Sales & Customer Growth
A pipeline you do not look at is just a list of hopes.
Many owners can say how much they sold last month. Far fewer can say what is likely to close next month, or which three deals need a call today. This session is about building a pipeline that answers those questions, and the weekly habit that keeps it true.
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The pipeline decides next quarter, long before the bank balance shows it.
Sales results are a late signal. By the time a slow month appears in the accounts, the cause was visible weeks earlier: too few new enquiries, deals stuck at one stage, or no follow-up on a promising quote. A pipeline brings those causes into view while there is still time to act.
This session is not about the stages of a sales process in the abstract. It is about the working view: which deals are open, what each is worth, what has to happen next, and how to keep the picture honest week after week.
What the session covers
30 topics across 6 areas. Six parts, from the first list to the weekly review.
What Counts as a DealDecide what belongs in the pipeline.5
- A person or business with a real need and a possible budget
- The difference between an enquiry and an opportunity
- Repeat orders from existing customers
- Deals that depend on someone else's decision
- What to leave out so the list stays useful
A pipeline full of maybes tells you nothing. A short, true one tells you a great deal.
Stages That Mean SomethingA stage is a fact, not a feeling.5
Participants write their stage definitions and test them against three real deals. Where two people would put the same deal in different stages, the definition needs work.
- Five or six stages, named in the owner's own words
- What must have happened for a deal to enter each stage
- Evidence, such as a meeting held or a quote sent, rather than optimism
- Moving a deal backwards when it stalls
- Recording the reason when a deal is lost
Putting Real Deals InStart with what is open today.5
- Customer, contact, source and date of first contact
- Expected value and expected month of decision
- Who owns the next move, you or the customer
- The next action and the date it is due
- A sheet layout that works on a phone as well as a laptop
Reading the PipelineWhat the numbers can and cannot tell you.5
- Total value open, and how much of it is early-stage
- How many deals are at each stage
- How long deals typically stay in each stage
- Whether new enquiries are arriving as fast as deals are closing
- Why a large total can hide a very thin month
Forecasts built from a pipeline are estimates. Treat them as a prompt to act, not as a promise.
The Weekly ReviewThirty minutes that earn their place.5
- Which deals moved, which stalled, which were lost
- Which have no next action, and why
- Which need a decision from you rather than from the customer
- What to do about an empty top of the pipeline
- Doing it alone, or with a salesperson, without taking over their deals
Cleaning Up and LearningHonesty is the maintenance.5
- When to close a deal as lost instead of leaving it open
- A cold-deal rule, such as no contact for a stated period
- Reasons for winning and for losing, collected over a quarter
- Which sources produce deals that actually close
- Moving from a sheet to a CRM when more than one person sells
What participants work on
- Their own stage names and definitions
- A pipeline sheet populated with live deals
- A next action and date for every open deal
- One deal they decide to close as lost
- A weekly review slot in their own calendar
Questions that reveal the current state
- How many deals are open right now, and what is each worth?
- Which of them has no next step?
- How many new opportunities came in last month?
- Which stage do deals stay in longest?
- If no new enquiry arrived this month, how much is likely to close?
How the session runs
Two to three hours, in a small group. A practitioner who runs a pipeline shows theirs, with names removed, and explains what each column is for. Participants build their own from the deals in their phones and notebooks, then swap with a partner who asks the questions a sales manager would. Many owners find they have fewer live deals than they thought. Bring your phone, your quote files and your enquiry messages.
What your students leave with
- A pipeline with their real live deals in it, by stage
- A definition of each stage that anybody in the business can apply
- A next action and date against every open deal
- A weekly review routine of about thirty minutes
- A simple way to estimate next month's sales without wishful thinking
- A rule for removing deals that have gone cold
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
If you cannot see your next month, you are guessing at it.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.