A common sales misconception
When I speak to founders and sales leaders, a common misconception I push back on is that they shouldn’t focus on net new leads, but instead, make sure they have a clear sales process and are doing the basics right.
We all know the leaky bucket analogy, but if you add new prospects to a poorly managed pipeline with no clear next steps for each stage, you’re prospects will simply “leak” out.
Yes, you’ll have more leads and maybe calls booked, but will they close?
Not without covering the fundamentals of pipeline management and sales process optimisation.
Sales process tips
Here are a few of recommendations/questions that I typically ask:
☝ Do you have multiple follow-ups post discovery call tailored to the specific challenge/use-case/identified objections?
☝ Are your reps using automation (like adding reminders) to follow up with deals?
☝ Are you reviewing deals (and supporting your reps) by walking through all open deals and discussing next steps? Starting with the closest to revenue?
☝ Have you set up a report showing deals with a past close date (a personal pet peeve of mine 🤣 )
☝ Are you multi-threading your deals?
☝ Are you collecting “closed-lost reasons” for monthly/quarterly analysis?
☝ Do you have clear definitions of each pipeline stage and criteria before a deal can be progressed (and do all your reps understand these)?
☝ Do you have a meeting no-show process?
All of the above sound basic, and they are.
But when you’re growing fast and have targets to hit, it’s easy to forget the basics.
The good news is, fixing the above and improving your sales process takes a little time, but it compounds.