Sales pipelines are an important concept in business marketing. At any one point you will have different people in different phases of the buying process: your sales pipeline. How you market to these people varies. When you know who, and how many, you have in your sales pipelines you can plan your strategies effectively.
Essentially there are two different categories of sales pipeline:
Guaranteed Sales Pipeline
Your guaranteed sales pipeline tracks the guaranteed work you have lined up for the month. In this sales pipeline the sale is already a done deal, you already have a deposit check, a signed agreement, and all you have to do is the actual work.
Anticipated Sales Pipeline
Your anticipated sales pipeline includes the people that you think have about a 75% certainty of closing within the month. In this sales pipeline you don't have a signed agreement or a deposit check... yet.
Once you start tracking who is where in your sales pipelines you can use that information to formulate your business strategy.
Your sales pipelines show you whether you are in great shape or you don't have enough capacity. Do you need to hire contractors, do you need temporary or full time staff, etc...?
You can see by looking at the numbers in your sales pipelines whether you need to start taking more decisive action to get more people into your funnel. Do you need to do more follow up, networking, referral marketing, seminars, direct mail, etc...?
Bottom Line on Sales Pipelines
Your sales pipelines are what allow you to be proactive rather than reactive with your business decisions. If you know how much work you have in your guaranteed and anticipated sales pipelines you can make smart business decisions that help move your business forward. By organizing your sales pipelines you can stay on top of your future opportunities and make the most of them.
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