So we all know that at some time in our professional entrepreneurial journey, we’ve all had to come up with a list of clients to provide our services to in return for some form of compensation.
However building that list has become such a task, that managing it isn’t one that many would want to consider slightly fun.
Now Im sure some of you reading this may be thinking to yourselves,
“well it's not such a big deal, you can get by without one.”
Although you may be making a point here, having such a mindset wont help generate the income your desire for the long haul.
You see, when it comes to this world of business you can certainly get by without having to do much work with your list of clients (or in business terms, your pipeline). However, what you’ll soon realize that long periods of ignoring the same business need will eventually catch up to you and cost you a lot more money than you may be thinking.
Key note here; the way we think can cost us more than we want to believe
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Now that we’ve scratched the surface a bit, let's dissect this a tad bit further.
When I speak to other online coaches, entrepreneurs and others alike, often times I hear about the frustrations they’re experiencing with their clients and such. However what many don’t seem to take note of is that the quality of anyone’s business relations all really begins and ends with the quality of that lead within your pipeline.
Simply put, our ability to begin and continue a business relationship is highly determined by health of our pipeline.
Some may agree, others may not. So for the sake of keeping today’s blog as balanced as possible, lets play out two scenarios to help you determine where you may find yourself within your current business.
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Scenario #1: You find yourself going through your list of clients, aka pipeline and tend to go through them once. In other words, you have a plan of action to start with a specific protocol when beginning your relationship with a new lead and the goal is to get them to transact with you. Once you’ve gotten them to that end goal, then you consider your work done and whichever lead has not gotten to that end goal is considered a lost cause in your books; where you spend no time retrieving them, being your main motive is to maintain your current clients and look for new ones when you get the chance to.
Scenario #2: You have a strategy in place with your pipeline. In other words, whoever you work with will enter into your pipeline as a set type of lead and will often times result in a number of categories within your pipeline. Stages are created to help keep both your clients and prospects well organized and managed. Your ultimate goal is to bring in a new lead, get them to convert into a high paying client and from there sell them multiple items/products; you’re more focused on generating multiple sales per lead. However you acknowledge that not every client experience will work out that way so you go about implementing strategies in place that effectively pick up clients as you go along, despite how much creativity the sales may ask for.
If they are unable to get a hold of a client after a period of time, they have both email and either phone call or text cadence in place to stay on top of them to ensure they are converted over. This strategy is adjusted a bit to help mold to the prospects’ needs.
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Wanna get a closer look at their pipeline stages? Let's break this down some more. (Keep in mind, these stages can be adjusted based on your industry, product and relationship with both your prospects and clients).
Prospecting: This stage focuses more so on the search for new clients. This stage can be revisited as many times as possible. To help maintain a high quality pipeline, I’d suggest prospecting on a daily basis, if not every other day to stay on top of the income you wish to generate.
Lead Qualification/In pursuit/working/Discovery: This is where you’re actively working your prospects; as in trying to get in touch with them so you can schedule a meeting with them. This is where the cold calling, cold emailing and/or warm calling, warm emailing would actively be at play. The goal here is to come up with a great script for you to utilize and craft as you go along your prospecting journey. You can come up with a cadence that works best for you but be sure to be open minded enough to make adjustments as you see fit. Both the delivery as well as the number of attempts should be made appropriately and in accordance to what best suits the needs of your pipeline. This is probably one of the most difficult stages that most entrepreneurs face when they first begin their journey. But like any other stage, it takes time and quite a bit of adjustments for this stage to be mastered well.
Demo/Meeting: This stage is where you’d fully introduce the complete product or program you have to your prospect. Make sure however that you also have a quality focused cadence in place to ensure your demos and meetings are done well, that way you can convert over as many leads as you’d like to. The four main areas to keep in mind when putting together a stellar demo, would be the following.
a) Timeline: the time in which they can make a decision, sign your agreement and take care of those legalities as well as the time in which they can get started and begin working with you.
b) Budget: the amount they can afford or see value in putting their money into as well and how that matches up with the price you attach to your product/service.
c) Decision maker(s): the individuals you should be speaking with, those that have the authority to make decisions on behalf of their company and/or person they are representing.
d) Need: this is based on the actual desire and/or necessity thats required for the transaction to be complete. This is based on how well the needs of the prospect match up with the needs of your business and what your product/service is offering them.
Pending/Contract Review/Negotiation: This is where you’re completed your demo and have gotten a verbal agreement from the prospect that they’d want to work with you. They may need some time to think it over, so make sure you are both on the same page in terms of how long it’ll take for you to expect that agreement back from them.
Closed Won/Opportunity Won: The is where you have received the agreement back to begin working with this prospect; now converted into a client. You can at this stage also receive payment and ensure all legalities are in place for the two of you to begin working with one another.
Closed Lost/Opportunity Lost: This stage is where you have gotten a firm no from the prospect; as in they don’t find your product or service to be a good fit for them and/or don’t find it to be of interest to them. This can come in the form of a verbal communication or written.
Add-on/Post purchase: This stage can be combined with the closed won or opportunity won stage, or it can be kept separate. The main goal here is to establish an organized stage where you can manage reoccurring business and current clients purchasing future products/services from you and extended the life cycle of that sales period with you and your business. Clients in this stage are highly considered the most loyal you can count on, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get as many as possible into this stage.
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Now just from the breakdown above, which of the two scenarios would you say best suits the needs of your business as well as the business you’d like yourself to operate and own one day?
Im sure most of you, if not all would gear more towards scenario number two. No surprise there.
Just keep in mind that with the second scenario here, its best to stay on top of your pipeline as much as possible and do so with an optimistic point of view. That way you, your pipeline and business are always evolving for the better. Remember the health of your pipeline strongly determines the health of your business ;)
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Until next time my friends, keep your head up and know that whatever “obstacle” that comes your way throughout your business journey, its really just a blessing in disguise.
XO
-Bauer
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