What Is a Sales Pipeline?

The sales funnel is an important sales management model that reflects the opportunity status and sales efficiency scientifically. Through the definition of sales pipeline elements (such as: stage division, stage promotion signs, stage promotion rate, average stage time, stage tasks, etc.), a sales pipeline management model is formed; when daily sales information enters the system, the system can automatically generate corresponding The analysis of the sales pipeline can dynamically reflect the promotion status of sales opportunities and predict the sales results. Through the analysis and evaluation of sales promotion cycle, opportunity stage conversion rate, and opportunity promotion time consumption, the sales staff can be accurately evaluated. And the sales ability of the sales team to find the obstacles and bottlenecks in the sales process; at the same time, through the analysis of the sales pipeline, you can find the abnormality of the sales opportunity in time. The sales pipeline is a scientific and effective management method and method, which can bring great help to the sales management of the direct sales model. ^[1]

Sales funnel

Sales funnel is an important reflection of opportunity status and sales efficiency

1. The sales funnel is a very intuitive sales opportunity status statistical report;

2. Under normal circumstances, the number of sales opportunities in each stage is represented by a horizontal bar chart. Because the number of each stage is different, the horizontal bar also has strengths and weaknesses. If the previous top rule is arranged up and down (for example, customers in the "demand understanding" stage should be ranked above "contract signed" customers), because in general, the more the stage in the entire sales opportunity, the more the stage, the more the stage, The lower the number, the less the number, so the whole figure is funnel-shaped, so it is called the sales funnel.

3. Through this report, users can clearly see the current status distribution of all sales opportunities. If a user's sales funnel chart is not funnel-shaped, it may be that one or more aspects of the customer's customer development work are out of order. , Maybe strategy, or technique, careful analysis can find out the cause of the problem, and then solve the problem as soon as possible

4. The statistical data of the sales funnel comes from sales opportunities

The significance of the sales funnel is that, through intuitive graphical methods, the company's customer resources have been developed from the potential customer stage to the intentional client stage, the negotiation stage, and the closing stage, or the conversion rate.

The system provides a sales pipeline management model with multiple business models. Users can choose different pipeline management templates according to different business characteristics, formulate stage tasks and contact plans, and arrange action schedules. At the same time, the system can track the status of opportunity promotion and opportunity exposure through the "sales funnel management" classification; at the same time, the system provides "opportunity promotion status table" by company, department, person, time. This feature can help sales managers understand and grasp the status of sales opportunities and opportunities for companies, departments, and sales personnel in a timely manner, identify potential problems in time, and guide sales.

The sales funnel is a concept introduced from abroad. When choosing CRM software, many companies attach great importance to the function of the sales funnel. In fact, the conditions for the sales funnel to really work are that the opportunities for each stage of input must meet at least the following conditions :

1.The data is all

2.The data is real

Data is continuous

Otherwise, the sales funnel cannot serve as a guide. ^[2]

I can easily calculate the quota for sales staff

Because adopt

Sales funnel principle one

Control process is more important than control result

For sales, especially project sales of large amounts of products, from potential customers to your users, we will never be able to do it overnight. We are more like climbing stairs. I need to do it layer by layer, and finally In order to reach the highest point and get a project done.

I often hear some marketing managers say to salespeople: "No matter how you sell, as long as you can sell it, the company wants sales." This is a typical "result-oriented" marketing management. In marketing In the environment, the above not only makes no sense, but it has also lost its market. If any marketing manager is so demanding on the salesman, he will definitely not get the market and the sales he hopes for. This is a typical marketing management concept that only deals with results.

The modern marketing concept holds that marketing management focuses on the process, and controlling the process controls the results. The result can only be produced by the process, what kind of process produces what kind of result. The most terrible phenomenon in modern marketing management is "black box operation" and "opaque process management", which leads to out-of-control process management. Out-of-control process management will inevitably manifest as out-of-control results. The enterprise adopts "result-oriented" or "process-oriented" marketing management, which largely determines the ultimate success or failure of marketing management. We are not totally opposed to relying on results for marketing management. Through analysis of marketing results, we can also find and take effective measures to control. But in fact, the "result-oriented" control can only have the effect of "fixing the dead", because the results are lagging, and the company's sales in 2012 are good, which may be the result of the marketing efforts in 2011, and the marketing efforts in 2012 may It takes a long time to show. In modern enterprise marketing decisions, decisions must be made based on the latest market information. It is obviously impossible to make marketing decisions and marketing management based solely on the "marketing results" with time lag effects.

The most basic requirement for marketers' process management is to control "everything every marketer every day." The company that maximizes the process management of marketers is Haier Group. Their control of marketers is called "three E management", that is, everything that is managed by every marketer (Everyone) every day (Everyday) ).

