Instead of continuing to work the sales process, some professionals hope and hope that deals will close. Hope is neither a good strategy nor a recipe for new business sales success.
One of the most effective ways to avoid becoming a prisoner of the hope trap and create a balanced pipeline is to intentionally segment time across accounts and opportunities in various stages of the sales cycle.
That sounds a lot fancier than it really is so here’s how it works.
Ask your sales team to divide their accounts and opportunities into three categories
NOW
NEXT
FUTURE
And their time into three parts.
1/3 – 1/3 – 1/3
Now ask them to divide their time and attention across all three categories.
Spend a third of time to focus on targeted accounts. Commit this third of time to NOW sales.
Intentionally carve out another third of time to work opportunities NEXT – ACTIVE, but not yet ready to take.
Nurture the FUTURE category.
A balanced effort produces a balanced pipeline.