A sales pipeline needs a little nourishment, too.

As salespeople constantly fill their pipelines with deals, they should be regularly checking the pulse of those deals to ensure they achieve the healthiest sales results.

“There’s a direct financial correlation between maintaining a healthy pipeline and piling on revenue,” said Mike Ciccolella, founder of Grow Your Sales Pipeline. “A pipeline managed with care is one in which deals move more dependably, close faster and bring more revenue to the company — and the sales team.”

The health of those deals — and therefore the sales funnel itself — is key to the health of the entire business.

But what exactly does a healthy sales pipeline look like? (more…)

Do you run a sales-driven company without using CRM? Are you working for one? This article provides a number of free excel sales dashboards, templates, and related productivity tools you can find on the Web to help you organize your sales process and hurdle the complexities of growing your business.

But don’t stay content and cozy with a bundle of disparate resources.

Why?

Every organization selling something needs a CRM system. The only question is when. Many businesses need or already use one now. All others will have to adopt one eventually as the number of their sales staff, customers, products and services grow. Otherwise, the complexity of managing an expanding sales ecosystem will become a major roadblock to your growth and profitability. (more…)

When I am asked, “What is visibility?” or more specifically, “Why is visibility important in sales?” I like to take the conversation beyond a straightforward answer, such as:

“Well, it’s the ability to see into your pipeline and know what’s where, to quickly assess which items need your attention, and to be able to report on and forecast results.”

This is all true, but the value of visibility in sales goes far beyond and is actually the value of visibility across the board. (more…)