If you ever need a consistent reminder of the importance of consistent pipeline management, consider this: The pipes that carry water underneath New York City break once per day on average.
These pipelines may be of entirely different sorts — a poorly maintained sales pipeline won’t disrupt subway commutes or cause costly property damage, after all. However, they each demand continuous upkeep and attention in order to work as intended.
“Managing your pipeline is something that should be on your to-do list every day. In fact, it is your to-do list,” said Senior Account Executive Chloe Phillips, who works at Tropic. “A messy pipeline will lead to being unprepared for meetings, forgetting to follow up on critical tasks in between calls and dropping the ball in the most valuable parts of the sale.”
NYC’s infrastructure problems will take a long time to fix. Fortunately, that’s not your problem. In the sales realm, professionals like Phillips are excellent sources of tips and knowledge that can help optimize your pipeline in the now.
For Lauren Levitt, a senior provider growth associate at Headway, getting the most out of her pipeline hinges on keeping up with every interaction. “Every time I get an update from a client, I am sure to note that in my pipeline, including the date of communication, when the next outreach should be and any new and pertinent information that was shared regarding their goals,” explained Levitt.
Built In NYC spoke to sales professionals at four companies to learn more about the best practices they follow, how they’ve improved their pipeline processes over time and how they keep their pipelines clean and up to date.
Healthtech company Headway aims to remove barriers to accessing mental healthcare by connecting patients to quality, in-network care.
What’s the single most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management? Why is this practice so important?
In order to optimize my pipeline for the best results, I aim to keep it up to date with every interaction. I’ve found that keeping thorough progress notes makes a world of difference in working with prospective and established clients. Not only does this preparation save you time, but having these key details visible and top-of-mind allows salespeople to customize the task to each client and relate it back to their specific needs.
Furthermore, maintaining detailed notes demonstrates your attentiveness to the client, which establishes trust and encourages the client to hold accountability for the action items required of them. Moreover, this relationship-centered approach builds rapport with the client, emphasizing our aligned interests and demonstrating the mutually beneficial outcomes of working together.
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
About eight months into this role, I became a bit overwhelmed with my growing pipeline of business and was unsure how I could optimize my follow-up with all of these clients. Being a visual learner, I quickly realized that I could segment and color coordinate my clients based on their stage in the sales funnel and follow up with them based on groups.
Don’t be afraid to make changes to your pipeline management process!”
This not only allowed me to visually see what types of tasks I had coming up but also allowed me to do less and go deeper by grouping tasks based on their nature to prevent code-switching and conserve mental energy. This change has allowed me to save time in staying on top of my pipeline and also have a clear picture of where I stand in terms of completing my goals. I could easily tell by looking at the colors on my spreadsheet what batch of clients to prioritize and where to invest my energy to yield the highest results.
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
Everyone’s sales pipelines will look different, which — surprisingly! — is something you should embrace. I have found that applying my unique learning style to my pipeline organization has allowed me to optimize processes for success and efficiency and gets me excited to dive in every day! I encourage salespeople to customize their pipeline management structure, tailoring it in a way that works best for them.
Furthermore, don’t be afraid to make changes to your pipeline management process! If you think another layout would work better for you, try it! If your team has new goals for this quarter, restructure your pipeline system to align with these goals! Although it may take some time upfront to reorganize how you manage your pipeline, it will save you time down the line once you can more readily prioritize prospects for the company’s current needs. This should be a place that you live out of, so don’t hold back on any creativity in making it your own to best fit your individual working style.
monday.com is a work operating system that businesses use to manage workflows, align team members and boost productivity.
What’s the single most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management? Why is this practice so important?
When it comes to pipeline management, sales fundamentals are key! Keeping my customer resource management system clean and organized ensures I can prioritize my time best. For example, I take my call notes directly in my CRM during the call and log the next steps directly after. This allows me to easily reference back throughout the deal cycle and provide visibility to my manager for accurate forecasting. As a result, I am utilizing my time best to prioritize every single day thoughtfully.
Whichever method you choose, it’s important to have a source of truth for you and your team to manage and track every step in your sales process.”
