A sales pipeline is a list of prospects who are interested in your product or services. The seven main categories of sales pipeline stages are described in this blog.

Sales Pipeline Stages

Some businesses can generate sales naturally. Leads can be generated by a variety of marketing campaigns and existing client referrals. After a few conversations, these prospects could become paying customers.

Many small and medium-sized businesses find that the sales process is chaotic and not well structured. Sales can sometimes be unpredictable.

The sales pipeline stages represent each step that a prospect goes through in your sales process.

Sales pipeline stages include lead generation, lead nurturing and sales qualified leads, sales accepted leads, sales qualified leads, closed deals, and post-sale.

This is the complete explanation of 7 stages:

Lead generation:

If everything went according to plan, every lead would be passed on directly to the appropriate salesperson. Many companies lack systems to accomplish this.

They will pass on additional leads and follow-up conversations to line managers, whose primary priority is generating revenues, not representing your company professionally.

It’s easier to give your sales team “form” than “function” when you have dedicated resources that are focused on prospecting activities.

Lead nurturing:

This is a job well done.

Consider, for instance, a call that takes you through three to four steps because the prospect gave up initially on answering all their questions after only two yes/no answers (or even five).

Any further communication should be made from any contact company has, such as an answering service call, automated email response, or marketing automation messages.

Marketing qualified Lead:

Prospects will ask about your deal at some point during their sales process. This is not because your offer is better than the competition, but because they want more details and need to trust someone else to provide them with the details of the purchase.

Sales accept lead:

Once a leader is accepted, they should continue to live in Salesforce.

It is managed by a member of your sales team. They will schedule demos and follow-up calls with the prospect, and then measure any results that could be used to qualify for next-level qualifications based on previous goals.

Sales qualified lead:

This stage of life is the most exciting. The details of your deal are in place.

This deal can be passed to other sales professionals, who may then act as agents and incorporate the terms of the contract with either a discount (or an up-front payment) depending on the negotiation.

Each stage should last no longer than one month. This keeps you in close touch with your prospects and allows them to be more engaged with you.

Closed Deal:

This is the moment when a contract was signed between your customer and the firm.

Rarely, all three stages can be present simultaneously. However, I prefer that they are completed within 30 working days of the proposal acceptance.

Post-sale:

This process can also be automated by using more advanced go-to-market processes.

Customers of Salesforce are advised to look at the post-sales process separately. It is intended to achieve a completely different goal, such as identifying new opportunities and forecasting revenue.

How to Generate Better Results With Sales Pipeline Stages

Sales funnels can be a great tool to give a high-level overview of your sales conversions. But, knowing sales funnels won’t help you manage your daily tasks.

A sales pipeline is essential for ensuring that you can work with prospects and leads within your funnel. The stages of your sales pipeline better reflect your sales process and help you focus on activities that will drive revenue.

Tips for creating a Pipeline that empowers your team

1. Define the goals and objectives of your team – Determine what your team wants to achieve in the short- and long-term.

2. Make a plan – Determine how you will achieve your goals and then create a timeline that outlines when each step will be completed.

3. Give your team the resources they need – Make sure you have the right tools and resources to reach your goals.

4. Manage your sales pipeline – Develop and implement a well-designed pipeline that engages your team by providing them with the information they require.

5. Manage beyond closing – Attract and develop customers through ongoing relationship management efforts to generate recurring revenue for profitable subscription sales.

Conclusion

A key part of any marketing strategy is the sales pipeline stage. This shows clients what you have to do and allows them to decide if they want to work together.

Knowing your sales pipeline will allow you to understand your strengths and weaknesses, which will enable you to make better marketing decisions for your business.

This is it for now. We’ll see you again with a new topic. Keep the conversation going by leaving a comment below.