Wondering what could happen if we ditched the pipeline paranoia.

Conventional wisdom says creative businesses should have full order books and a healthy sales pipeline stretching out for months.

Here I ask; is the price we pay trying to achieve a full pipeline too high?

Could we happier, more creative and more successful if we embraced the space and looked forward to the quiet times?

I’m sat in a Kiwi coffee shop in Manchester, all turmeric chai latte and exposed brickwork. My companion is a hugely talented creative director who runs a number of successful businesses, drawing upon all their years of experience to create awesome brand stories.

The conversation turns to business and that strange question ‘Is business going well?’ drops on the table. I immediately regret asking. I notice two things as they answer; the word ‘should’ is used more and their body language changes. As I listen I see their energy fall.

This highly creative person sits talking about their sense of worth and success measured in billable hours. It saddens me hearing them downplay their achievements and speak with regret about the up and down character of their pipeline. I can see the fear they feel; worrying about the upcoming gaps in billable work. I really really regret asking.

They are reflecting the conventional wisdom that a successful business should not look like this. I sense an urgent desire to make it their top priority to fill those gaps, bring the work in and keep billable hours as high as possible.

This is what a proper business should do, isn't it?

Well maybe it is, maybe it’s not. I just wonder whether the price we pay trying to get there is too high.

Side Effects of pipeline paranoia

Working in the creative and digital sector for more than 20 years I’ve seen many things, good and bad. Being part of dysfunctional sales teams has shown me what can happen when we focus too heavily on filling our sales pipeline and place too much emphasis on our levels of billable work.

Let’s use the phrase pipeline paranoia to describe this way of working. Here are some of the side effects that I’ve seen in myself and others:

1, Scarcity mindset

An over emphasis on the gaps in your pipeline, trains the brain to focus on what you don’t have. Attaching negative feelings to this focus (I’m not good enough, It’s a crowded market etc) fills us with fear. Acting from a place of fear changes the way we feel, how we react to people and experiences and alters our perceptions.

All this is not where we need to be as its toxic to creativity, erodes energy and self worth.

2, The billable tipping point

Billable time is good, so we need to do as much as we can, right... Well, doing billable work is clearly a good thing, but there comes a time when the levels of billable work become corrosive. Too much billable work leads to burn out and poor mental health at it’s worse and has many other less obvious side effects. A team billing too much cooperates less and needs more managing. Silos get further apart and there can be a complete breakdown in communication between sales and delivery people.

3, Doing work you don’t love

When you fear the quiet times and see a lack of billable hours in a month as a failure you reduce your ability to say no. The permission you give to yourself and others to have a choice about what you do and how you do it drops to almost zero.

When boosting billable time and filling the pipeline is the number one priority one tends to say yes to everything. This sets us on the path to the bottom; lowering prices, cutting corners and working in ways and with people that we just don’t love.

4, The big turnoff

Doing work you don’t love almost always leads to lower energy and less engagement. People disengaging and walking out the door, or simply not giving a shit anymore (which is far worse) is the most toxic side effect of all. It robs you of your enthusiasm, your creativity and your ability to do good things.

5, A beast that needs to be fed

Be careful what you wish for. Setting your sights on a full pipeline is a big undertaking that needs to be resourced properly. It can be easy to find yourself taking on additional sales staff, expensive subscriptions to CRM platforms and lead generation specialists. Your team has grown, your commitments increased and now your pipeline needs to bigger than ever before.

But this is OK, this is what good business should look like, isn't it.

Well may be it is. but I wonder what positive possibilities could open up to us if we ditched the pipeline paranoia and put things into a more balanced perspective.

1, An abundant mindset

When we move our perceptions away from scarcity and a lack of work into a more positive place, we allow ourselves to see more opportunities. Confidence and positivity are infectious and key to adopting a strategy of attraction over promotion. Move away from churning out jobs that you don’t love and challenge yourself to create and grow opportunities to do great things.

When give ourselves space to get out there, meet people and explore opportunities with a confident abundant mindset we flourish.

2, Side projects

Let’s banish all talk of downtime, non-billable, or ‘the bench’. These are negative words and a great breeding ground for pipeline paranoia. Give yourself space for risk taking, creativity and innovation . Do great stuff for the sheer love of it, there is no better way of attracting people and opportunities to you.

3, Stop, look and listen

Quiet time is precious and powerful. Why would we ever seek to banish it to that 4pm slot on a Friday afternoon? Treasure your quiet time to refresh, grow and connect to your story. Get outside, meet people and listen to their stories, it will take you to new unexpected places and super charge your own creativity.

This helps us be confident and interesting, and that’s the best way to attract opportunities and abundance toward us.

4, Do more selling, better

Growing opportunities and relationships takes time. If pipeline paranoia overwhelms you, its time you’ll think you don’t have. But you do and you must use it wisely. Sales is best when its a team sport, if we encourage collaboration and whole team involvement we flourish. This is impossible if pipeline paranoia has taken hold. Collaborative, mindful selling is an approach that people are always keen to explore and there is lots of information here.

5, Work with the best at their best

Ditching the pipeline paranoia helps make work happier. We know in our hearts that this is important, but we often think that’s not something we should care about in business. But we should. Happy engaged people do great work. Happy engaged people attracted others. Happy engaged people build great businesses.

Yeah but get real, this is just reckless. If you don’t have sales you don’t have a business.

There is an absolute truth to that statement that I agree with. My thinking is there could be a different way of approaching good business. This is about refocusing, not abandoning. This is about reducing pipeline paranoia, not throwing away prudent financial practices.

I propose that by ditching pipeline paranoia, you achieve what you were seeking in the first place — a successful growing business that you love. Adopting an abundant mindset, working from a place of purpose and confidence will attract opportunities to you.

To approach work in this way does force you to be really on top of the numbers in your business. There should be no surprises or drama when it comes to finance. Know your numbers, work with a great accountant (don’t try to do this yourself to save money) and plan properly.

Plan for quiet times and look forward to them. Don’t live in blind hope that they will never happen.

Growth and prosperity

There is that old quote that says we get what we measure. If we run our business looking at short term margins, monthly billable hours, utilisation broken down into days or hours, we’ll get infected with pipeline paranoia.

Start measuring growth and prosperity and think long term. Find the right metrics for you to help do this. Perhaps a good place to start is a change to a common question. Let’s stop asking ‘What margin will we make from this work?’ and instead ask ‘How could we grow from this work?’

This simple change in language may create a shift in perception. If we’re currently defining success in billable hours above all else, this shift could lead to more positive outcomes.

Is it time to ditch the pipeline paranoia?