How to Improve B2B Sales Pipeline Visibility Across Markets
Sales can be a complex area to manage within a B2B organisation. There can be many differences between customers in different regions, making it difficult to understand the position of your sales pipeline, how your team is performing and what opportunities you have available if not done correctly. Improving sales pipeline visibility can help you understand what is going on within your sales pipeline.
Having a structured approach to your sales pipeline will give you greater visibility and understanding of where your potential customers are within your process.
1. Set up a Standard Sales Pipeline
Within a multi-regional sales team it can be difficult to understand how your team is performing if they do not have the same methods for managing your leads.
Create a standard sales pipeline which includes clear stages. For example: lead generation, qualification, contact, proposal, negotiation and close. Your regional teams can work on the same framework but adapt your communication methods to suit your local markets.
This will make it much easier to see what is happening within your sales pipeline. You will be able to see where any opportunities are stagnating.
2. Use a Central CRM
Keeping track of your customer data in different formats such as spreadsheets, emails and databases can cause confusion. Important updates may not be recorded.
A central Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system will allow you to keep track of your leads, communication and deal progress. Sales representatives and managers will have access to up-to-date information.
Having accurate data will improve communication between your regional teams.
3. Monitor Regional Sales Performance
Sales performance can vary greatly between markets. One region may not have many leads but have high value opportunities whereas one region could have more enquiries but a low conversion rate.
Keep track of key metrics for each market:
- Number of qualified leads generated.
- Lead to opportunity conversion rate.
- Deal size.
- Length of sales cycle.
- Proposal acceptance rate.
- Number of deals won/lost.
This will allow your management to better understand what markets are working well and what areas need improvement. You can avoid simply looking at overall revenue.
4. Improve Lead Qualification
Not all leads will be genuine sales opportunities. Some prospects may not have enough budget, have unclear requirements or not be looking to buy anything at the moment.
Having a standard lead qualification process will help your sales teams to focus on the right people who have a higher chance of converting. You can assess the leads based on their requirements, budget, decision maker, business requirements and when they expect to purchase.
However, your criteria should also reflect local market conditions. Purchase power and decision making can vary between regions so your teams need some flexibility.
5. Clear Reporting
To have good visibility of your sales pipeline you need regular and accurate reporting. If your regional teams are not consistently updating their progress it can become difficult to understand where deals are.
Ensure you have clear reporting dates and request your teams to update key information after communicating with customers. Having a weekly review to look at your sales pipeline will help your managers to identify any stagnant opportunities, discuss any issues and determine which deals need more support.
Using dashboards will allow you to easily see key sales information. This will help you to identify any trends quickly.
6. Use Data to Identify Sales Bottlenecks
Having a visible sales pipeline will help you to understand why your opportunities are moving through your pipeline. For example, if multiple prospects are falling out of the pipeline after proposals then you may need to take a look at your pricing structure, quality of proposals or follow up. If there is a long bottleneck in negotiation then it could mean your decision makers are not clear on the process or there are communication issues.
Regularly looking at these trends will help you to make improvements.
Creating a More Predictable Process
To improve your sales pipeline visibility you need accurate data, a standard process and good communication. By keeping track of your opportunities in different markets you will be able to identify where you can grow, overcome any bottlenecks and make better decisions around your sales strategy. Incinque Business Solutions can help B2B organisations to improve their business processes through demand generation and related support services.
