In growing small and mid-sized companies, the CEO is often the company’s best salesperson. As the company grows, so does the sales team, but the CEO seldom is able to totally abdicate a role in sales.
Our sales pipeline guide offers tips for:
- Sales hiring
- CRM implementation & optimization
- Lead generation
- Expectation setting
- Key performance indicators
Whether you’re acting as the sales manager or about to hire a sales manager for the first time, one of the most important skills is asking great questions. You should have visibility into:
- What’s the pipeline value?
- What’s the seasonality of the customer’s buying cycle?
- When do deals close?
- At what stage are deals getting stuck?
For each opportunity, your sales team should be able to answer:
- Who owns the next step?
- What’s the customer’s decision making process?
- Does the customer have a budget or are they seeking a budget?
- What is the decision date? Contract start?
Questions like these set the stage for truthful, supportive discussion, collaborative problem solving, and process-oriented action, which helps cut out false optimism and can give you a truer sense of your revenue forecast.
Download the Sales Pipeline Guide for more tips on building a productive sales organization.
