome results.

All this is fine but you need to have an action plan.

You can build a plan simply by incorporating all tactics you will use to fill the top of your funnel with warm leads.

Your team needs to set some goals for them every week & keep tracking them. They can be simple goals like:

* Targets: Identify one or more specific sources for targeting, Specify the follow-up plan (email, phone scripts, etc.)

* Phone: Number of calls, Number of contacts or past clients you will contact to ask for referrals • Amount of time you will set aside each week to organize targets for calling

* Meetings: Number of new prospecting meetings to hold, Number of meetings to schedule each week with existing prospects in sales cycle, Number of meetings to hold with referral sources

* Referrals: Set a goal to contact a number of potential referral partners to request meetings, Set a number of referrals to request

* Networking & Social Media: Set a number of networking events or meetings you will attend, Set a goal for how many new online community contacts you will make (using LinkedIn and other media), Set a number of people to send an item of interest to (links to blogs, resources, articles, etc.), Set a number of events or meetings you will invite a prospect or partner to attend with you

* Other: Plan your day and schedule activities at a set time each morning or afternoon, Organise targets and wrap up clerical matters at a set time each afternoon, Document success stories and lessons learned on a regular basis for sales meetings, Implement new techniques regularly, Identify magazines, blogs, and other publications in your target market and set aside time each week to read them.

With this I believe you are packed with all the necessary ammunition to attack the day. Let me know if you have any questions.

Have A Great Day Selling!