The Ultimate Sales Pipeline Guide: How to Build, Manage, & Measure

In sales, it’s almost like you’re the tour guide on a fantastic journey. Every time you pick up the phone to cold call a new lead, it’s the start of a new adventure.

Your goal: Take these leads through the sales cycle and convert them into happy customers.

Like any journey, this can be both exhilarating and exhausting. It takes an insane amount of energy, knowledge of your product, and charisma.

But even the pluckiest of tour guides needs a good map to get started.

What’s the ‘map’ you use to take prospects on their journey towards a purchase?

Your sales pipeline.

Using your sales pipeline as a guide, you can smooth out the journey and make it easier for your leads to convert. This not only helps you increase customers for your product: it’ll make those customers even more valuable to your company.

If you’ve landed here, it means you want to know more about sales pipelines. Well then, you’ve come to the right place.

Vous êtes sur le point d'apprendre tout ce que vous avez besoin de savoir (et plus encore) sur les pipelines de vente.

Mais avant de commencer, vous devez connaître les réponses à ces questions de base :

• Qu'est-ce qu'un pipeline de vente ?
• Quels sont les 6 principaux types de pipelines de vente et à quoi servent-ils ?
• Les pipelines de vente sont-ils différents selon votre secteur d'activité ?
• Comment les pipelines de vente favorisent-ils les ventes et profitent-ils à votre équipe ?

Voyons ce qu'il en est...

Qu'est-ce qu'un pipeline de vente ?

A sales pipeline gives you a clear view of where your leads are in the sales process, how likely they are to close, and what kind of revenue you can expect when they do.

‎Each business has its own unique sales process. This might include different stages in the buying process or different actions you or your reps take to close a deal.

For a sales pipeline to be truly effective, you need to adapt it to your business, your customers, and your product.

In fact, many companies create multiple pipelines for different purposes, each with their own unique stages and processes.

What are some different types of sales pipelines, and which one(s) should you be using?

What are the 6 Main Types of Sales Pipelines, and What are They Used for?

Remember: the type of sales pipeline you choose will depend on how your business works and how your team sells best.

A sales pipeline is only valuable to you if it helps your team close deals faster and convert more customers.

That said, here is an overview of six popular types of sales pipelines:

1. Simple Sales Pipeline

Il s'agit d'un pipeline visuel de base avec des étapes telles que la prospection, la qualification, la rencontre et la conclusion. C'est la meilleure solution pour un processus de vente sans fioritures qui se déroule sans heurts du début à la fin. Les clients potentiels arrivent, voient votre produit et l'achètent.

‎2. Sales and Marketing Pipeline

Bien que les pipelines soient principalement destinés aux équipes de vente, il peut y avoir un certain chevauchement avec l'équipe de marketing. Un pipeline de vente et de marketing comble le fossé entre ces deux équipes, en leur donnant accès aux domaines dans lesquels elles excellent. Par exemple, ce type de pipeline peut inclure des étapes au début pour la génération de leads et s'adresser davantage aux leads entrants générés par le marketing.

3. Post-Sale Pipeline

Ce n'est pas parce qu'une affaire a été conclue que votre travail est terminé. En fonction de votre activité, vous pouvez avoir besoin d'un pipeline d'après-vente qui inclut le travail que vous ferez après la signature du contrat. Il peut s'agir de la création ou de la conception d'un produit, de sa livraison ou de sa mise en œuvre, de la fourniture d'un service, d'une demande de recommandation ou d'une formation.

‎4. Retargeting Pipeline

When you lose contact with a lead, put them into your retargeting pipeline. This pipeline will have specific stages to retarget lost leads down the road with relevant follow-ups.

‎5. Product/Service-Based Sales Pipeline

Selon que vous êtes une entreprise de produits ou de services, votre pipeline peut être spécifiquement adapté à ce que vous vendez. En fait, certaines entreprises créent plusieurs pipelines en fonction des différents processus de vente qu'elles utilisent pour leurs différents produits.

‎6. Profile-Based Sales Pipeline

Si vous vendez à des profils de clients très différents, un pipeline basé sur le profil vous aidera à vendre à ce type de client spécifique. Par exemple, une entreprise qui vend un produit à la fois aux PME et aux grandes entreprises aura un processus de vente différent pour chacun d'entre eux et pourra créer plusieurs pipelines pour refléter cela.

‎These main sales pipelines guide today’s biggest businesses toward their next sales (and could be the basis for your sales pipeline).

