September 30, 2015 | Andrew Lawlor

The key advantage of Salesforce CRM is the sales pipeline visibility it provides, allowing you to make more accurate predictions about which opportunities are likely to become sales, and thus where to focus your sales team resources.

Most sales professionals know these advantages.

But like any tool, Salesforce can only be as effective as the person who wields it.

 

Remember what Abraham Lincoln said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

 

For organizations using Salesforce, that means actively defining the specific phases of your sales pipeline.

The strategy is simple: clearly define your sales phases, and you truly empower your reps to shorten the sales cycle. You sharpen your axe.

 

So, where to begin?

 

Start by thinking about the different phases that constitute a strong sales process, from getting an initial lead to a convincing pitch to a successful close.

While it can be tempting to try and create an extensive list of phases, keeping a “less is more” mentality as you define your pipeline will help streamline your sales strategy development.

 

A sales process that gets too complex is usually a symptom of a process that has become too introspective, and too driven by meeting internal obligations. You want, rather, an outward-looking process that keeps prospects in its sights, limited to four or five overall phases.

 

The sales phases with which most of us are familiar include Initial Contact, Qualification, Meeting, Proposal/Pitch, and Close.

Many organizations assign levels of value to each of these phases based on the probability that the sale will close in a given phase.

 

Here you’ll want to rely on the experience of the individual salesperson to make these judgments in individual cases, but research suggests the breakdown of closing probably by stage typically looks something like this:

• Initial contact – 0 %
• Qualification – 10 %
• Meeting – 30 %
• Proposal – 60 %
• Close – 100 %

 

Within each of these phases, you’ll want to specify the actions needed or milestones achieved that need to be checked off before the process can proceed.

Those can vary greatly depending on what you’re trying to sell, and your particular customer base.

 

That’s why it’s well worth the time to sit down and define your process, then map it to the default stages in Salesforce.

 

Time spent brainstorming with your reps, reviewing sales history, and even discussing the successful aspects of your process with clients can really help illuminate what each stage can look like to you.

As you define your organization’s sales stages, keep in mind that you also want a fairly linear sales process, one that shows distinct progress from the initial contact to when you seal the deal, avoiding “back flow” or loss of momentum because deals are in a seemingly endless state of negotiation.

 

Any experienced professional is familiar, for example, with customer stall tactics that can slow your efforts to close a sale.

 

We’re all going to deal with prospects who waiver, likely for any of the following four common concerns:

• Push back on price;
• Doubts about product quality;
• Questions about a company’s credibility (especially if there’s no solid relationship between the prospect and lead salesperson);
• Simple anxiety that grows as the sale gets closer to closing.

 

Instead of letting the sales process stagnate for any of these reasons, be prepared with effective responses that legitimately address their concerns and keep the sales process moving forward.

Get them to explain why they think the price is too high, and have responses ready that spell out your product’s advantages so they understand the real value.

 

You can also ask for them to elaborate on their perception of ROI, and be ready to correct any misperceptions.

It also helps to tie the product or solution you are selling directly to its impact on your prospect’s customers.

 

Follow through to the bottom-line benefit!

 

Being ready to address prospect concerns helps keep your deals moving in the right direction, and keeps that pipeline flowing through the stages your organization has defined.

Define your organization’s process, determine your organization’s stages, and Salesforce CRM becomes that powerful tool held in expert hands. Get it sharp, then start chopping.

 

For a deeper conversation about managing your opportunity stages in Salesforce, feel free to reach out.