Same Old Song and Dance

Sales leaders in complex B2B selling environments know that it’s not enough to know how much pipeline they’ve got. They also need to know how the pipeline got to that point. What changed in the last week, month, quarter, etc? Which deals increased or decreased? Which ones pushed? How about stage changes?

Having these pearls of knowledge at their fingertips will make managing pipeline much easier for sales leaders. Not knowing will put them in a jam. Fortunately, the changes are straightforward and limited in number, making them easier to chase down than, say, butterflies.

There are seven things that can affect a deal’s amount and timing as it flows across major reporting periods (ex. months or quarters) between two calendar dates (ex. last Friday to this Friday). I call these the Seven Reporting Period Changes (RPCs):

1. Created: The deal was created.
2. Moved out to a future reporting period: The close date changed to a later date in a different reporting period.
3. Moved in from a future reporting period: The close date changed to an earlier date in a different reporting period.
4. Increased in amount: The deal went up in value.
5. Decreased in amount: The deal went down in value.
6. Closed Won: The deal was won.
7. Closed Lost: The deal was lost.

Tracking each of the Seven RPCs gives tremendous visibility into how the pipeline changes between dates.  And it will give a rolling summary view of when leaders can expect their team’s deals to land during the year.  The sum of the changes in each RPC is the net gain or loss to the pipeline. Note that this is different from tracking pipeline flow across deal stages.

A Change Would Do You Good

Here’s how to make sure you’re seeing an even flow of pipeline:

• Reporting cadence: Determine which time period makes the most sense for you to track.  For example, if you’ve got a fair amount of change in a short time period, like a fast deal cycle or deal amounts that change drastically as deals advance, maybe tracking weekly makes the most sense for you.  One benefit of tracking weekly is that you can cover the largest movements during your weekly pipeline review. Tip: Each one of the seven can be tracked and reported on via any standard CRM.  Set up a Pipeline Flow dashboard that shows all seven and compare changes between time periods. To see the changes in one consolidated view, create custom fields in your CRM or set up a spreadsheet report that summarizes across the seven RPCs (Note: use the spreadsheet as a supplement to your CRM dashboard, which should always come first).
• Other views: Combine the RPCs view with other views, like DSCs, and your weekly pipeline review sessions will have life again.