The sales pipeline is one of the most important concepts for sales operations professionals to understand. It refers to the process of moving prospective deals through different stages from initial contact to closed sale. As a deal moves through the pipeline, it represents a growing opportunity that the sales team nurtures toward a possible sale.
The typical stages of the pipeline include leads, prospects, qualified prospects, proposals, negotiations, closed/won deals, and closed/lost deals. The sales operations team oversees the pipeline and uses CRM technology to track deals in real time as they advance toward a close. This gives them visibility into projected sales revenue in future quarters based on current pipeline activity.
One of the main responsibilities of sales operations is to analyze the health of the pipeline and identify any bottlenecks or inefficiencies that are preventing deals from progressing. Sales operations can track conversion rates between stages to see where prospects get stuck and work with sales reps to improve win rates. They can also use pipeline data to calculate metrics like average sales cycle length, win rates, and deal sizes by rep, product, customer, or region.
What are the different steps of Sales Pipeline?
Sales pipeline stages are the different steps that potential deals move through on their way to becoming closed sales or lost opportunities. The sales pipeline provides visibility into the health of a business’s sales process and helps sales operations optimize and improve sales productivity.
Typical stages in a sales pipeline include:
- Lead: A new potential customer has been identified, but no formal sales process has begun yet. At this stage, leads are evaluated and qualified to see if they are a good fit to become sales prospects.
- Prospect: The lead has been qualified and the sales process starts. Prospects are contacted with information about products/services and to gauge their interest level.
- Opportunity: The prospect has expressed interest and there is potential for a sale. The opportunity is assigned to a sales rep to nurture and move forward. More in-depth meetings and demos may occur.
- Quote: The prospect requests a quote or proposal with pricing, products/services details, and terms. Quotes help progress opportunities towards a sale.
- Negotiation: The prospect has the quote and may have objections or try to negotiate on price, features, or terms before committing to a purchase. Additional conversations occur to align on expectations.
- Closed/Won: The prospect has officially committed to making the purchase via a signed agreement. The revenue from the sale is added to forecasts.
- Closed/Lost: The prospect decides not to purchase. The opportunity is recorded as a loss, and sales ops tracks win/loss metrics.
The sales operations team monitors the pipeline and helps sales team progress opportunities smoothly through the stages. They analyze trends to improve sales processes and efficiency. The sales pipeline provides key visibility that drives sales performance.
Sales pipeline management enables data-driven decision-making for sales ops. It allows them to pinpoint what’s working and what needs improvement in the sales process. The pipeline is a dynamic snapshot of sales activity that requires constant optimization and management to ultimately deliver revenue, so maintaining an effective pipeline is critical for sales operations professionals tasked with enabling sales team productivity. With an accurate picture of the pipeline, sales operations has the insights needed to keep revenue flowing predictably and efficiently.
