Surfing the sales qualified leads pipeline
Alright, bro, so what are sales qualified leads anyway? Chillax, we’re about to break down the details. Sales qualified leads (SQLs) are prospective customers that have moved through a sales pipeline. These leads go from marketing qualified to sales qualified when they reach the point where your sales team can turn them into a new customer.
Of course, before this happens, you’ll need to figure out the sales funnel numbers. A typical targeted conversion rate is 2%. Start with the sales forecast or quotas and work backward. This will inform how large a prospective list to buy and the size of the marketing investment needed to achieve a healthy cost-per-lead. For example, it could take 100 marketing qualified leads to convert ten into sales qualified leads. Right on?
Finding your balance with the basic steps
Now that you know what a sales qualified lead is, it’s time to cover the basic steps in building a lead pipeline. You’ll need to nail down the items below before getting on your board and catching a wave.
- A prospective buyer list
- Your revenue targets
- A unified team sales process
- Colleague communication
- A solid value proposition
Carving the new prospect wave
Starting with your prospective buyer list, you’ll want to make sure your list fits your target demographic paired with a budget for the products or services you’re trying to sell — the more details on buyer personas that your list has, the better.
The items that should always be on your prospective list are:
- Names
- Contact info
- Company name
- Industry type
- Size of business
- Work title
- How contact was established
Cranking with the sales process
A good sales process should be straightforward and broken down into simple steps. There should be no confusion about what your sales team should be doing through each touchpoint. This is where a sales battle card can be extremely helpful because it keeps messaging across the sales team aligned and offers a way for the salesperson to nurture the lead, meeting the target where they are in the buyer’s journey. If your team already has a developed sales process, you’re one step ahead of the game.
Hangin’ loose with the right crowd
A great sales-qualified leads pipeline is a tool to help you fulfill your revenue goals. Once you know what your goals are, you’ll be able to map out the structure of your pipeline. For example, you’ll be able to calculate how many deals you need to add to your pipeline to meet your goals. Or the number of leads you’ll need at each stage.
Your sales pipeline should enhance both individual and teamwide tasks and lead management. Therefore, we recommend involving your sales team in the decision process as you develop your pipeline. The last thing you want is to work on a sales process and find out the people pitching it don’t resonate with your vision.
