The pipeline is a widely accepted metaphor for the sales process, as it conjures a simple visualization of a salesperson’s work. Pipelines transport goods from one location to another through underground pipe infrastructures. Similarly, effective salespeople transport prospects from the position of “potential customer” to the position of “paying customer” by leading them through a carefully constructed sales process.
Pipelines that transport goods can carry highly toxic substances, and pipeline leakage or breakdown results in grave consequences. The method used to prevent life-and-death breakdown of transport pipelines is the very design that many sales pipelines lack: every pipeline needs a Main Control Room.
It would be impossible for pipeline operators to check the state of the moving goods by hand at each stage of their journey. Instead, transport pipelines are equipped with instrumentation that tracks flow, pressure, temperature and other relevant data. This relevant data is collected and communicated to a Main Control Room, where the operator sits. The operator can adjust valves, compressors, pumps and more in response to gathered data.
Think of your salespeople as sales pipeline operators who should sit in a Main Control Room and react to information on prospect behavior, rather than as operators who check pipelines by hand. Sales enablement solutions are instruments that can track and collect pertinent information, like customer engagement, and present it to sales representatives on sales enablement platforms. Then, sales representatives can adjust their sales pipeline with customized sales pitches, content, and more in response to gathered information.
Is your sales process an efficient sales pipeline?
