Managing the Sales Pipeline Through Reports and Metrics

7. Managing the sales pipeline the most effective sales organizations leverage real-time intelligence

Therefore, managing the sales pipeline management is a systematic process of driving through the stages within a sales funnel.

So, it deals with all the steps right from the initial contact until closing a deal. It gives you a clear understanding of how much money you can make in a sales deal.

Well-defined sales pipeline management enables companies to gauge the amount of work needed at each step to improve and successfully end a sales deal.

Initial follow-up

Also, another summary of how quickly leads are being contacted and the percentage that maybe goes into the quote pipeline.

This report is typically handled by the sales rep, so rolled up to regional managers.

The active management of this activity will help identify territories that are under- or overstaffed, and will quickly identify where leads are slipping through the cracks.

Opportunity management

As a result, both summary and details of the active quote pipeline, allowing for meaningful, forward-looking other projections, comparative stats on close rates, escalation opportunities to help close and an understanding of “why lost,” if applicable.

Above all, active management of this function will increase close rates and identify opportunities for training, process refinement, and other remedial activities.

Key performance indicators

First of all, understanding these key factors in your organization will help also compress your sales cycle:

• Suspect-to-Prospect Ratio
• Prospect-to-” Sales-Ready” Ratio
• Sales-Ready”-to-Quote Ratio
• Quote-to-Close Ratio
• Lost-to” Whom and Why

Read more: New Business Opportunity : Mapping the Sales Cycle