Nowadays, large fluctuations in sales figures are one of the biggest challenges faced by business managers. The sales pipeline is the visualization of the journey of customers from the point of initial contact to the final purchase decision.
As managers track the volume of leads regularly, they can prepare effectively to improve the services. As per a survey from Harvard Business Review, companies that spend less than 3 hours in a month for the management of sales pipeline stages witnessed 11% higher revenue as compared to those companies which spend less than 3 hours. In this blog, you will get to know what are the names of the five stages and their meaning in the sales pipeline.
Also Read: Best Custom CRM Software: Why Choose One And 5 Strong Tips To Choose CRM
What is a Sales Pipeline?
The sales pipeline is a pictorial representation of the various stages of your sales process. It shows all the activities that are to be done on each step to advance to the next one. Sales managers analyze the CRM pipeline stages to track the team’s performance.
People often confuse the terms sales pipeline and sales funnel, which is absolutely wrong. As stated above, a sales pipeline shows the company’s perspective on the sales process, while a sales funnel represents the buyer’s perspective.
7 Steps of Sales Pipeline
When the stages of a sales pipeline are clearly figured out, the team will get to know what is expected from them. Have a look at the CRM pipeline stages:
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Prospecting
The sales process starts with identifying the right target audience for a brand and attracting them. During this stage, sales executives may try out many strategies like cold emailing, calling, social media posts, etc. People who express interest in the specified product or services are moved forward to the next stages of the sales pipeline.
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Lead Qualification
As we know, not all leads have the same interest or purchasing power. Therefore, sales managers conduct a lead qualification method to save time and effort in the pipeline sales process. Usually, managers do it through the automatic lead scoring feature of advanced CRMs while some may do the filtering process through demographic data like location, age, purchase behavior, etc.
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Setting up a Call or Meeting
After identifying the right leads, sales executives get in touch with them immediately before the lead becomes cold. In the introductory call or email, executives may ask some basic questions to understand the interests, needs, and concerns of the prospect. Only the leads who meet the standards are pushed forward to the next stages of the pipeline.
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Presenting the Proposal
As the next step, the concerned sales executive may send the pitch deck or brochure to the prospect. It highlights the features and benefits of what customers can expect from the product or service. At these stages of sales, clients are properly nurtured with follow-up calls and meetings to keep them engaged. Finally, they may submit a proposal along with the pricing as well as terms and conditions for the client’s approval.
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Sales Negotiation
Sometimes, the lead may raise some concerns or objections regarding the proposal terms in the final sales stages. Then, your team may need to adjust the pricing or work to address such issues. Most often, sales teams solve them through an attractive discount coupon.
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Lead Closing
Lead closing is one of the last sales lead stages where the prospect makes it clear whether he is interested in buying or not. If the company and client reach a final agreement, a contract is prepared outlining the responsibilities of both parties. Most often, this is done by conducting a physical meeting or sending a contract via e-signature software.
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Post-Sales
This step usually involves handing over the client to a customer care team from the sales team. Initially, the client receives step-by-step instruction guidance from the support team. From now on, it is the duty of the customer support team to nurture and follow up to ensure maximum customer satisfaction properly.
Conclusion
Creating a sales pipeline is way tougher than you might think, as it requires sufficient technical knowledge and reporting features. A reliable sales CRM is one of the most basic prerequisites to figuring out sales stages in CRM.
Onstro CRM is an advanced sales CRM that offers sophisticated features to optimize the sales pipeline steps. You can track all the activities of the sales team, right from prospecting to closing a deal. Sales managers can classify various opportunities based on their status and focus on those that require the most attention. Contact us now to know more!
