Sales pipeline: how to structure it to guide the team?

representation of a sales pipeline made with red thumbtacks on a white paper

Sales pipeline: how to structure it to guide the team?

representation of a sales pipeline made with red thumbtacks on a white paper

The sales pipeline is an essential tool for those looking to organize and optimize the sales process efficiently.

It helps sales teams visualize every stage of a deal, from prospecting to closing the deal. 

Structuring a well-defined sales pipeline is essential to increase productivity, monitor opportunities and identify bottlenecks in the process.

If you want to create, manage and apply this strategy in your company, learn everything in this reading!

What is a sales pipeline?

The sales pipeline is a visual representation of a company's sales flow. 

It organizes the process into clear steps, allowing salespeople to track each lead’s progress all the way to closing.

Unlike the lead control process, the pipeline offers a detailed view of each stage, making it easier to analyze details and identify opportunities.

In short, it is like a map that guides the timing of sales in relation to expected results. It determines routines and processes that help combat customer objections, aiding conversion.  

Difference between pipeline and sales funnel

comparative table between sales funnel and sales pipeline, highlighting their benefits and differences

Although often confused, pipeline and sales funnel have important differences.

O sales funnel represents the steps customers take along their journey, from discovering a solution to making a purchase decision. 

It focuses on customer behavior, helping to understand how people move through the conversion process.

On the other hand, the sales pipeline is a management tool focused on the seller's actions, organizing each step necessary to conduct negotiations efficiently.

In essence, while the funnel analyzes the customer's path, the pipeline guides the work of the sales team. Both complement each other and, when used together, become powerful allies to improve results.

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How to create a sales pipeline?

Building an efficient sales pipeline requires organization, planning and a deep understanding of customer needs and objections.

In addition to structuring the steps of the process, it is essential to identify the biggest barriers faced by leads and prepare a team with “aces up their sleeve” — persuasion strategies, solid arguments and personalized offers that help them overcome these objections.

This means the team will be better prepared to work on each opportunity strategically and guide the customer towards the purchase action.

Check out the step-by-step guide to get started:

Define the steps of your sales process

List all the stages a customer goes through until closing a deal, ensuring that each step is well defined and clear to the sales team.

This is essential for the pipeline to be efficient and allow for proper monitoring of each opportunity. See a detailed example:

sales funnel, customer awareness stage
  • Prospection

This is the starting point of the sales pipeline, where the objective is to identify potential customers.

Here, the sales team uses strategies such as market research, cold calling or marketing campaigns to generate leads. The idea is to find people or companies that could benefit from the product or service.

  • Qualification

Once you’ve identified your leads, it’s time to assess whether they have real potential to move forward in your pipeline.

This involves analyzing information such as profile, need, purchasing capacity and level of interest. Leads are those that fit the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and have a greater chance of conversion.

  • Presentation

At this stage, the salesperson demonstrates how the product or service can solve the customer's problem or meet their needs. 

It's time to personalize your speech, show success stories and highlight the solution's differentials. 

A good presentation is essential to generate trust and interest in the lead.

  • Negotiation

After arousing interest, a negotiation phase begins. Here, the focus is on aligning expectations regarding values, deadlines, payment conditions and other aspects that can be adjusted to meet the client's needs.

It is a stage that requires persuasion skills, preparation to deal with objections and flexibility to find a balance that benefits both parties.

  • Closure

Finally, it’s time to close the sale. If the previous steps have been executed well, the customer will be ready to make a decision.

At this stage, it is important to reinforce the benefits of the solution and ensure that the entire process is carried out clearly and quickly, increasing customer satisfaction and sales success.

Each of these steps should be well documented in the pipeline, so the team can track the progress of each opportunity, identify bottlenecks, and improve results.

Establish criteria for each stage

To ensure the efficiency of the sales pipeline, it is essential to define clear criteria that characterize the completion of each phase.

These criteria help the team identify the right time to advance the lead in the process, avoiding wasting time and resources on uncommitted opportunities.

