Your sales pipeline might energize you at times and leave you feeling disheartened at other times. For example, it’s easy to lose momentum if your pipeline gets bogged down with old leads or lapses in outreach. You may not want to clear out leads that aren’t a good fit or double-check contact info, but your pipeline needs regular maintenance. Otherwise, you might end up chasing unqualified leads or letting solid prospects fall through the cracks.
Letting your pipeline slide isn’t the only mistake sales reps make. A post on the Slack blog outlines some of the common pitfalls when it comes to sales pipelines. We outline these pitfalls in this issue of PromoPro Daily so you can get ahead of them.
1. Inconsistent prospecting. Many reps find it difficult to make time for prospecting. They believe leads further along in the pipeline require more immediate attention. However, the Slack post points out that inconsistent prospecting can affect your pipeline down the road. To maintain a steady stream of leads, make sure you attach goals to prospecting, just as you would for any other stage of the sales process.
2. Poor lead qualifying. If you qualify the wrong prospects, you’re just spinning your wheels. To avoid wasting your time and energy, be specific with your qualification criteria. The post recommends using AI agents to analyze CRM data and find common factors among past customers. Then use that data to inform lead qualification.
3. Letting leads go cold. Do you have some leads you haven’t contacted in some time? Don’t write them off. You can warm them up and reignite their interest to get them moving through your sales pipeline again. They just need some dedicated nurturing, the post says. Consider using workflows and reminders to ensure consistent nurturing that aligns with your company’s broader goals.
4. Keeping stagnant leads in your pipeline. A stagnant lead is someone who has indicated they’ve decided not to work with your organization, the post says. When these dead-end leads aren’t removed from a pipeline, they can throw off your data, causing you to believe you have more leads than you actually do. Regular pipeline reviews can prevent this from happening, and the right CRM can help you identify and remove stagnant leads.
If you don’t regularly set aside time to tend to your pipeline, commit to reviewing it weekly (or even daily). This allows you to address any pipeline issues and keep things moving.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: A blog post from Slack, a cloud-based, full-suite work platform.
