Funnel Management

Over the years I have worked for many VP's of Sales. All of them use a somewhat different definition of the funnel. For myself, my team, my sales peers, I like to recommend a standardized funnel definition so we all can learn to understand the business.

LEAD phase
Leads enter the funnel at 10% as they are identified in the market through various means. During this stage no value is assigned to the deals to avoid that a weighted funnels gets valued at a high number of deals at a low probability.

10% Lead has been identified by someone
20% Contact is established (call/e-mail/visit)

OPPORTUNITY phase
Deal is being managed in sales force with some basic information

30% Interest is established and opportunity is categorized
40% Passed first meeting, minutes, NDA, ECO system has been established, etc.
50% Compelling reason to purchase is identified / Timeline is confirmed, DnB report is initiated
60% Budget is confirmed / Decision makers identified / Competition profile being established

QUALIFIED phase
Level of details goes up for all key deals

70% Competitive shoot-out, Trial / Pilot initiated, team selling engaged, value proposal is available / Organizational selling is engaged
80% Closing plan is established, ECO system selling has been engaged
90% Organizational selling is executed, What-if scenario’s are being run

WIN/LOSS phase
100% Deal is won – Deal won program is run – Win analysis doc is submitted
0% Deal is lost – Deal lost program is run - Loss analysis is submitted


FUNNEL MANAGEMENT
The health of the sales funnel can now quickly be determined by the following:

MEASUREMENT] Weigthed funnel / Complete Funnel held against quota
Where a healthy funnel has the following parameters: Complete funnel is approximately 3x quota, and Weighted funnel is a little over quota.

IDENTIFICATION] Are there any single deals larger than 20% of the quota
This is important as these large deals can offset the funnel and create huge gaps in your numbers when they fall-out

What we can now coach our team members on during the weekly funnel session is the following:

i] Coach that the objective of every meeting is to increase to the next % level
ii] Help identify the true stage of the sale, rather than guessing where a deal is at
iii] Recognize that different stages in a sales engage different selling techniques/methodologies
iv] Learn how to read the weakness/strengths within a funnel to allow for early corrective actions
v] Identify back-up deals that can be accellerated the deals at risk, identify channels that can help soften impact etc.

Example of some of the Sales Methodologies I coach my team on during the weekly funnel sessions:

• Value add sales (we must bring value to the customer)


• Consultative selling (we must think about solutions)


• ECO system selling (secures partner roles surrounding the customer)


• Team selling (you are the one in charge of all of the company resources)


• SPIN development (ask the right questions at the right time and listen)


• Account Management (once you have earned the business how can you help it grow)

That's it!