The best way to ensure the success of your team’s efforts is to map out your sales pipeline. In addition to providing sales reps with a clear roadmap that enables them to focus their efforts where they will be most effective, it aids in guiding management decisions that can eliminate any bottlenecks in the sales process.
Some people use sales CRM software to classify sales data and create visualizations to display the sales pipeline, show the various stages, and show how many clients or prospects are in each stage of the buyer’s journey. However, many people continue to use Google and Excel spreadsheets to represent the various stages.
If you aren’t using a CRM to map your pipeline, this article is for you. You can use one of the options for a sales pipeline template we’ve put together to begin imagining the sales pipeline for your team.
What Is A Sales Pipeline?
A sales pipeline is a methodical way to track and visualize sales leads or prospects as they proceed through the purchasing process.
Each stage of the pipeline, from lead generation to deal closure, is precisely defined and mapped out. This improved visibility aids in streamlining your sales process, reducing churn, and increasing conversions in the process.
With pipeline trackers, you can get a quick, real-time overview of how your team is doing. For instance, if one of your salespeople consistently outperforms the rest of the team, you can assess that rep’s behavior and implement the sales superstar tactics across the board. The same is true for stopping efforts that aren’t producing outcomes.
Additionally, pipelines aid in the organization of reps, who frequently manage several deals at once. They can easily see exactly where each deal is and what activity is coming up next by quickly scanning their pipeline, which aids them in enhancing their sales performance.
A common misunderstanding is that a sales pipeline and a sales funnel are the same things because many people see their sales pipeline as a funnel. The approach and goal are different, even though both provide you with a broad overview of the sales process and its various stages.
Difference Between A Sales Pipeline And A Sales Funnel
The main distinction between a sales pipeline and a sales funnel is as follows: A funnel shows the overall number of leads migrating through your process and where they drop off, giving you a conversion rate for each stage.
A sales pipeline, on the other hand, shows the deal size and actions needed to move specific prospects through the buying journey. Additionally, a funnel concentrates on the perspective of the buyer, whereas a pipeline emphasizes the viewpoint of the salesperson.
Both are helpful resources for figuring out how to enhance your sales process. The sales pipeline, however, is excellent for getting a quick overview of where deals are in your process at the moment and what your reps’ next steps should be.
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Why Do You Need A Sales Pipeline In Your Sales Process?
Whether you realize it or not, you already have a pipeline if you sell anything. Every time your team deals with leads and prospects, they probably follow a similar process.
Your reps can organize and keep track of new leads entering the funnel by documenting your sales cycle and processes. Reps, for instance, can determine when a lead qualifies or precisely how many times and through which channels they’ve contacted prospects.
Detailing such sales activities encourages a more structured process at all stages and helps to eliminate any uncertainty. In order to make these activities trackable, a pipeline can reflect them via sales pipeline stages. This encourages your representatives to take specific, calculated actions rather than broad, unrestricted ones.
Salespeople can quickly determine which leads require the most nurturing by compiling relevant data and sales data. This aids them in prioritizing who to contact, when to set up meetings, when to follow up, and what actions are necessary to advance the deal.
Additionally, they can spend less time trying to sell to potential customers who don’t fit the ideal customer persona because they can separate hot leads from cold leads more quickly (ICP).
In a nutshell, a sales pipeline provides an avenue for you to;
Draw a precise picture
The kind of transparent, thorough picture you need for sales pipeline management is provided by your sales. A good sales pipeline management template helps you view all active deals, including their stage, salesperson, important statistics, pricing details, potential closing dates, and more.
Organize better and manage projects better
You can quickly identify and prioritize tasks to better organize your workflow when you have all of your sales leads and opportunities in front of you.
Encourage improved teamwork and assign tasks
The best salespeople share knowledge with one another. Your sales pipeline template streamlines team communication so they can concentrate on what matters most—closing deals.
Obtain insightful data-driven insights
With the help of your sales pipeline template, you can forecast sales, calculate conversion rates, and move new business through the sales funnel with an immediate, data-driven understanding of sales performance.
Automate tasks to save time
If your sales pipeline integrates with tools your sales team already uses and has a variety of options for automating repetitive tasks, you can save a lot of time unlike with Excel spreadsheets, Google Sheets or other tools which are very time-consuming.
Who Needs A Sales Pipeline Template?
Anyone on your team who takes part in the sales process should need a sales pipeline template to make work faster and easier.
This includes leads, managers, and sales reps.
Every sales rep working on your team has access to the same up-to-date sales data thanks to the effective sales pipeline template, which serves as their primary sales pipeline tracker.
Asset management and task management, two potential productivity drains, are streamlined for sales experts by using a sales pipeline template.
Your team can access sales data in one location with fewer Google sheets and docs to manage.
How To Build Your Sales Pipeline Stages Using A Free Sales Pipeline Template
You can take a look at the typical “core” sales pipeline stages to get a general idea of where to start when it comes to creating a sales pipeline:
Prospecting
This phase entails all of the actions taken to find and attract fresh leads or prospective customers for your business.
