The Power of the Pipeline

I’m always surprised after asking company leaders what’s in their pipeline and they respond, “I… don’t… know?”  What baffles me is how successful they actually are, despite their lack of efficiency and organization!  I’m scratching my head thinking, how much more successful would they be if they knew their numbers!  Maybe they have a few excel spreadsheets laying around collecting dust, but that only works if the volume is low.  For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, let me first define “pipeline”.  Pipeline is the total dollar amount and number of quotes or bids that your company has on the street. Sales funnel is another way people describe outstanding bidding activity.

If you have the pipeline measured, you will be confident going forward.

It’s incredible information to know at any time what kind of business is expected to come into your company.  I don’t know about you, but I like to see numbers.  Hopeful, optimistic viewpoints and summaries of phone conversations don’t exactly bring me the type of comfort that numbers do.  Why’s that? Because people lie, numbers don’t.  Your company should have every quote logged into a system to track, measure, and quantify that quote based on when it’s expected to close.  Quantify it by calling it Hot, Warm, etc.

Let’s say your type of work has as time frame on when to complete the job (which is most of you).  You’re working yourself out of a job, so you must keep the pipeline full and measured.  The cooks have to stay cookin’ in the kitchen while the people are eatin’!  In the contractor’s world, for example, let’s say you close 20% of the jobs you bid (which isn’t bad).  You have to be bidding a whole lot to keep you and those workers mouth’s fed year round!

If it’s in the pipeline, it’s never lost.  Maybe instead of quitting on a job quote after three follow ups, you keep going.  I know companies who follow up very well and keep a record of every touch; one job finally closed by an account manager after 23 follow ups FOUR YEARS after the quote was given.  Now that’s the power of the pipeline right there, the quote was never forgotten. Don’t get caught with your pants down, completing your work but neglecting the pipeline.  You have to stay FUTURE FOCUSED.

Remember this: It’s never “no”, it’s just “not yet”. Keep your pipeline full and follow up!

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-Ryan