The Ultimate LinkedIn Messaging Guide

CHAPTER 27PIPELINE WILL ALWAYS BE KING

From the day the first sale was ever made to the day the last sale is made, one thing will always remain true…

Pipeline will always be KING in sales.

Looking back at my time leading sales teams, one of the main reasons for a sales rep missing target was because they hadn't built enough of a pipeline. If you look back at when you've missed your target, how many times would you have actually hit target if you had generated a few more opportunities?

Sales pipelines work like this…

Let's say you have to make five sales to hit your sales target. You need to prospect and build a pipeline of opportunities that you work to close at least five to hit target.

The problem is it's not that simple!

Here are some of the common mistakes that salespeople make with their pipeline:

1) THEY DON'T FIND ENOUGH OPPORTUNITIES TO HIT TARGET

A lot of sales reps don't generate enough opportunities each month to hit target…

Let's say you need five sales to hit target, as we mentioned above. Unfortunately, salespeople fall into a common trap of only building a pipeline of five opportunities. The reality is that if you build a pipeline of five opportunities, not all five opportunities will close. Which is why many salespeople end up not hitting target.

The key is to understand your close ratio.

If you close 50% of your pipeline, you'll need 50% more to hit target. So, to hit five sales, you'll need at least ten opportunities in your pipeline. If you close 25% of ...