When deciding whether or not to create multiple pipelines, remember that this only makes sense if the sales process varies greatly. Depending on your business, you may only need a simple sales pipeline that takes your customers on a clear path to the sale.

When it comes to your pipelines, the simpler the better. If you want to sell faster and shorten your sales cycle, don’t overcomplicate your sales process.

But how does your industry affect your sales pipeline?

Are Sales Pipelines Different Based on Your Industry?

Yes and no.

It’s true: a SaaS company may have a different sales process than a real estate agent or a field sales team. And a company that sells a service may have a different process than one that sells a physical product.

However, the basic sales pipeline stages still remain the same:

• Prospect to find the leads that will be interested in your product.
• Qualify those leads by researching them, their needs, their location, or other factors. Ask qualifying questions to see if they’d be a good fit for what you’re selling.
• Contact your prospect and set up a meeting, demo, phone call, or free trial. Sell them on the product.
• Present your offer with a stunning proposal.
• Negotiate and close the deal.

These basic sales pipeline stages are the foundation of your sales process and will work in pretty much any business.

Bien entendu, les différents secteurs d'activité peuvent avoir leur propre interprétation de ces étapes. Par exemple :

• In a SaaS sales pipeline, the ‘contact’ stage would likely include a product demo. Check out our SaaS sales guide.
• For a field sales team, the qualification stage will likely revolve around a geographic location, and contact will be done in person.
• In a B2B sales pipeline, the negotiation stage may be more complex, involving approvals from multiple stakeholders and decision-makers.
• A real estate sales pipeline will develop qualification around the type of buyer, and may be adapted based on the properties currently for sale. The negotiation stage will also involve getting a home inspection, taking an offer back to the current homeowner, returning with a counter-offer, and so on.
• For a construction sales pipeline, proposals may be in the form of blueprints, and will likely need to be adjusted and approved before the contract is signed.

That said, the basic process remains the same. What really changes are the actions that sales reps take within those different stages.

You can use the same basic process to build a sales pipeline that’s adapted to your business, customers, and product. When you do, there are some clear benefits you’re bound to see.

How Sales Pipelines Enable Sales and Benefit Your Team

Avec une filière bien développée, vous verrez au moins cinq avantages clairs :

1. Get a Clear View of all Deals Going on

A visual sales pipeline allows you to see what deals are currently in your pipeline, what stage they’re in, and how likely they are to close.

This not only helps your team set reasonable goals but also helps them achieve those goals.

Conduct regular sales pipeline review meetings to maintain a squeaky-clean pipeline that leaves you with no doubt on how to move forward and reach your goals.

2. Know Whether or Not You’re Going to Reach Your Goals

Since your pipeline shows you exactly what’s going on with your sales, you won’t sit around guessing whether you’re going to hit your quota or revenue goals: you’ll know for a fact.

For example, having a visual pipeline clearly shows you when you’re running low on leads. Instead of waiting for your pipeline to dry up, having this visual view allows you to see the drought in advance.

‎Then, you can implement the right methods to fix a dry sales pipeline before it even happens.

3. Shorten the Sales Cycle

A pipeline dictates an exact order for your sales process. Without that, reps are just guessing at what they should do next to push a sale forward. They might be trying to close too soon, or they might be delaying the sale for no reason.

With a sales pipeline in place, reps know exactly what they need to do, as well as the order they need to go in. Actions and next steps are outlined clearly, like a map that helps them take prospects on a smooth journey to purchase.

The rest is just common sense: the smoother your sales process, the shorter your sales cycle will be.

4. Monitor Your Team’s Progress

A good sales pipeline will also help sales managers monitor their team.

For example, managers will be able to see the stages where certain reps always get stuck, or where some reps truly excel.

This information helps sales leaders to give relevant training and encouragement, pushing all of their reps to sell better.

5. Focus on the Right Deals and Actions

With the right information in your pipeline, you’ll be able to see which deals are more valuable, which ones are losing speed, and which ones are more likely to close.

When you manage your pipeline effectively, your team will focus on the right deals. They’ll know which deals hold the most value, and which actions will lead those deals to a sale.

Ready to Blow the Doors off Your Competition?

Then let’s get into the nitty-gritty of sales pipelines.

When you build a sales pipeline that works, you’ll have a smoother process for closing big deals, and your reps will be working smarter to build your customer base.

That’s a fancy way of saying you’ll be one step closing to beating your biggest competitors.

In this guide, you’re going to learn more about what a pipeline is and what it’s not, how to build one that works for your business, what metrics you should be tracking, and how to manage your pipeline effectively.