The best practices for keeping a robust and active sales funnel have been discussed by every sales leader from Dale Carnegie to Zig Ziglar. Many of these techniques look great on paper, but what really works in a real-world sales environment, given the market realities of your business?
Over the years, we’ve developed key concepts that you can turn into best practices across your sales organization. Here are two to get you started:
- NSP – Never Stop Prospecting
The practice of keeping your sales funnel full is one part methodical activity and one part honest assessment. Let’s break this sentence into these two concepts.
First, let us discuss the methodical activity. We all know sales prospecting is a numbers game. Productivity is an important measurement in sales, and the more activity you have, the fuller your funnel will be. If you’re having a run of closed deals, it can be challenging to find the time to prospect. If given the choice between talking to hot lead vs. a cold call, we are going to choose the hot lead every time. It’s human nature to gravitate to activity that makes us feel good. But if you stop prospecting and your sales funnel develops holes, you will suffer a dry spell that will affect future paychecks.
We recommend this daily best practice: never leave your desk without finding one qualified lead. You will end up with a steady stream of prospects that trickle down to a consistent book of successful sales. Your paycheck and your boss will be very happy.
- KTRH – Kill the Red Herring Next, let’s get real.
The honest assessment part of keeping a sales funnel full comes into play when we face the reality of red herrings. Red herrings are smoked fish, of course, but in literature, it’s a concept that is meant to distract the reader. It’s magical sleight of hand that entices you to pay attention to the wrong thing while attempting to cover up what is really happening. Don’t fall for it.
Red herrings are messy and smell bad whether as food or literary concept. An example of a red herring would be a lead that has been in your funnel way too long with no real client engagement. Perhaps the client doesn’t have the budget, isn’t really serious about buying, or maybe you’re not approaching the right decision maker. If you were being honest, you would admit you should toss it in the trash and move on.
Flailing away at non-qualified leads, keeping leads in your pipeline too long as a way to disguise the fact that you aren’t prospecting enough – we’ve all done it. But clogging your sales funnel with clumpy smelly red herrings will ultimately reduce the size of your paycheck.
Think of your pipeline as a colander. You want to be able to move the water out of the colander but keep the really delicious meat inside intact. Don’t hang on too long to a lead that you know will not produce a sale. The honest analysis will disqualify the lead, allowing you to replace it with a more qualified opportunity.
If you follow the concept of NSP, you will never run out of potential leads. So, let it go, disqualify, move on and KTRH. If you adopt NSP and KTRH as two initial best sales practices, your funnel will balance as a healthy pipeline of consistent leads. Practice these simple concepts daily for a smooth and even process of prospecting, disqualifying and closing. Good luck and good selling!
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