Challenges of Creating an Effective Sales Pipeline
Why is creating an effective sales pipeline a nightmare for some businesses?
Is it as daunting as some people make it out to be? Well, it depends on how you do it.
After you read this short article, you will have a full understanding of how to build a robust sales pipeline.
A sales pipeline plays an important role in any successful business.
According to research by Vantage Point, 72% of sales managers hold sales pipeline review meetings with their sales reps several times per month.
However, 63% of respondents say that their companies do a terrible job of managing their sales pipelines. This shows there is massive room for improvement!
A recent report from CSO Insights found that “Executives are under more pressure than ever to understand the pulse of their business” – and at the heart of most businesses is the sales pipeline.
Now, let’s briefly look at the challenges to building an effective sales pipeline and how you can avoid them.
Demand Generation:
B2B demand generation is a form of marketing that creates interest in a product or service. However, rather than shout from the rooftops and see who bites, this approach is more tactical and based on the people most likely to become high-quality leads.
It could begin with asking yourself “What type of company needs our product?”, followed up with “Why would this company want what we’re selling?”. By answering both questions, you will get a clear idea of the businesses you’re targeting and how to show the right people how you can solve their problems.
Lead Generation:
Most B2B marketers struggle with lead generation. A recent study by Act-On Software found that 75% of the 244 participants said improving lead quality is one of their most important goals in their marketing and sales strategy.
It’s a little surprising that something so critical to marketing’s success continues to cause so much confusion.
The thing is, lead generation is more than just sending out cold emails to a list of names in an address book. You need to find quality leads that have shown interest in your business and fit your ideal customer profile.
Pursuing low-quality leads can be extremely costly for your business in terms of time and money. Low-quality leads who make it down your sales pipeline not only waste your SDR’s time but end up costing you money by preventing SDRs from pursuing better prospects.
The solution to this problem is by paying close attention to your ideal customer and focusing solely on pursuing potential clients who fit that profile.
It’s also a great idea to avoid using generic language in your marketing messages. Trying to appeal to everyone with a broad message is going to backfire because you risk not being specific enough for the lead to understand how you solve their problems.
List Building:
Building a high-quality B2B prospect list is also crucial to a business’s growth.
Building a prospects list isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but you don’t want to spend weeks or even months emailing a lead on your list only to realize this person isn’t a good fit for your product, or worse — they’re no longer working at the company.
Now, the goal with B2B list building is to create a list of prospects that’s highly accurate and targeted. To do this effectively, you need to:
- Determine who your ideal customer is.
- Identify the companies and decision-makers you want to target.
- Comb the web for your leads’ contact information.
- Verify and validate contact information.
Over to you
Creating an effective sales pipeline is a vital tool for your business growth. Sadly, it can’t be done with just a click of a button. It requires prospecting, qualification, sales meetings, proposals, and then closing — all of which MarketJoy offers to businesses daily.
If creating a robust sales pipeline is a problem for your business, why not get in touch?