Working with sales cycles of 20-120 days? There's a fast way to spot risk in your sales pipeline and its likely impact on revenue. To spot risk in your sales pipeline fast, you need to understand two simple metrics. In Period Pipeline Pipeline created within the closing month or quarter that is expected to close... Continue Reading →

This week's sales pipeline tip is nice and simple. Know your sales conversion ratios. Understanding the conversion ratios for each stage of our sales process AND for each salesperson is crucial for three reasons: Planning and projectingSpotting drops in performanceIdentifying areas for improvement Each of our salespeople work differently. They have various individual strengths and... Continue Reading →

I'm no Mozart, but over the years I've learnt a thing or two about the importance of deal composition in the sales pipeline. In particular, when it comes to submitting a credible and reliable forecast to the powers that be. Initially, there are three key considerations when looking at sales pipeline composition: Deal Value -... Continue Reading →

Across the land, Sales & Sales Ops Leaders still talk about pipeline coverage. "5x this...", "7x that...". Fine. But if we're honest with ourselves, we know all too well that it’s the fresh, juicy new sales pipeline and the consistency with which we create it that makes forecasting and hitting target so much easier. It's... Continue Reading →

Many of us look to get a strong forecast steer based on a weighted stage model. The idea being that if we have £100k at stage "negotiation" and our weighting is 40% we're good for £40k, right? Not necessarily. We need to start breaking our pipeline down, not by stage but by category, and then... Continue Reading →