What does pipeline mean?
As written above, pipeline is used in sales. The customers in the pipeline are those that salespeople are working on but have not yet closed.
The translation of pipeline from American to Danish is rørledning, which makes sense.
Especially when B2B salesA purchase is rarely completed on the same day it is started - similarly, the oil does not flow through the pipeline immediately, it takes some time from the tap being opened to the oil flowing out.
What is pipeline management?
A good salesperson is good at managing their pipeline. There must always be a fine balance between bringing new customers into the pipeline, processing them in the pipeline and closing them in the pipeline.
If the balance sheet is not maintained, the company runs the risk of hitting what is known as sales lumps. A sales slump means that there is too much pressure on sales so that production can't keep up.
It can also be the other way around, that there will be a lack of sales because the salesperson hasn't been out in the field gathering new customers.
As you can probably guess, an imbalanced pipeline affects several units in the company - it's not just the salesperson. It can lead to over- or under-production and the economy can also be affected.
It is therefore every salesperson's job to make sure that the oil in the pipeline is constantly running at roughly the same pressure - all the time.
3 great tips for your pipeline work
- Follow up on leads in your pipeline
Follow up on the leads in your pipeline in a natural way. - Do an ABC analysis of the customers in your pipeline
Do you have many customers in your pipeline? Then divide them into A, B and C customers.
A customers are the ones in which you gain the most benefit and therefore the ones to work with as first priority, etc. - Bury the dead leads
Don't keep working on a customer who won't buy from you. Forget about that customer, bury that lead and get on with working on other leads that could potentially put money in your pocket.
