What is Sales Pipeline Management?

Why do you need to manage your sales pipelines?

• It's important to manage your sales pipelines as it allows you to:

• Refine your sales process by identifying where leads are lost

• Predict incoming revenue using ball park figures and the probability of winning that revenue (%)

• Track overall sales to establish if business is growing at the expected rates

• Make vital decisions over successful and unsuccessful products/services

Are all sales pipelines the same?

Whilst there is a common route for most sales processes (lead, then prospect, then customer), this can vary depending on the business which highlights the importance of having a system that enables businesses to create custom sales process stages. For example, some businesses may use suspects, qualified leads and so on in addition to leads and prospects.

What happens next?

Once the prospect becomes a customer, the hard work is only just beginning. This customer now needs to be managed to ensure that they remain a happy customer; which is where customer relationship management (CRM) comes into the frame. With how closely tied sales pipelines are to CRM, it makes sense to have a system in place that incorporates the two, enabling them to work together in harmony.

Luckily, Oomph CRM does just that. It's a simple and affordable solution for SMEs who need a flexible CRM system that's easy to use and packed full of advanced tools and features. You can trial the system free for 14 days here (no card details needed) and put the topics discussed in this article into practice.