For example: a company affiliated to the Haier Group, although there are only more than 40 overseas marketing staff, there are up to four marketing managers at its headquarters. The task of these four marketing managers is to complete the marketing process for the marketing staff. Take control. Every morning at 8 oclock, the managers at the headquarters will call and check most of the marketers to see if they arrive at the designated customers (or work places) on time to carry out marketing work; every day from 5 to 6 in the evening, the marketers must Contact the management of the headquarters on time to report on the day of work, including where to go, what customers to visit, what problems to discuss, what problems are resolved, what problems still exist, what kind of help the company needs, the customer's name, address, telephone, etc. And tomorrow's work plan. Headquarters managers record all reported information on the company's "daily list." The company headquarters will conduct spot checks on a regular or irregular basis based on the reported information to investigate the authenticity of the reported information. Marketers also fill out a "daily list" (equivalent to a marketing diary) every day. When marketers return to the company for reimbursement and report on their work, the management staff must verify the authenticity of the bill against the "daily list" before reimbursing them.

Haier's "three E management" for the entire process management of marketing personnel has played the following five major roles:

First, it keeps the work of all marketers in a controlled state, and makes many business managers often lament that the status of marketers who are "out will be out of control" is completely changed;

Second, people are all inert. After some marketers get a little achievement, their performance is difficult to improve, which is often caused by inertia. Because of the "three E management", marketers always feel the pressure of work. Stress can become motivation, overcome inertia, and of course help marketers improve sales performance;

Third, the "three E management" keeps the marketer's "day list" in mind, constantly reflects on himself, and sums up the experience and lessons, so that the marketing staff's working ability is greatly improved and there is progress every day;

Fourth, through "three E management", the headquarters has grasped the sales progress of the marketing staff, so that the company can provide them with the most timely sales support when they need it most;

Fifth, by analyzing the "daily list", the company can grasp the overall market situation and adjust marketing policies and ideas in a timely manner. ^[1]

Sales funnel principle two

What to say, to do, to do, to see

In project sales, it is very important for sales staff to ensure that each stage can be achieved. Each stage is actually a milestone. Only when many milestones can be achieved can the project be successful. "What should be said, what should be said, what can be seen," this is the essence of the ISO9000 quality assurance system. These three sentences can also be effectively used in marketing management, and should become marketing management. Essence. "It should be said", its basic meaning is that marketing management must be institutionalized, standardized, and programmatic. The objects, management content, and management procedures of marketing management must be standardized in the form of documents and systems to avoid marketing. The arbitrariness of the management process implements the "rule of law" rather than "rule of man." The authority of "law" must be established in marketing management, not the authority of people. The "law" of marketing management is the marketing management system. Therefore, the primary task of successful marketing management is to establish a marketing management system, to manage in accordance with the law, and to manage in accordance with the system.

It s a taboo of marketing management, and it s a common phenomenon of marketing management. The most effective way to cure this management shortcoming is to unswervingly implement the What should be said Speaking of "the basic idea of marketing management.

The meaning of the phrase "to be done" is much easier to understand, but the implementation is also much more difficult. "Speaking of what to do" means that everything that is institutionalized must be implemented without hesitation. The scariest thing about business management is not that there is no system, but that the system has no authority. Having a system but failing to implement it effectively or not implementing it will do more harm to business management than without a system.

"What you need to see" is a common blind spot in marketing management. Its meaning is that every marketing action that has already taken place must be recorded. If there is no record, it means nothing happened. The daily work of marketers should be kept in the "Marketing Diary", the transactions with customers should be kept in the "Customer Trading Card", and the marketing expenses incurred by the marketers should be kept in the "Expense Control Card". The inspection shall leave records through the "Customer Credit Evaluation Card", the monthly (quarterly, annual) work of the marketing staff shall leave a record through the monthly (quarterly, annual) performance report, and the call of the customer (marketing staff) shall go through the "telephone Record Card "to leave a record.

"Nothing happens without records" is an important concept of marketing management. It has three major effects on marketing management.

• Established a responsibility (performance) tracking system, when everything is recorded, it is easy to pursue the responsibility for the incident;

• Make the marketing process transparent, which can effectively avoid the "black box operation" phenomenon and irresponsible phenomenon in the marketing staff's work;

• Marketers can summarize and improve through marketing records. ^[1]

Sales funnel principle three

Preventive ex-ante management is more important than problematic ex-post management

Project sales actually require the sales person to achieve the role of consultant. I often have to say a word about consultants: "We will always see the results one step ahead of the customer; we will always be one step behind the customer to embrace the results." Therefore, it is very important for the sales staff to do goal planning, analysis stage, control process, forecast results, and master initiative. Marketing managers usually have two typical management methods, one is used to "problem management" and the other is used to "preventive management". Managers who are accustomed to "problem management", their management features are where problems occur, and where to solve the problem, "problem management" belongs to post-correction management, this type of management can only solve the problems that have occurred, not prevent The problem occurred.