For example, in the qualification phase, a lead should only be considered eligible to move forward if they have the specific need that the product solves and have the financial capacity to purchase.

Another example is the transition to the presentation stage. A lead should only reach this point after demonstrating genuine interest in the product or service, such as by specifically responding to a contact, requesting more information, or scheduling a meeting.

Setting these settings reduces subjectivity, keeps your pipeline organized, and increases your chances of conversion as your time is focused on the most promising leads.

Use support tools

Some companies rely on the good old Excel spreadsheet to track the sales pipeline. This monitoring is essential to organize information efficiently, but we already have more efficient CRM platforms on the market. 

Tools such as RD Station, for example, offer complete CRM solutions that help evaluate and track leads throughout all stages of the pipeline.

With features like task automation, data centralization, and detailed reporting, CRM not only makes your team's work easier, but also provides meaningful insights to improve decision-making and increase conversion rates.

Reasons to invest in a sales CRM

train the team

For the sales pipeline to be effective, it is essential that all members of the sales team clearly understand the stages of the process and know exactly how to act in each of them.

This includes not only understanding the stages of the funnel, but also being empowered to make strategic decisions at each point of customer interaction.

A well-structured pipeline will only generate positive results if there is total alignment between everyone involved, ensuring that each salesperson has a clear vision of their role and responsibilities, in addition to adopting best practices at each stage to maximize conversions and boost team results.

Continuously monitor and adjust

It is essential to carry out periodic analyses of the sales pipeline performance to identify areas for improvement. 

Keep an eye out for potential bottlenecks, such as steps where leads tend to get lost or where there is a higher number of abandonments.

Based on these insights, it is possible to make strategic adjustments, optimizing each phase of the process and improving the overall efficiency of the funnel.

Constant review ensures that the pipeline remains dynamic and adapted to market needs, contributing to a continuous flow of opportunities and increasing the conversion rate.

What are the advantages for a sales team?

Structuring a sales pipeline brings significant benefits to sales time:

  • Largest organization: all opportunities need to be centralized and visible, avoiding loss of information;
  • Better predictability: the pipeline allows you to estimate future revenue based on ongoing deals;
  • Ease of decision making: with clear data about each stage, it is easier to identify where to focus the team's efforts;
  • Productivity increase: this way, salespeople know exactly what to do at each stage, avoiding wasted time or unnecessary activities;
  • Identification of bottlenecks: problems in the process can be detected and resolved quickly and effectively.

Sales pipeline management

To ensure that the sales pipeline works, it is essential to invest in good management:

  • Monitor statistics regularly: indicators such as conversion rate and average cycle time help to identify points for improvement;
  • Update the pipeline frequently: make sure that the information is always updated according to the audience profile and occurrences;
  • Integrate the pipeline into the sales funnel: this combination offers a complete view of the process, from the customer journey to the seller's actions;
  • Promote review meetings: Meeting periodically with the team to analyze results and align strategies can be a good thermometer for results.

Extra tips: structure to improve team work

In addition to structuring and managing the sales pipeline, other practices can help improve time performance:

  • Invest in continuous training: train your team to deal with objections, use technological tools and follow market trends;
  • Set clear and achievable goals: motivated salespeople are more productive. Set goals and track results;
  • Encourage collaboration: promote the exchange of experiences among team members to identify good practices and replicate them;
  • Personalize service: use the pipeline to better understand each customer and offer personalized solutions, increasing the chances of conversion.
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Sales pipeline: count on GS2 Marketing!

The sales pipeline is a powerful tool for organizing and directing the work of the sales team. More than just a visual representation, the pipeline is a guide that, when well managed, can transform the results of your business.

Now that you know how to build and manage a sales pipeline, how about starting to implement this strategy and seeing the difference in your team's performance? 

Count on GS2 to get your best results!

We use the best digital marketing tools to produce assertive content for our clients, with creative and remarkable actions. 

This seriousness and intelligence in digital marketing provides recognition from many of our clients, for whom we have become a lead generation and conversion machine. 

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