I’m going to just come out and say it.
90% of what’s in most sales people’s pipelines is pure junk.
Let me explain. When companies bring me in for sales training in Boston, one area we always explore is the existing sales team’s current pipeline. Inevitably, sales people will boast about how many excellent prospects they have that are just about to close. “I’m expecting at least half of these sales opportunities to close by the end of this quarter…” the optimistic sales person will tell me.
Liar! And I’ve proven it. If I go through that sales person’s list of likely-to-close sales opportunities and call those prospects, saying the following, “Hello ______, my name is Marc Wayshak and I’m calling on behalf of John Jones with [My client’s company]. I just wanted to very quickly ask you if you thought there was any chance you are going to do business with him in the next quarter.”
Without fail, 70% to 90% will say something from, “Oh yes, John is a nice guy, but we realistically aren’t going to be doing anything for a while,” to “No, we aren’t going to be working with him.”
The sales person was lying to himself all this time, simply because he is spending all of his time trying to persuade prospects rather than disqualify prospects.
Great sales people only want to spend time with qualified prospects, but that requires that they take the time to understand if the prospect is a fit. If the prospect isn’t a fit, they waste no more time chasing.
If you were to go through your current sales opportunity pipeline, how many of those deals should be removed from the list? Please share your comments below.
Written by Marc Wayshak, author of the book Game Plan Selling and provider of sales training in Boston.
Written by Marc Wayshak, author of the book Game Plan Selling. which shares the sales system developed through his sales training in Boston.
Great article Mark – and it’s a complicated subject.
In my humble opinion …
Forecasts are simply an educated guess using some type of historical trend or information along with verbal conversations. Even signed contracts are not guarantees. So we budget using our best guess. If it’s not scheduled (time based) on paper, and there’s no money up front, then that business is just another best guess.
Talk is cheap but money has a very loud voice. When a prospect or current customer puts money in your hand, then that’s a real forecast.
Humans are interesting. We all have different personalities and emotions. How can you base your life on that? Businesses have been doing the same thing for ages and they continue to struggle. Hmm … why not try some new method?
Now .. will the person that holds that crystal ball please step forward.
Well put Daniel! It’s a tricky process. My issue is just that sales people are eternally optimistic about everything in their pipe. Let’s get that crystal ball out here…