Managers who are accustomed to "preventive management", their management is characterized by anticipating that the problem may occur before the problem occurs, and taking corresponding measures to prevent the problem from occurring. An enterprise's marketing management cannot be without the "problem management" after the fact, but too many problem management can only indicate the failure of management. A manager who is accustomed to problem management, no matter how strong he is in solving problems, no matter how difficult the problem he has solved, no matter how vigorous he has done, such a manager is always difficult to become the most Excellent marketing managers. The best managers always eliminate problems before they sprout because of their vision and insight, and because of their research capabilities. Marketing managers who are accustomed to preventive management may not have the enthusiastic stories used by problematic managers, and their management experience is dull because of preventing problems.

Forewarned is forearmed, without prejudging the waste. Any company that does not do a good job of preventive marketing management will inevitably have to spend a lot of time to solve the problem because of the pile of problems, which in turn makes them lack the time and energy to prevent the problem, thereby forming a vicious circle.

To do preventive work in marketing management, we must strengthen research, find out the signs of problems, find out the law of problems, and find out what may happen. It is difficult for a marketing manager who sits in the office all day to do preventive management. Each marketing manager must understand that his workplace is in the front line of sales. Only by going deep into the front line can he find the real problems and discover the problems in advance. In the field of production, the most effective management method for the best production managers is "moving management." In the field of marketing management, the most effective management method of the best marketing managers is "walking management", that is, they must go to the market frequently to find problems and solve problems on the spot.

The general manager is finished after solving the problem. And good managers have to think about the nature of the problem, whether it is an exception or a routine problem. Exceptional problems are problems that happen by accident, and common problems are recurring problems. Good managers need to establish a rule, a policy, and a principle after solving common problems, and similar problems will occur in the future. ^[1]

Sales Funnel Principle Four

The highest realm of marketing management is standardization

Project sales is actually a management process. What the Chinese lack most is art, imagination, and brains. However, management always requires science. Scientific management is the ability to imitate, copy, and copy. The key is to standardize.

In the long-term, we have regarded marketing more as an art, and experience, perception, inspiration, and personal resilience occupy a more important position. Therefore, most corporate sales can be called "elite sales" or "heroic" Sales". Those companies have several excellent marketers, and relying on the outstanding abilities of these outstanding marketers, they can make a world for the company. Marketing managers are always trying their best to find excellent marketing talents from various channels. Unfortunately, "marketing elites" have a very high frequency of job-hopping (they are always the object of competitors' digging), and it is also very difficult to manage. They can both develop markets for companies, and they are most likely to destroy their markets and even take customers to competitors. The "elite sales" system also brings a problem to enterprises: when companies do not find or cultivate sales elites, companies can only improve by ordinary marketers repeatedly "spend money on lessons" and "pay tuition." This is a costly and risky marketing system.

Observe the marketing management of the world's best companies and find that they have an important management philosophy: let ordinary people make extraordinary performance. Excellent companies attach more importance to the overall marketing capabilities of an enterprise than to their personal marketing capabilities. How can ordinary people make extraordinary achievements? The best way is to standardize. Excellent foreign companies not only can standardize the production process (such as McDonald's has only a few hundred manuals), but also standardize the marketing process as much as possible. For example, the Coca-Cola company not only standardizes the way products are displayed in supermarkets, but also inspects marketers When the market is going clockwise or counterclockwise, there are clear rules. Outstanding companies have their own standardized marketing manuals, with a manual for marketing staff. Some companies go deeper and even standardize the sales process of distributors. For example, Panasonic has dozens of customer sales manuals alone. Marketers often conduct standardized operation and management training for distributors to ensure that each distributor has Can regulate operation.

Standardized marketing procedures and standardized marketing management are usually formulated on the basis of in-depth and detailed research on all aspects of marketing, drawing on the "experience" and "lessons" of excellent companies and excellent marketers. Its biggest advantage is to avoid marketers Repeated "paying tuition" to avoid possible losses to the enterprise due to insufficient personal experience, ability, and understanding of the marketing staff. An ordinary marketer, as long as he is engaged in marketing in accordance with standardized marketing procedures, can avoid mistakes as much as possible and achieve performances beyond his ability.

Excellent companies have these characteristics: relying on scientific and standardized marketing to build a strong marketing capability of the enterprise, rather than relying on one or two competent marketers. Those ordinary marketers with outstanding performance under the scientific and standardized marketing system, once they leave the company, without the support of the company's strong marketing capabilities, their performance immediately collapses. Therefore, under the standardized marketing management system, the turnover rate of marketers is relatively low, and the loss to the company after leaving the company is also relatively small. ^[1]