How to Successfully Close Deals in Your Sales Pipeline

Have you ever dealt with a burst water pipe? Then you’re probably all too familiar with how many nerves and funds it takes to repair the damage, especially if you weren’t there to stop it right away.

Business is not that different. If your sales pipeline breaks, promising leads slip through and never convert, hurting your revenue.

Here’s a closer look at how to ensure a healthy pipeline that won’t crack under pressure.

What is a sales pipeline?

A sales pipeline is a visual snapshot of your entire sales process. It shows where each potential deal stands, from the initial contact until you close the sale. 

The pipeline is typically divided into stages that represent your sales process: lead generation, qualification, proposal, negotiation, and closing. 

Sales pipeline management software is frequently included in CRMs like Hubspot or Pipedrive. 

By tracking where your potential prospects are in the pipeline, you can decide on the best approach and methods to convert. This makes managing your sales efforts easier while improving your ability to increase conversion and boost sales performance.

What are the main stages of the sales pipeline?

Each company tailors the pipeline to its needs, but all pipelines are built upon the same basic sales stages.

1. Prospecting

At this sales funnel stage, leads become aware of their problem and start exploring potential solutions. They most often do research online, attend industry events, or seek recommendations.

Here, sales reps should actively attract leads through networking, social media, industry events, forums, email campaigns, or cold calling. Another great source is the company’s website. You can see what the leads are interested in by tracking visitors’ activities with special tools like HotJar.

The ultimate goal of this stage is to find leads to work with, and build out your prospect list. 

2. Qualification

At this stage of the sales pipeline, leads consider whether they need a solution like yours and if it fits their needs and budget. They decide whether learning more is worth investing the time.

You, on the other side, determine if a lead is a good fit for your product. If you struggle to assess the lead using information from open sources, ask qualifying questions to better understand their needs, budget, decision-making process, and timeline. The goal is to ensure you focus your efforts on the leads with the highest potential to convert, and update your sales forecasts accordingly.

3. Scheduling a demo or meeting to present the product 

If a lead reaches this stage, you’ve grabbed their attention and made them interested in seeing your product or service.

So, a sales rep organizes a demo or sets up a sales meeting to showcase your product’s features and benefits. Tailoring the presentation to address the lead’s specific pain points and demonstrate how your solution can solve them is an absolute must. 

4. Proposal

The leads are seriously considering your solution and want more details, including implementation and potential ROI. 

At this sales pipeline stage, you prepare and present a detailed proposal outlining your solution, costs, implementation plan, and expected outcomes. Address any remaining concerns and supply the leads with all the necessary information to make a decision. Try to avoid deal-sinking phrases in the hopes of sealing a deal.

5. Negotiation and commitment

Leads are willing to buy but might still have concerns or want to negotiate the price. They are ready to finalize the deal, ensuring they get the best possible offer.

This is the time to hash out the details and agree on the final price. It’s okay to offer a discount if the company’s policy allows it, but know your limits. The goal is to strike a win-win agreement for both parties. 

6. Closing the deal

At this stage, leads are ready to become customers and expect a smooth transition. 

Your task is to guarantee hassle-free finalizing of the paperwork and have the sales team provide support every step of the way. And keep tabs on the win rate metrics, of course.

7. Post-purchase

The sales cycle doesn’t end with a closed deal. Post-purchase support is just as important since it helps win the loyalty of your new customers and improves the chances of repeated purchases.

At this point, you follow up with the customers to ensure a smooth onboarding and handle any questions or issues. Soliciting feedback and looking for a sales opportunity to upsell or cross-sell is also an excellent idea. 

Advantages of a healthy sales pipeline

In a perfect world, leads proceed through each stage at a reasonable pace. In the rule world though, leads may skip a stage or two, and even move backwards at times.

However, this doesn’t invalidate the sales pipeline model.

By using the sales pipeline to its fullest potential, you unlock powerful benefits for your sales targets, marketing, and business:

• Better organization – A sales pipeline gives you a clear view of your promising prospects, so you know exactly what needs to be done to move each lead to the next stage. No more struggle remembering who to follow up with or what action to take next.
• Improved forecasting – By understanding the average time a lead spends in each stage and the conversion rates, you can estimate how many deals are likely to close and when.
• Higher efficiency – A well-structured and strong sales pipeline streamlines your sales process, pointing toward bottlenecks and areas for improvement.
• Smarter sales strategy – By analyzing your sales pipeline velocity, you can gain actionable insights into what works and what doesn’t and revisit your strategy for better results.
• Stronger team collaboration – With the sales pipeline, everyone knows where each lead stands and what needs to be done. This way, no lead falls through the cracks. 
• More satisfied customers – Knowing your leads’ current needs and pain points allows you to act proactively and deliver a better experience.
• Greater accountability – With an effective sales pipeline, you can easily track conversion rates, deal sizes, and time spent at each stage. These metrics will show you where extra training or support may be needed.

Actionable tips for successful sales pipeline management

Here are some essential tips for proper sales pipeline management, organizing the sales process, and boosting your sales growth. 

