New! An Innovative Sales Pipeline Scanner to Get Ready for 2024

I am currently delivering a sales training in Shanghai. What a beautiful modern city that is. You notice progression and innovation wherever you look. Impressive skyscrapers surround the famous Huangpu River and the traditional old town. The streets are clean, and the people are super friendly. What you also notice when walking on the streets is that it is quiet. No wonder Shanghai has been the world leader in electric vehicle sales since 2011, followed by Beijing and Los Angeles.

Here is another fun fact: Shanghai is near-cashless. Mobile phones are used when you leave your house, in public transportation, and buy groceries or gifts in tourist shops. Even a tiny shop selling bracelets in the old town requires you to scan a barcode to make a purchase. I could not find the research, but maybe Shanghai is also leading the world in using QR-code scanners. They are literally everywhere.

That made me think about how we in sales need to clean up our pipelines in a more modern and effective way to start the new year fresh. Over time, our CRM becomes cluttered with stuck deals, misleading information, and neglected potential customers. There are only a few weeks left until 2024, so now is the perfect time to clean up our sales pipelines. We could consider methods like a pipeline shuffle or using an innovative pipeline scanner. Imagine if we could simply run all our opportunities through a scanner and, with a few beeps, have a clean and high-quality sales pipeline for Q1 2024. Let’s get started!

Sales Pipeline Scanner

For every letter of the Sales Pipeline SCANNER, we need to do some critical thinking and be honest with ourselves:

S = Situational Knowledge is weak.

There are opportunities you have accepted into your pipeline with weak situational knowledge. Whatever the reason was for adding these to your pipeline, now you realize that there is a lot more research to be done on the customer’s situation before you are ready to have a relevant and insightful conversation. Move these out and spend time on them later.

C = Compliance Opportunities

These opportunities make your number of opportunities look good, but actually, they should not be in your sales pipeline at all. I am talking about duplications and wish-to-haves. Pursuing these would end up with nothing. Your conscience knows it. Move them out.

A = Aged opportunities

A while back, these opportunities looked promising. You have done your best, met with key stakeholders, and shared insights. One day, you realize a silence that you don’t like. No phone call with questions, not even a polite no thank you email. These deals are way beyond your average sales cycle and have no space in your quality sales pipeline.

N = No Change Champion

To move opportunities forward, you need a change champion. Having identified key stakeholders is not enough because no one in the buying room is willing to take the lead in the change. No one is influencing other stakeholders on your behalf. Really, if you have no change champion, move these opportunities out until you feel more confident.

N = No Insights

Sometimes, you are staring at opportunities, and you have no idea where to start to influence their perspective. You did some research, but the sound information is not relevant and insightful enough. Rather than wasting time and blocking other potential opportunities from getting into your pipeline, move these out. Consult your manager or other colleagues, pick their brains, and work together until the right insights are found.

E = Empty Promises

We all have encountered these types of opportunities, where potential customers promise you the world, but in the end, it’s all thin air. Being able to recognize and filter out these opportunities in a timely manner is crucial for maintaining a clean and efficient sales pipeline. This necessitates a robust qualification and verification process.

R = Rates as the reason to change

The last opportunities going through your scanner are those where, despite deploying all your Selling with the Buyer’s perspective skills, the customer’s main reason for change is price. Often, these types of customers are challenging you to obtain a price in comparison to what they pay your competitor now. This is a lost battle. Selling with the Buyer’s Perspective motivates customers to think about change as a valuable outcome to their top and bottom line and recognize that achieving that comes at a cost. Rate-chasing customers do not belong in your sales pipeline.

Summary

Setting you up for the best start in 2024 requires a clean sales pipeline. This ensures you do not waste time on opportunities that will not convert to a revenue outcome within a reasonable sales cycle. We are still far from having high-tech pipeline scanners with QR codes and beeping confirmations, but in the meantime, I would recommend using the above-described sales pipeline SCANNER to get ready for next year.