Lead qualification
Not all of the leads generated by the prospecting efforts of your team will be suitable for your company’s sales process.
This stage of the sales cycle separates prospects who are eager to learn more about your offering and are more likely to become customers from those on whom your sales reps shouldn’t spend a lot of time.
Demo/Sales Meeting
This stage of the sales pipline should be reserved for the best sales reps as this is when the expected close date as well as if it’s a deal won or lost will be determined. Here, the representative of the business introduces the good or service that might best suit the prospect’s requirements or desires.
The rep will also be determining whether or not it makes sense to send the prospect a proposal at this point.
Proposal
At this point in the deal stage, the prospect will receive an overview of how your business can assist in addressing their needs and how you offer a superior product or service to that of your competition.
Along with any agreement details, etc., the rep will also outline all of the specifics of the product or service that the prospect would receive, depending on the deal size.
Negotiation/Closing
This stage involves discussions to modify pricing, broaden or narrow the scope of work, and manage expectations in order to reach an agreement that will lead to a partnership that benefits both parties and ultimately, a closing date.
Here, use strong closing methods to help close the deal.
Retention
After an agreement is reached, the pipeline (and sales process) continues.
This crucial phase entails offering exceptional customer service, nurturing long-term client relationships, and referring potential customers to new businesses and more deals.
This way, the business grows.
You can start by having a basic understanding of these stages. But it’s crucial to realize that every business has a unique sales process. Therefore, when creating your sales pipeline, the stages should be adjusted as necessary to fit the specific sales cycle of your company.
For instance, some businesses divide the stages of negotiation and closing into two distinct stages that each involve more particular sales activities.
To ascertain precisely how your sales pipeline stages may appear, take a close look at your sales process.
Some sales CRMs, as previously mentioned, can assist you and your team in visualizing and tracking your sales pipeline. The stages of your sales process still need to be mapped out in the form of your sales pipeline even if you don’t currently have that capability.
You can get started by using one of these 5 sales pipeline template examples. With these, you’ll have a helpful framework to use to visualize the stages of your sales cycle as a pipeline and start figuring out what is working and where improvements might be needed.
5 Free Sales Pipeline Template For Your Sales Team
Some sales CRMs, as previously mentioned, can assist you and your team in visualizing and tracking your sales pipeline. The stages of your sales process still need to be mapped out in the form of your sales pipeline even if you don’t currently have that capability.
You can get started by using one of these 5 sales pipeline template examples. With these, you’ll have a helpful framework to use to visualize the stages of your sales cycle as a pipeline and start figuring out what is working and where improvements might be needed.
To get you started, consider the following options for a sales pipeline template:
Salesmate CRM
If your run a small business that is just starting its sales efforts and/or isn’t yet prepared to invest in a CRM, this free, adaptable, and simple-to-use sales pipeline template is ideal.
With the help of this template, you can begin keeping track of the new, ongoing, and completed deals for your team, as well as the subsequent activity and potential dollar value for each stage, allowing you to expand your pipeline.
You can track the progress of your team’s deals through the sales pipeline using this Close sales pipeline management template, which was created for use in Google Sheets. It also provides an overview of current sales efforts.
The template’s pipeline stages and opportunity status can be easily modified to meet the needs of your company.
HubSpot
This sales pipeline Microsoft Excel template, created by the same team that brought you Aircall and HubSpot CRM, will help you start more efficiently managing the sales pipeline for your team.
With the help of this template, it’s simple to keep track of each deal’s progress through the pipeline and determine its likelihood of closing.
The spreadsheet provides real-time forecasts of the anticipated sales revenue for each of the year’s four quarters. You can easily edit and customize the template to maintain a pulse on the sales pipeline for your team.
This sales pipeline tracking template from Indzara is a good option for those who enjoy having detailed visual representations of data. You can easily see where the value is in your pipeline, what your average conversion rate is, where deals are being lost, and more with the help of this template, which was created for Google Sheets.
To maintain a real-time representation of your team’s sales pipeline, it is simple to customize, expand, and edit the data within the template.
Understanding your leads is half the battle in reaching sales goals.
The status of each prospect throughout the entire sales stage is displayed in a sales pipeline. It also enables you to view every deal that your sales representatives are managing right now.
This sales pipeline template provides high-level insights into how effectively your sales process is performing, allowing you to make the necessary adjustments.
In order to analyze revenue streams, predict which deal is most likely to close, and identify the big-ticket deals in the sales pipelines and flag them for a little extra work, use the sales pipeline template to track how your salespeople are performing across sales-pipeline stages.
Conclusion
Improving your overall sales process and revenue growth starts with managing your sales pipeline effectively. The fact that it doesn’t have to be difficult is the best part.
You can get everything you need to track your team more effectively, stay organized, and spot areas for improvement with the help of a straightforward sales pipeline excel template.
Your leads are one step away from
becoming customer!