A single-pipelinePipeline Sales pipelineis a visual representation of the stage prospects are in the sales process. CRM is not going to work for a manufacturing operation, simply due to the sheer volume of processes utilized. There is the manufacturing operation which has its own set of processes, then the marketingMarketing Marketing is the field, set of actions, or practice of making a product or service desirable to a target consumer segment, with the ultimate aim of effecting a purchase. and sales aspect of the company.

For example, in some companies, the sale is made first by sales and then by service. In another example, some companies might require different sales processes for different facilities.

Just in terms of sales, a company can have:

  • pre-sales processSales Process Sales Process is a series of strategic steps or a set of activities aimed at driving sales growth through the alignment of personnel, market insight, methodologies, relevant business units, and technology., designed to nurture leads and heat them up for actual prime-time sales
  • sales process, which is the main sales pipelineSales Pipeline Sales Pipeline is a type of visualization showing the status of each sales prospect in the customer life cycle or sales process. for the company
  • customerCustomer Customer is an individual or an organization that purchases a product or signs up for a service offered by a business. process, for upsellingUpselling Upselling is a selling technique where a seller introduces a more expensive, an upgrade, or add-on to a buyer to increase the average order value. and sales of future products to existing customers, and for making them into evangelists.

Additionally, any company could have:

  • a process for support—a support ticket comes at the front, and exits when completed
  • process for installation or, for a service, onboardingOnboarding Onboarding is the process or act of introducing a new customer to your product or service; or integrating a newly hired employee into your workforce or team. of the service

Additionally, there can be different processes—different series’ of steps—for different products.

But in manufacturing, there are many different processes, including the manufacturing processes themselves. For manufacturing you could have:

  • process for raw materials—ordering, storage, and deployment
  • or (alternatively) a process for supply chain management, that keeps tabs on suppliers, when materials are needed, when they are being ordered and shipped
  • inventory management, with a schedule of manufacturing, storage, and shipment to distributors or customers
  • one or more processes for manufacturing

If a CRM application only allows a single pipeline for sales, then all of these other processes for a manufacturing concern will have to be addressed elsewhere, with other applications. It is far more efficient for all of these processes to be collectively addressed within the CRM solutionSolution Solution is a combination of ideas, strategies, processes, technologies and services that effectively helps an organization achieve its goals or hurdle its challenges..

Manufacturing customizable multiple pipelines

Pipeliner

Pipeliner CRM allows as many processes as needed for a company, all connected to a single database. That means opportunities, customers, accounts or other dataData Data is a set of quantitative and qualitative facts that can be used as reference or inputs for computations, analyses, descriptions, predictions, reasoning and planning. can be moved from one process to another, whole and intact. All of these can also be related to each other or interconnected as needed, regardless of what process they are part of.