Sales Models, Metrics, and Motions Blog

B2B Friday: Pipeline, Opportunity & The Smurfs

by Trish Bertuzzi on Fri, Oct 23, 2009

On this day in 1958, The Smurfs appeared for the 1st time. But not until the 1980s did Hanna-Barbera Productions bring them to the US audience.

Now onto our B2B Friday thoughts!

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B2B Thought #1: Opportunity is the goal, not pipeline

Your company's pipeline is probably scrutinized daily.  So why are close dates getting pushed out, deals getting stuck along the way and some never hitting the "commit" list?

Mike Damphousse provides an insight into why this may be occurring in Introductory Appointments: Your Goal is Meeting Number Two.

He begins by giving two Sales scenarios and asks us to choose better of the two:

  • Proposal: The prospect let you pitch him for 30 minutes, told you to send a proposal and CC his director, who handles these types of projects.
  • 2nd Meeting: The prospect discussed her business issues with you, you asked good questions, you shared some anecdotal stories about how some of your clients have similar issues, and she asked for a second meeting.

Debbie here:  OK, I have to ask, which one did you choose?  Which one moves us towards real opportunity? And which one focuses narrowly on "fuller" pipelines?

What are your thoughts?
 

B2B Thought #2: Finishing 2009 Strong

I stumbled across this blog posting and, language(!), typos and all, it resonated.  The title is 10 Things A Sales Rep Must Do to Finish Strong in 2009.  Here are my top 3 (note: the author is a tad irreverent and the language a bit blue):

#5 - Pick up the God Dam Phone - October is the best month to chat up those cold and lukewarm accounts that you have ignored - get them engaged and close em out.  They have money and if you don't call them someone else will.

#3 Lighten Up - We get it the economy sucks, unemployment is skyhigh and you most likely had a career low in sales.  Guess what - you are not alone, you still have a job, you still have a chance to finish strong.  Cut the bullshit and happy up.

#2 - Cut Bait - Having shit in your pipeline to fool a boss is one thing but chasing that same crap with emails, calls, lunches and in -person meetings is bad business and total waste of time.  Sit down and do a honest gut check.

Trish here:  Did I mention that the author was a tad irreverent?  Funny though, right?  What would you add to this list?

(Photo Credit: magoexperto)

Topics: inside sales management

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