If you’re a business owner, you know the importance of a sales pipeline. According to research by Vantage point, 63 percent of respondents agree to the fact that companies do a bad job in managing their sales pipeline; which gives plenty of room for improvement! 

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We understand that MSPs have an extreme grasp on the technological aspects, probably one of the major reasons to not be able to focus on sales, marketing, and sales pipeline management. However, sales and marketing in today’s world is more data-driven than before and could provide an MSP with extensive information to the client base, their workflow, business requirement, and service needs. 

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So, what are the benefits of managing your sales pipeline?

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Revenue growth!

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A study by Harvard Business Growth reveals organizations that followed a formal sales process had an 18 percent difference in sales than the companies that didn’t. 

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In fact, when you properly manage the sales pipeline, you can,

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• Improve your sales process. 
• Forecast and focus on future business results
• Analyze and implement different sales techniques. 
• Manage and allocate resources.
• Analyze your targets and review your progress. 
• Generate more revenue

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How can you manage your sales pipeline?

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In this post, we would list down 7 effective ways that you can use to manage your sales pipeline better. Here we go,

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Don’t forget to follow-up

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It just took 3.68 sales calls to close a deal, however, it takes over 8 calls today! 

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In reality, most of the MSPs give up after 2 sales calls, but if you want your prospects to become your customers, then follow-up!

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We understand that following up isn’t easy and is considered as the third major challenge faced by the team responsible for sales. However, you can either set a reminder to follow up in your everyday activity list or automate the process by using sales templates, assigned to be sent on a specific date and time (which could probably be after a week or two, depending on your criteria). 

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Speaking of which, you must explore Zomentum to automate your sales process hassle-free. 

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Keep your focus on your best leads

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All leads are not equal, there are those that close within the month, those which might close tomorrow and those which would take another year to close, though the total value of these opportunities remain the same.

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You would need to create a process that allows your sales teams to identify sales-ready leads and follow up with them regularly. 

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Wish to know more about how to maintain a sales pipeline with hot leads, then read our blog 7 Steps for MSPs to help you choose the right prospects.

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Drop the leads that don’t fit your ideal customer persona

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While it’s important to focus on the high-value leads, it’s equally important to know when to let go of a lead. 

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Letting go of a lead is difficult, especially when you have spent some time to nurture your relationship. However, sometimes you can generate more revenue just by letting go of an opportunity especially where customer requirement does not exactly match what your product or service provides i.e. there is a mismatch between the product/service and the persona of the customer. 

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Learn to identify these prospects so you can quickly stir them off your sales pipeline to focus on deals that are more promising in our blog How to drop the leads who don't fit your ideal customer persona?. 

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Always monitor your pipeline metrics

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Your pipeline is an entity that keeps changing, always. Setting and monitoring the pipeline metrics will help you analyze your team's efforts. 

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Tracking your pipeline metrics does 2 major things for you

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• It allows you to identify the stages in your process that you can improve
• It allows you to measure how you, your team, and team members performed

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Wish to have a list of detailed metrics that you must track for sales pipeline improvements, then read our blog 99 MSP metrics and formulas. 

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Keep your pipeline clean

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If you follow everything that has been mentioned above, chances are you would by default have a healthy pipeline with forecasted sales set for at least a couple of months. 

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One of the most important things you must consider is that none of this would work if the data is not readable and ready for use.

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Keep all your details up-to-date on every single lead by adding regular notes and information for each stage of your pipeline. Spend some time doing the admin tasks to keep your pipeline healthy. 

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And what’s better than Zomentum to manage your pipeline better, our sales automation module helps you create automated processes and notifications that would make sure that all processes are followed and your pipeline clean.

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Keep your sales cycle short

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As a business owner, how many months does it take you to close a deal?

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As per CSO Insights, 27 percent of the sales team consider the longer duration of the sales cycle to be a barrier to sales effectiveness. 

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The longer is your sales cycle, the easier it becomes for your prospects to change their minds or look for an alternative product or service. Reducing the sales cycle doesn’t mean that you bombard your prospects with follow-up calls every day, instead shorten the cycle where it is necessary. For example, you can reduce the number of days between two follow-ups, which would help you close the deal faster. 

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Try experimenting with multiple instances to shorten your sales cycle. And remember, not all your positive circumstances would be beneficial to others. Check your pipeline metrics to pinpoint areas that can be improved or sped up or automated to shorten the sales cycle.  Use this information to optimize and, if required, change your sales processes.

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Use a CRM to manage your sales

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When you have a healthy sales pipeline, with leads at different levels and stages, you must make sure that the communication is perfectly recorded and maintained. And without CRM, you won’t be able to manage your pipeline efficiently after a certain amount of time. In today’s world, CRM software has become an integral part of the sales process thus, helping business owners like you, maintain an efficient sales cycle and customer retention. 

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Wish to explore a CRM that is as efficient as your sales pipeline, try Zomentum!

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Conclusion 

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A sales pipeline’s importance is difficult to define! And usually, companies with an unhealthy pipeline seldom survive. We hope that theses 7 best practices we listed here will help you maintain your pipeline, organize and structure better, shorten, and speed up your sales cycles and reach your sales quotas better than usual. 

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Wish to know more about effective ways to manage your sales pipeline, get in touch with us.