A sales pipeline is an organized, visual representation of tracking multiple potential buyers as they proceed through the purchasing process. Pipelines also show a sales rep's account outlook and how close the representative is to meeting the quota, as well as how close a sales team as a whole is to meeting their quota.

The importance of a sales pipeline.

Having a sales pipeline is important for:

• More Accurate Forecasting.

• A better understanding of the sales process

• Effective sales strategy

• Targeted Resource Allocation

• More Effective Sales Team Management

• Increase Deal Velocity

• Increase Total Deal Volume, Size, and Revenue

• Closing deals in less time with less effort for less money

A well-managed sales pipeline is all about constantly refining the process and sharpening your salespeople's skills. Everyone's goal should be to keep the pipeline going from one stage to the next as rapidly as possible - and, of course, to close sales.

How to design sales pipeline stages?

To design a fully-functioning sales pipeline, you must first identify your potential customers. Create a list of contacts for your sales team to approach, set revenue goals, and describe your sales process, which will be linked to the sales funnel.

Step 1: Define customer personas.

To increase sales, you must first gain a better understanding of your ideal customer. Later, you must analyze whether your product or service meets their requirements. Product creators and service suppliers wouldn't even have built their offering unless they were confident that consumers would buy it. Consult with them to know your target clients.

Step 2: Generate prospective contacts.

After defining the ideal customer persona, generate a list of prospective contacts. This list can be compiled from a variety of sources. Leveraging internal relationships — people you or your sales team already know — will be critical because these contacts are more likely to turn into sales. However, you can also construct a list of prospects based on known consumers of your competitors, firms, or individuals that form your ICP.

Step 3:Set revenue goals.

Sales are equal to revenue, so knowing how much money you need to make is critical in developing your strategy and evaluating performance. The revenue goal will influence the structure and scope of the sales pipeline. By your experience or assumptions, you get to know how many sales you need per month to reach the revenue goal you set. You may convert more leads or less, but knowing how many leads should be in your pipeline at a given time is another method to measure success.

Step 4: Define the sales process.

If the sales funnel is the content and path that a consumer follows from first contact to purchase, the sales process is the step-by-step procedure that your sales team takes to close a deal. Sales processes will involve actions such as sales calls, webinars, product demos, facility tours, and other methods to engage a prospect and communicate the value proposition of the product. However, keep in mind that there are numerous paths from initial contact to ultimate sale.