The Roller Coaster That’s Your Sales Pipeline

I was recently thinking back to when I was a 10-year-old kid and the thrill of going to the theme park close to where I grew up. As I was doing this, I was reliving the experience of waiting in line for the park’s star attraction roller coaster. I remembered the feeling of waiting in the long line for an hour or more in the hot sun – the up and down emotions that I felt that had started as soon as I first looked at the roller coaster that day. Some of the emotions were of excitement and anticipation for the thrill of the ride, others were of fear and impending doom as I would be out of my comfort zone when the ride took me upside down, through corkscrew turns, and I would be on the edge of nausea. I also thought back to the elation I felt once I got off the roller coaster, had conquered my fears, and was excited and ready to jump back into line and ride it again!

Does the situation and experience above seem like the roller coaster ride that you and your people are experiencing with your business’ sales pipeline?

Are there feelings of excitement and anticipation at the beginning of the year when goals are set and meetings are completed, with sales numbers given to each of your reps? Are there feelings of fear and worry in your mind as you wonder how the team will achieve the goals, especially after you missed similar goals the previous year? Are you bracing yourself to get ready for the roller coaster ride throughout the year and the up and down emotions that will come with it?

Are you seeing and feeling the ups and downs of the roller coaster when it comes to your sales throughout the year? Does it seem like you and your people have a good month or quarter only to be followed by a month or quarter that is less than stellar and you’re behind goal? Are you finding it hard to predict the likelihood of your revenues coming in each month, quarter, etc. throughout the year and it’s making it hard to effectively run and grow your business?

When there are big ups and downs in your sales pipeline and sales throughout the year, it’s usually caused by a few different things happening:

  • You don’t have a clear picture of the sales goals that you and your team are going to accomplish for the year, quarter, month, etc.
  • You don’t have a behavior plan for daily prospecting activity for yourself or your reps that you’re tracking and holding people accountable to. This way everyone knows what they need to do each day to reach their goals and have hard data to determine where and how to be more effective in their prospecting and selling efforts.
  • You don’t know how many opportunities, potential revenue dollars, or potential sales you need in each stage of your sales pipeline at any one time to reach your goals. (This is assuming that you have a sales pipeline you’re placing new opportunities in and it’s tied to your sales process. You have these right?)
  • You’re not regularly reviewing the opportunities in the pipeline to ensure that what’s in there is valid and your company has a predictable chance of closing the business because you know your people have followed and applied your sales process correctly to get the opportunity to the finish line.
  • You’ve never sat down with your people and discussed the personal goals they’re pursuing and how those are tied to the company’s sales goals for them. They aren’t making the connection of why they should stretch themselves outside of their comfort zones, put in the consistent daily effort to keep talking to new potential clients, getting no’s, and making mistakes and learning from them when it comes to selling. They’re not seeing how all of this helps them get to the things that are most important to them. They have underlying beliefs and fears that are keeping them from doing what’s required and needed each day to keep the pipeline filled.

It’s human nature to want to take the foot off the gas and relax when there is an abundance of new opportunities in the pipeline and a large number of sales are closing. We like being comfortable and want to stay there as long as possible when things are good. We don’t want to have to be uncomfortable and go outside of our comfort zones and keep getting new prospects and opportunities into the pipeline, because it’s easier to close what’s already in there and take care of those new clients and the rest of our current clients.

If you want to eliminate inconsistent results, put goals and plans in place for your people that includes consistent daily effort and regular reviews - and hold yourself and your people accountable to it. Inconsistent plans and efforts produce inconsistent results and keep you on the roller coaster. Make a choice to take a different ride starting today!

Shad Tidler

Connect with Shad Tidler

For 25 years, Lushin has guided business leaders toward intentional, predictable growth.

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