Prioritize high-quality leads

Focus on leads that seem perfect for your product or service. Ask questions early to determine their needs, budget, and decision-making process. Don’t hesitate to stop pursuing leads that don’t match your ideal customer profile (ICP), or you’ll just waste your time and resources on the wrong leads. 

For example, if a lead lacks the budget for your premium offering, consider whether they might be a fit for a lower-tier product or if it’s best to “disqualify” them and focus your efforts elsewhere. 

Know the context of your prospects’ buying behavior

It’s not just about who buys from you. It’s also about when they buy and what drives their decision. Demographic and firmographic qualification criteria are only the tip of the iceberg, and if you analyze your sales funnel, you might notice differences in patterns across or even within the same buyer cohort.

Knowing the triggers and the situational context behind the purchase allows you to make data-driven decisions when prospecting and reaching out to buyers.

Did your prospect start looking for a new sales tool because they missed their sales quota and lost their bonus? Or did a new management job open up at their company and they want to apply for a promotion? Did the business raise a new round of investment, putting them in a more aggressive growth mode that tripled the number of potential customers needed to feed the pipeline?

Collecting and analyzing the context of the buying decisions will help you spot the patterns, refine your product-market fit, adjust the sales pitch, and scale the successful sales strategies based on the right buyer intent signals.

Determine and track key sales pipeline metrics

Identify and regularly monitor key metrics, such as conversion rate, average deal size, and average sales cycle length, to keep your pipeline effective. Tools like CRM software can track important data for you and visualize your pipeline. In particular, track the number of leads and their average time at each stage to seek out potential bottlenecks.

Give your prospects more content

The more leads know about your product, the easier it is for them to recognize its value. Provide enough content to spare them hours of research on your business. Be mindful, though, when writing the content and sending it out to ensure it’s a good match for a particular lead and their sales pipeline stage. Otherwise, they might just flag you as a spammer. 

For example, you don’t need to send a long read detailing every possible use of your product in the early stages. A short comparison chart showing prices offered by your company and your main competitors will absolutely do the job. 

Present the offer with care and focus on the lead’s pains 

When making a pitch, a compelling offer directly addressing the lead’s needs and pain points is your ticket to success. Don’t just showcase your product—present its value to this particular client and clearly explain how it can positively impact their business. For instance, if you sell a project management tool, talk about how it can save time for the team and level up its productivity.

Retarget prospective customers that visit your value-driving website pages

Modern sales management software has all the means to de-anonymize the visitors of your business website pages and remove the guesswork from traffic analysis.

Not only does this option provide valuable insights into your prospects’ customer journey and simplify qualification, it also lets you capture buying intent at the right time. Many AI platforms (such as AiSDR) will not just track visits to your website, but they can drill down into the company ICP, persona, and number of visits before enriching contact data without you ever having to fish for details manually.

With the entire sales cycle showing a tendency to stretch on for a longer time, and a growing number of stakeholders involved in the purchase, nudging your high-potential leads with the right message while anticipating some of their objections can be the exact boost your sales velocity needs.

More so, initiating sales conversations when prospects are visiting high-value pages (e.g. your pricing page, meeting scheduling page, product tour, etc.) gives you data on business page performance, messaging, and potential product-market fit. It can also show you sales trends and opportunities you might not have been aware of, such as an increased demand across the overlooked market segment.

Keep the conversation going

Communicate regularly with your qualified leads throughout the sales process. Send follow-up emails, provide additional information, and handle any concerns. A proactive approach reminds people about your product and builds trust. But again, be mindful of the stage of their customer journey: emails with irrelevant info will annoy rather than help.

For example, if a lead hasn’t responded to your proposal, send a friendly follow-up email to check in and offer further assistance, but don’t push them with another list of your product’s benefits. 

Automate your sales pipeline

Automating a sales pipeline saves time and reduces human error.  Automation tools, especially those powered by AI like virtual SDRs, make sure leads get follow-up emails or prompt answers to common questions. Tools known as lead scoring systems can qualify and prioritize leads in just a few clicks. The choice of the right sales automation tool will ultimately depend on your specific needs.

For instance, AiSDR can search for leads matching your ICP and buyer persona in its database, write a data-driven pitch, and even work with lead objections. 

Update your pipeline regularly

Even with automation, sales leaders must regularly check and update your pipeline to prevent issues like dead leads, duplicates, or leads in the wrong stage. While automation helps avoid some mistakes, if an SDR simply forgets to enter data or close a deal, the system can’t fix it on its own. Regular updates will keep your sales pipeline organized and easy to work with. You’ll be able to clean up prospect lists and make sure your sales department is aligned on revenue goal attainment. 

Follow up with the lead after purchasing

After closing the deal, sales managers also need to check in with the new customer to ensure they’re satisfied and offer support if needed. Stay connected with past leads and customers by sharing updates on new features, and hop on follow-up calls if the clients request it. This helps build relationships and opens doors for upselling or cross-selling. 

For example, if you rolled out a new feature that addresses a common pain point, send a friendly email highlighting it and invite people to hop on a demo or webinar to learn more.