Sales Management Through Pipeliner CRM
The topic of Sales management is very broad, and is covered in an infinite number of books, so we won’t be covering that here. There is also an endless list of material on sales management—and as anyone who has read my previous writings on the subject knows, I consider that management is management. There are principles which dictate great management, and they are applied in sales management, as well as in the management of any other part of a company, or in the overall management of the company itself. The management methods that we have found the most effective, and to have the biggest impact on effectiveness and efficiency, are those of world-renowned management consultant Fredmund Malik.
“Management must be learnt just like any other profession, a foreign language, or a type of sport. Management is not easy, so it must constantly be practiced. However, neither is it more difficult than other professions, so anyone can achieve a certain degree of competence, higher than that of an amateur.” —Fredmund Malik
LeadLead Lead refers to a prospect or potential customer (who can be an individual or organization) that exhibits interest in your service or product; or any additional information about such entity. Management
In sales, it all begins with leads. There is always a sales quotaQuota Quota is a predefined benchmark indicating the amount of sales a selling unit such as a sales rep or a regional sales team should achieve within a given period, often used as a measure of success, performance and eligibility for commissions and other rewards. to be made. A quota won’t be attained without adequate opportunities—and opportunities won’t happen without adequate leads.
Opportunity Management
At the very heart of running a sales, the pipelinePipeline Sales pipelineis a visual representation of the stage prospects are in the sales process. is opportunity management. Opportunity management consists of, first, setting up a 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.. This means knowing the various stages that your opportunities pass through, from lead all the way to close. When you know how long a deal takes to make it through the pipeline, and how long it should take for an opportunity to make it through each stage of that pipeline, you’ve got a fairly accurate sales process.
AccountAccount Account refers to a record of primary and background information about an individual or corporate customer, including contact data, preferred services, and transactions with your company. Management
Account management is a considerable job—and one of the most important for a sales professional. Account management consists of several key functions, all of which actually add up to happy customers. Account management is most precisely conducted through CRM.
Existing accounts are the foundation and stability of a company. Moreover, it is far less complex and costly to keep an existing account satisfied and happy than it is generating new business.
The War Room Concept
The War Room is a vital concept in sales management.
A physical war room, in the military, is a space in which generals, officers and battle coordinators visually plan out battle tactics and strategies for specific operations. In business, the term has come to mean a meeting space built for the specific purpose of providing a dedicated location for stakeholders and project teams to share a location and visually communicate tasks and activities associated with the execution of critical projects.
Hunter and Farmer
Finally, we need to examine the two basic types of salespeople, the hunter and the farmer, and how each of these are managed.
Come with me as we explore each of these vital parts of sales management through CRM.
Additional Resources
This ebook is on the subject of “Win Together.” It falls under the same context as“win-to-win” described in my book Network Selling: Guarantee Success for the Digital Age. Today, this aspect of sales is more important than ever, and must also be part and parcel of CRM solutions.
“For some years I’ve been saying that, as a society, we’re in the midst of a transformation. Given what’s happened in the last couple of years, there’s no one left who is disagreeing with me! It’s become very obvious.”
A common term in sales today is EQ, which stands for “emotional I.Q.” It means the skill a salesperson has in reading emotions and utilizing them in sales. It means empathy and a number of other abilities. The short version is, it’s an I.Q. when it comes to emotions. But just as with our Network Selling model, E.Q. isn’t just for sales, either. It’s actually the missing factor in human interactions, for confrontation—a common “tool” in human interactions—doesn’t actually handle anything.
“You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”