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
The monday.com board I’ve created to help me stay accountable and on top of my pipeline has been a major improvement. Whichever method you choose, it’s important to have a source of truth for you and your team to manage and track every step in your sales process. The board organizes key deals, the next steps and a quick reference list of my tasks. I use this monday.com board during my weekly one-on-ones to maintain a constant and open line of communication with my manager. This has ensured internal communication always remains seamless, and we are winning more deals together as a team!
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
I block time on my calendar to focus on maintaining a clean pipeline each week. I pick a time — for me, it is on Friday afternoon for about 30 to 60 minutes — when I can sit down and review my pipeline and CRM. I use this time not only to clean and edit my pipeline but also to make my to-do list for the upcoming week. Getting into this habit gives me the confidence that my pipeline remains up to date. With that confidence, I can focus on my favorite part of this job — building and maintaining relationships with our clients and partners and providing them with the best monday.com experience.
Companies of all sizes use Tropic to buy and manage SaaS, saving customers time and money by making software buying easy.
What’s the single most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management? Why is this practice so important?
Consistency. Managing your pipeline is something that should be on your to-do list every day. In fact, it is your to-do list.
Taking three minutes after each call or 20 minutes at the start and end of your day to update your pipeline sets your future self up for success and prevents tasks from slipping through the cracks.
A messy pipeline will lead to being unprepared for meetings, forgetting to follow up on critical tasks in between calls and dropping the ball in the most valuable parts of the sale. If you add those up, that’s more closed lost deals.
Taking three minutes after each call to update your pipeline sets your future self up for success.”
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
Making time in my day to prioritize updating my pipeline like I would prioritize preparing for a call.
Sometimes when you’re so back-to-back, the last thing you want to do after having 12 calls in a row is to take a few minutes to do admin work. But you have to think about managing your pipeline as setting your future self up for success and making less work for yourself.
Updating your pipeline is preparing for your calls, just more ongoing.
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
Firstly, update as frequently as you can; for me, that’s daily.
Secondly, set a time with your manager in your one-on-one to go through it together. It helps to talk out loud and makes it feel less like administrative work, and having a sounding board makes it easier to work through together.
Movable Ink is a platform that transforms data into personalized content and helps brands accelerate their marketing performance.
What’s the single most important best practice you follow when it comes to pipeline management? Why is this practice so important?
Maintaining a Mutual Action Plan (MAP) with each of your prospects is critical not only to deal progression but for staying organized and prioritizing tasks within your pipeline. A MAP enables you to take a quick glance at an opportunity and understand the immediate next steps and who owns them. This can help you act fast if necessary based on the timeline or confirm that you can sit tight and prioritize other opportunities. A well-organized MAP will also keep your prospects accountable for their own tasks and hold them to the agreed upon timeline. Without a MAP, it becomes more difficult to track your deal progress and, inherently, your pipeline.
What’s one improvement you’ve made to your pipeline processes over time, and what impact has that had on your work?
In the past, I would focus linearly on a single next step within the sales cycle. However, over the last couple of years, I’ve made a point to parallel path different action items in order to speed up the sales cycle. For example, I may have previously waited until a verbal agreement on price to move forward with paperwork.
A MAP enables you to take a quick glance at an opportunity and understand the immediate next steps and who owns them.”
More recently, I’ve introduced paperwork to review the moment we feel the customer is interested in moving forward with a partnership. There is no obligation for the customer to sign the paperwork. Still, we can get an early start on a lengthy legal review in parallel with finalizing the project scope and financials. This has helped me significantly accelerate deal cycles and help maintain a more healthy pipeline.
What’s a best practice you follow for monitoring your sales pipeline over time and keeping it clean and up to date?
Whenever I get the chance, I constantly brainstorm any possible next step with my manager. We throw every possibility to drive the deal forward that we can think of at the wall and then discuss why or why not it’s the right move at that time. We may bring up three to four ideas per deal, kill two to three for various reasons or stash one for a later time, but we’re always able to come up with something to keep us moving. It keeps us on our toes and gets the creative juices flowing. We have a ton of resources available to us, so it helps us take a step back and revisit all the possibilities to find the best path forward. At the end of the conversation, we have actionable next steps for each deal in the pipeline.
