A sales pipeline is essential for visually representing your sales process and seeing where all of your leads are.

It can be a vital way of seeing which sales activities are bringing in the most money, as well as if there are any potential problems.

So, how can you keep your sales pipeline flowing? Here are our top tips:

• Regularly review your leads. If some of your leads are stuck at a particular stage in your pipeline, you need to take action. Schedule a call or email and see what is happening. It may be that they need further qualification or re-classifying if they are not close to purchasing. The only prospective customers that should be in your pipeline are those that are close to making a sale.
• Check your stages for stumbling blocks. If a lot of prospects are dropping off at a certain stage in the pipeline, it may be a sign that your processes need reviewing. Do you need to qualify your leads more thoroughly? Do you need to improve your lead nurturing strategy? Put changes into place and see if they make a difference.
• Qualify your leads. You should be scoring your leads as standard to see if they have a serious interest in your product or service, and that they are a good fit for your company. This will mean that your pipeline will be smaller, but the customers in there are more likely to buy. If your prospects aren’t yet ready to commit, pass them to your marketing team who will be able to nurture them until they are ready to make a purchase.

Taking these small steps will clear your sales pipeline and help save your sales team time.