What are the types of pipelines? Explains important management methods and procedures for sales and marketing activities

“Pipeline” is important in marketing. In sales activities, it is the process of transforming a company’s prospective customers into purchasing customers.

It is necessary to visualize the flow of the pipeline and perform detailed analysis and review, but it is important to know the steps correctly and utilize them for business growth.

In this article, we will explain in detail the differences between “pipelines” used in sales and marketing, as well as the procedures and processes for managing them.

Reference source:
What is a pipeline? Explaining points that are effective in BtoB marketing

What are the types of pipelines?

The “pipeline” includes the “sales pipeline,” which is a process necessary for sales activities, and the “marketing pipeline,” which is related to marketing.

In sales, it refers to the series of steps in which a salesperson approaches a company’s prospective customers and converts them into purchasing customers, and the marketing pipeline refers to the flow of “demand generation.”

Demand generation is the process of “Lead Generation,” “Lead Nurturing,” and “Lead Qualification.” To put it simply, it is the process of creating potential customers through marketing. is.

This process creates potential customers that can be approached, and the flow of passing that data to the sales department, such as the sales department, to grow them into purchasing customers is the “sales pipeline.”

If a potential customer passed to a sales person through the “Marketing Pipeline” fails to conclude a contract in the “Sales Pipeline,” they are returned to the “Marketing Pipeline” and followed up until a retry while maintaining an appropriate distance. The key is to keep going.

How to manage your pipeline

It is necessary to visualize the pipeline so that it can be constantly checked, analyze the information, and manage success points and areas for improvement.

Management methods, which can be called management, include determining whether there are enough potential customers to meet sales targets, when and how much future sales will increase based on the number of prospective customers, and how long the process to purchase will take. There is a way to arrange them in chronological order.

At the same time, it is also important to identify and review bottlenecks that pose major challenges in advancing business.

For example, we can subdivide the flow of “customer inquiries,” “hearing concerns,” “proposing optimal in-house products and services,” “estimates,” and “receiving orders,” and clarify what kind of improvement is needed in which process. It would be good to do that.

Reference source:
What is a pipeline? Explaining points that are effective in BtoB marketing

Pipeline management steps

The specific flow of pipeline management is as follows.

1. Divide the process into smaller parts based on customer psychology and behavior

In order to discover the essence of your company’s sales issues, separate the series of steps. However, the key is not to get too caught up in trivial details and to be able to see the big picture.

1. Specify actions to take to the next step

In a detailed flow, consider the specific method for each step to proceed to the next. It is important to build a plan for efficient sales activities and increase productivity.

1. Visualization of specific numbers

In a series of subdivided processes, specific numbers are shared, such as how many companies received “inquiries from customers,” and how many companies were able to “hear their concerns.” By accurately understanding the current “estimates” and “orders received,” you will be able to appropriately manage the process of implementing the PDCA cycle.

summary

It is important to “visualize” the process from a potential customer to a purchaser, and to perform appropriate analysis and improvement.

By understanding what is the bottleneck at which step, and which processes specifically have a positive impact on customers, you will be able to aim for efficient business growth.

Reference source:
What is a pipeline? Explaining points that are effective in BtoB marketing