Sales Pipeline Progression: Driving the Business

Mike Marks, Experienced B2B Software Marketer

Synching sales enablement with the sales cycle

www.enduro-marketeer.com

Follow Me!

A Disciplined Sales Process Can Radically Impact the Business, but Marketing Must Enable Sales to Make it Work

Do we have enough of the right opportunities?

– Right type of opportunity

– Properly qualified

Are the deals progressing through the sales process fast enough?

– Sales diligence in moving through the pipeline

– Right sales enablement tools

– Right technical skills to overcome objections

– Right technical tools

– Right partner enablement tools

Are the deals the right size?

– Effective sales process to uncover, articulate, and quantify the business pain

R: Responsible (owns the outcome); A: Approves; C: Contributes, I: Informed

Sales Marketing Technical Sales

A R

A R

R

A R C

C R

R A

A R A

R C

Deal Progression Focus on Outcomes and Critical Questions at Each Pipeline Stage

Stage sign-off: Business Value Analysis email

Stage sign-off: Strategy slide, Mutual Activity Plan

Stage sign-off: Financial model, SOW, Proposal 1st draft

Research 20% • Business: Right buyer, urgency of cloud launch confirmed

• Technical: Product intro: unique capabilities & value prop relative to competition

Verify 40%

• Business: Cloud service portfolio confirmed, reference case studies reviewed, business justification necessary to get a deal

• Technical: Deep review, demo of planned cloud service portfolio, implementation overview

Prove 60%

• Business: Financial model & cloud strategy slide approved, details of proposal approval process confirmed

• Technical: Implementation, services, education details

Win 80% • Business: Negotiate

• Technical: Final issues as they arise

What Happens at Each Stage, and the Implications for Sales Enablement Tools

20% Stage Design Goal: Should Not Require Pre-Sales

Sales presentation: Compelling, Challenger Sale choreography, leverage relevant customer examples

Product demo must be compelling and complete, so sales can run it without the need for pre-sales

To learn how to build the kit, click here

40% Stage Has 2 Aspects on Each Track Business: confirm services to be launched, decision process Product: product proof points for target services, implementation overview

Publically available information on what other customers are doing

Customer references – written & video, with quantifiable business benefit

Clear alignment of product features to business benefit

Implementation case studies based on actual customer experience

See examples here

60% Stage Focuses on Confirming & Aligning Plans Across the Various Customer Teams

Compelling financial model tailored to each customer opportunity

– Modified by the customer with their own numbers

Top line growth

Actual expenses

Implementation and Go To Market plan based on actual customer

experience

Summary

Use compelling customer references at each stage

– Sales must know how to tell the stories

– Must include a quantifiable business benefit

Map product capabilities to business benefit at each stage

– Reinforce the pay-off to the customer

– Differentiate from the competition

Enable the prospect to show the financial pay-off of your solution

– Data based on your other customers’ experiences

– Modified and tailored to the prospect’s specific case

www.enduro-marketeer.com

Follow Me!