Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
Sales ops: Pipeline
The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
By reading the book The Sales Development playbook: build repeatable pipeline and accelerate growth with inside sales I concluded many things about important items, and after implementing different pipelines for different enterprises one book's note caught up my attention about a thing that I always said:
THOUGHTS
The reality is that even testing and implementing several companies and because of that creating a pipeline's mold, each company has its peculiarity and necessity. The stages will be created mainly by two items: Where do you want to get the data? and What stage do you want to dismember for understanding better what is preventing the wheel rotation? Always thinking about don’t come back the lead's stage, because if you are doing that you will need to rethink your pipeline.
DISCUSSION
So the more you deep diving into the operation the more you become capable to make a pipeline that will please SDRs, account and SalesOPS and generate better insights. The questions that I want to discuss are When should I create a new pipeline? and When is it time to rethink and change the existing one?
AUTHOR'S ANSWER
I think that the pipelines are created by the difference of the lead path, like outbound and inbound leads, they have different paths and times. Separating in this way you can verify what stage the stagnation is occurring, by the amount of time and leads on stage. And about the second question, as I said, if you want to understand better what is preventing the wheel or if one stage doesn’t make sense anymore you will need to rethink the pipeline.
Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
@MarcosBarcelos I think the short answer is that we should always be rethinking (or at the very least considering) our existing pipelines. I do not, however, think we need to build from scratch or change fdor no reason. As we develop a more active, efficient pipeline (always spinning that flywheel with less friction) we should consider how the buyer's journey with us is changing.
I have not read Trish's book. So my thoughts here may not be as well-informed. My thought is this: It's not about building a new pipeline process as much as it's about filling the pipeline, then managing the journey with the buyer. Constant iteration and communication across the revenue team is vital. This will help us create a more efficient (and delightful) process and pipeline. That's the goal in my mind.
Did my answer help? Please "mark as a solution" to help others find answers. Plus I really appreciate it!
Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
@MarcosBarcelos this is certainly a good food for thought discussion to bring to the community!
Thanks for the tag @TiphaineCuisset , it was a pretty busy day today so I'm just getting caught up, but I'm happy to see that @danmoyle has already shared a very succinct summary, always insightful Dan! 🙌
I also haven't read the book in question, so all I can add without a deeper dive on the topic is that I feel like sales pipelines and processes are designed to be iterative, especially when you use a tool like HubSpot that is constantly evolving and improving.
With that said, while you may not completely rebuild an existing pipeline, I do think it is a valid question to included in strategic planning to identify new pipeline opportunities that align with new revenue streams.
Looking forward to seeing this conversation evolve, thanks again for sharing your thoughts with the community!
If my reply answered your question please mark it as a solution to make it easier for others to find.
I haven't read Trish's book or many other books specific to sales processes, but I agree with the consensus so far that you shouldn't be constantly looking for ways to blow up what you have and start over. That said, I feel like there are plenty of sales pipelines that continue to operate inefficiently because "that's the way they've always been run."
If there seems to be an area in the pipeline where there's a bunch of friction or drop-off, it makes sense to evaluate it for optimization opportunities. Maybe it's a challenge for a specific rep or prospect type. Maybe it's an underlying sales process challenge that's missing key info or proof of value. Maybe it's actually somewhat of a marketing challenge since prospects aren't fully educated or sales-ready by the time they enter the pipeline. I think that these challenges can speak to both net new customers and existing ones — figuring out the best ways for the sales team to provide value and solve problems (and spend the majority of their time doing that stuff, not admin work) should be a never-ending mission!
In that vein, I feel like there's a bit of overreliance in the "Account managers can't grow accounts and service reps can't support accounts without net new customers" bit. I feel like the mindset of "just get more leads" is outdated. If you looked at your closed/won and closed/lost leads, I bet you'd find a bunch of great opportunities with people who have already been qualified by you. Constantly chasing the new, exciting leads is still part of the game, but that can't come at the cost of your existing, realized revenue.
Thanks again for sharing this! I definitely appreciate the opportunity to ponder on a Friday morning 🙂
I haven't read Trish's book or many other books specific to sales processes, but I agree with the consensus so far that you shouldn't be constantly looking for ways to blow up what you have and start over. That said, I feel like there are plenty of sales pipelines that continue to operate inefficiently because "that's the way they've always been run."
If there seems to be an area in the pipeline where there's a bunch of friction or drop-off, it makes sense to evaluate it for optimization opportunities. Maybe it's a challenge for a specific rep or prospect type. Maybe it's an underlying sales process challenge that's missing key info or proof of value. Maybe it's actually somewhat of a marketing challenge since prospects aren't fully educated or sales-ready by the time they enter the pipeline. I think that these challenges can speak to both net new customers and existing ones — figuring out the best ways for the sales team to provide value and solve problems (and spend the majority of their time doing that stuff, not admin work) should be a never-ending mission!
In that vein, I feel like there's a bit of overreliance in the "Account managers can't grow accounts and service reps can't support accounts without net new customers" bit. I feel like the mindset of "just get more leads" is outdated. If you looked at your closed/won and closed/lost leads, I bet you'd find a bunch of great opportunities with people who have already been qualified by you. Constantly chasing the new, exciting leads is still part of the game, but that can't come at the cost of your existing, realized revenue.
Thanks again for sharing this! I definitely appreciate the opportunity to ponder on a Friday morning 🙂
Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
I agreed with you when you said that the mindset of "just get more leads" is outdated. Actually, if you only look at the new one you are losing opportunities. The prospection of closed/lost or closed/won leads are so important that maybe deserve another post. Hahaha, thank you all it was a great conversation.
Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
@MarcosBarcelos this is certainly a good food for thought discussion to bring to the community!
Thanks for the tag @TiphaineCuisset , it was a pretty busy day today so I'm just getting caught up, but I'm happy to see that @danmoyle has already shared a very succinct summary, always insightful Dan! 🙌
I also haven't read the book in question, so all I can add without a deeper dive on the topic is that I feel like sales pipelines and processes are designed to be iterative, especially when you use a tool like HubSpot that is constantly evolving and improving.
With that said, while you may not completely rebuild an existing pipeline, I do think it is a valid question to included in strategic planning to identify new pipeline opportunities that align with new revenue streams.
Looking forward to seeing this conversation evolve, thanks again for sharing your thoughts with the community!
If my reply answered your question please mark it as a solution to make it easier for others to find.
Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
@MarcosBarcelos I think the short answer is that we should always be rethinking (or at the very least considering) our existing pipelines. I do not, however, think we need to build from scratch or change fdor no reason. As we develop a more active, efficient pipeline (always spinning that flywheel with less friction) we should consider how the buyer's journey with us is changing.
I have not read Trish's book. So my thoughts here may not be as well-informed. My thought is this: It's not about building a new pipeline process as much as it's about filling the pipeline, then managing the journey with the buyer. Constant iteration and communication across the revenue team is vital. This will help us create a more efficient (and delightful) process and pipeline. That's the goal in my mind.
Did my answer help? Please "mark as a solution" to help others find answers. Plus I really appreciate it!
Sales ops - Pipeline - The importance of deep diving into the operation to build the best pipeline.
lösung
Hi, yes. That line "The success of any company is directly linked to how effectively it acquires new pipeline..." really caught me. So, I really want to discuss when its time to rethink or create a new pipeline.