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I have a passionate belief: the sales pipeline should be one of the few fundamental business tools – an essential instrument on the dashboard of any business owner, executive, sales leader and indeed sales professional. It should provide true insight into where the business is, and where it is going. It should provide clear direction about market dynamics and exactly what is, and isn’t working. It should also provide clarity for short- and long-term investments. Sadly, and all too often, I find that an organization’s sales pipeline falls short of this measure. This need not be the case. I believe that organizations that try to function without a robust and accurate sales pipeline are running far too much on hope, and are spending a totally unnecessary amount of time and energy trying to backfill in other ways. So, here is an article about how to think, perhaps differently, about the sales pipeline in a manner that will deliver the business results that you need in today’s world.

Download the PDF here.

Sales reps get hundreds, if not thousands, of leads per year, and following up on any particular one can eat up a huge amount of time. Let’s face it – we have all chased our fair share of rabbits into the woods. That is why we are so frequently asked by clients how Outside-In can help increase a sales team’s close rates. Well, as with everything Outside-In, we start by shifting our focus away from how you are selling and look at how your customers are buying. Ask yourself, “What is the best way for sales reps to prioritize their contacts?”

Simple. Focus on customers with 100% close rates.

Despite being so obvious, some of you might be thinking a close rate that high is mythical, impractical, or completely unattainable. However, there are customers who are guaranteed to close on a deal. These buyers share two specific qualities: first, they are actually interested in your offering, and, just as importantly, are able to make the journey from real interest to commitment.

Customers are interested in countless offerings, but only commit to a few – not because of poor selling, but because their path from interest to commitment is either too difficult or unclear. This is not a new phenomenon either. We have performed customer interviews for decades and there has always been a plurality of buyers who cannot readily tell you how they get through this process. That is why as a sales rep, you must help them along that journey. Customers who successfully navigate their end-to-end Buying Journey close 100% of the time, while those who do not will never buy. With that in mind, here are 3 rules to follow when guiding the customer through their Buying Journey.

1. Take an Outside-In approach to selling

Start by considering what it takes for your customer to get from an interest in your offering to a commitment to it. In an overwhelming number of cases, we have seen that this has nothing to do with the value of your product or service, and more to do with the obstacles, known or unknown, in your customer’s way.  Understanding these hurdles and quickly assessing your customer’s ability to clear them is fast and effective way to improve your win rate.

2. Focus your time on customers that you can help move from interest to commitment

Before you leave that third voicemail, look for the resistance and decide whether you can overcome it.  Sometimes, stepping back a moment will show you that reframing your offering around a new, more pressing customer problem or addressing a lingering concern in a novel way will secure commitment. Other times, you will realize the battle cannot be won. If turns out to be the latter, there is no shame in moving on.

3. Don’t confuse interest in your offering for a commitment to buy

Spending time with people who love your offering may feel productive and like a deal is progressing, but if the resistance in the organization is not addressed, then you are likely to hear “I’m sorry…just can’t do this right now” at the last minute.  No matter the industry, your biggest competitor will always be No Decision. Even if you have supporters, determining whether the prospect is even capable of making a commitment, or whether they are simply educating themselves at your expense, is a key element of the Outside-In sales approach.

In February of 2006, Market-Partners Inc. CEO and founder, Martyn Lewis, published his first book, Sales Wise. This loose collection of 32 vignettes not only contains our first ever thoughts on the Customer Buying Journey, but also a great story about a flying Volvo I am becoming convinced only funny to salespeople. Now, before you add several copies to your Amazon cart, eager to hear punchlines about magic Swedish cars, this article is not meant to be a book recommendation. At best, Sales Wise today serves mostly as an interesting piece of corporate history given how much more we know about how customers buy and why they don’t.

Yes, 15 years can certainly feel like a lifetime ago, especially when I glanced at the old tag line in Chapter 13 – “Selling from the Inside-Out.” Yet despite how much has changed just within the last 12 months, that doesn’t mean we should throw out everything we know about the Buying Journey. In fact, it is quite the opposite.

Here are three Outside-In (or dare I say, Inside-Out) lessons from Sales Wise more relevant than ever.

1. www.com Is Not The Friend Of The Sales Professional

Back when Martyn was selling computer systems in the late 80s, his team had an important saying about the role of marketing material: “the selling stops when the brochure is delivered.” Sales Wise was quick to recontextualize this adage, highlighting the parallels between product pamphlets and your corporate web address.

With your URL closer to your fingertips than ever before, it is crucial to remind ourselves what websites are – excellent marketing tools. Referring someone to your domain during a conversation will not help you discover what your prospect is after, nor will it help you play a larger role in defining their job requirements. Anytime you hand a client your virtual “brochure” in a call, you are no longer managing the Buying Journey. You are actively relinquishing control over it.

2. Do You Know Why Someone Will Buy From You?

The transition to virtual has simultaneously made customers more and less accessible. On one hand, it is easier to put something on their calendar – despite your Zoom meeting being only one of a half-dozen they will attend this afternoon. It should be no surprise then that our latest research found buyers and key decision makers are looking for more focused content than previously thought.

The Sales Wise solution is simple. Imagine your prospect just called to say you lost the business – in sixty seconds, could you clearly express your value proposition in your customer’s words? If you can’t, then it’s time to condense, edit, and polish your value proposition around their Customer’s Buying Journey. As Martyn put succinctly in the book, “If you don’t know why your prospect would buy from you, don’t expect the prospect to know.”

3. Yours Sincerely

While the repetition of writing emails and LinkedIn messages definitely breeds efficiency, it can sometimes result in us sending something completely on autopilot. I have personally received a concerning number of copy and pasted communications still addressed to their original recipient. As much as I try to take these mistakes in stride, I cannot help but think of the old Sales Wise quote, “If it’s worth writing, it’s worth writing properly.”

Electronic communication seems more detached, but regardless of what closing salutation you use, you have stilled signed that message. Although our interviews show customers are expecting quicker communication in 2021 compared to other years, they also believe, “even an email is a request [their] time.” So before you press send, stretch your legs, refill your coffee, and reread your email one more time to make sure you are putting your best foot forward.

Want to know how customers are buying differently in the virtual world? Our latest course, Outside-In Selling: Mastering The Virtual Sale, is designed to help you increase your sales effectiveness, productivity, and closing ratio in the online space. View the offering and download the course description here.