This article focuses on how to get the most out of the Sales Pipeline as a Business Development Manager to help you close deals faster.
The Sales Pipeline reflects the Swagelok Bristol sales process and is a tool to help our Business Development Managers progress opportunities to close in an organised and effective way.
There are six stages in the sales process prior to either Closing and winning a deal or Closing and losing a deal. These stages are designed to logically move the customer and the sales person through the pipeline, and the automation built into this pipeline provides the next steps to ensure key activities and information are not missed.
The first three stages of the Sales Pipeline - Assess, Discover and Qualify - manage the deal as if it is a "lead". That is, the steps we need to take to ensure this deal is a viable opportunity to pursue are contained in the first three stages. The last three stages of the Sales Pipeline - Design, Quote and Order - focus on the deal becoming an "opportunity" which has been qualified, objections have been overcome, and all key decision makers have been involved. These final three stages ensure we are designing the most appropriate and valuable solution for the customer, and once hitting the Quote stage, the probability of the opportunity closing and winning is more than 70%.
There are a number of mandatory fields that must be entered to create a deal - these are:
- Deal Name (to follow the approved naming conventions)
- Pipeline (extremely important as we are working with a number of different pipelines)
- Deal Stage (Assess, Discover, Qualify, Design, Quote, Order, Closed Won, Closed Lost)
- Deal Owner (Business Development Manager)
- Deal Type (New Business - Product only, CS Opportunity, Field Services Opportunity, Training Opportunity, Products and Services Opportunity)
The Create Date field is automatically populated as is the Deal Owner field. The Deal Owner field only needs adjusting if you are entering a deal on behalf of someone else. The Close Date field automatically selects the last day of the month you are in. It is advisable to clear this date field and choose a more relevant date from the calendar picker that more closely reflects the expected close time frame.
The Deal Description property requires a brief summary of what the deal involves - eg. Loss of Containment evaluation with the potential for XYZ products.
The seven questions below the Deal Type property are relevant only for CS associates and not required to be completed by BDMs.
It is also important to associate the deal with a company and contact (this is found at the very bottom of the create deal pop up page).
Assess
After creating a Deal you will be at the Assess stage - the first stage in the sales pipeline and our sales process. On reaching this stage the Deal Owner will automatically be sent an email advising what next steps need to be taken to move the Deal through to the Discover stage of the process.
Five days after the email is triggered, a Task is sent to the Deal Owner to book an initial sales call with the contact to progress the Deal to Discover stage. Finally on moving the Deal to the Discover stage in HubSpot, the Deal Owner is asked to respond to two questions - one to identify and prioritise customer issues and needs as well as the key decision makers and influencers involved in the opportunity, and the other to research the customer and their industry and identify potential issues and needs. This trigger encourages the Deal Owner to research and investigate the customer and potential circumstances as much as possible prior to meeting with them.
Discover
Within the Discover stage, the Deal Owner will receive another automated email asking them to:
- Identify and prioritise issues and areas of need around safety, yield and productivity.
- Prepare and ask insight driven questions to identify which products/services to lead with and investigate opportunity further.
- Uncover and define the impact of not addressing the issues/circumstances uncovered.
Five days after this, they will receive a Task notification from HubSpot asking them to update the CRM with the details from their initial meeting with the Customer around this Deal. At this point there is a "First Sales Meeting" field that needs to be completed. This registers the first time the opportunity has been discussed with the customer in person. Although this isn't a mandatory property, you will have a better idea of the length of your sales cycles if this field is completed. 👍
When this stage has been completed and the Deal is ready to progress to Qualify stage, a pop up will appear on movement of the Deal requesting you to update the "Amount" and "Value" fields.
"Amount" is defined as the estimated cash return for our products and/or services if the Deal is won. While the "Value" property is asking for our Unique Selling Point (USP) or benefits we believe will be the most influential and relevant to the customer.
Qualify
After Discover comes the Qualify stage - where the Deal Owner is required to confirm or amend their value proposition by gaining a clear, complete and mutual understanding of the customer's needs within this opportunity. As with all stages, the Deal Owner will be sent an automated email describing the steps required to move the Deal forward to the next stage.
These next steps are:
- Explain the value of moving forward with a Swagelok offering to the customer.
- Outline how we have solved similar issues for other businesses like theirs.
- Explain the value of a Field Engineer site visit to identify areas for continuous improvement and gain agreement to schedule this if relevant.
- Discuss the value of a customised solution targeting the customer's basic needs based on your insights.
The Task associated with this stage is to arrange a site visit if relevant with the Field Engineer and KDM to progress the deal to the Design stage. If this Deal is a CS Opportunity, it is important to note that the CS Admin will also be automatically alerted when you move the Deal into Design stage from Qualify if it has been classified as a CS Opportunity. The CS Admin will then take over ownership of the Deal and begin the Quote process within the CS Quote Pipeline, by first engaging the Tech Team to define and design a relevant solution for the customer.
For all Deals outside of those which are CS Opportunities, they will continue within the Sales Pipeline.
To move a Deal from Qualify to Design, you will be asked to note whether a Field Engineer is required or not for this opportunity to progress; and to demonstrate if you have overcome all objections to the opportunity moving forward from the customer.
Design
When a Deal reaches Design stage, an automated email will be sent to the BDM/Deal Owner requesting them to:
- Gain agreement from KDM to take next steps required to customise a solution.
- Engage Field Engineer if relevant for a site visit to help identify issues, conduct activities to assess circumstances based on experience and insights, and suggest solutions.
- Conduct site visit to identify uncovered needs and issues and to gauge any additional value Swagelok can offer the customer.
- Meet with all KDMs post site visit and reiterate the insight driven value of moving forward with a Swagelok solution and overcome any objections they may have.
- Define, clarify and confirm with KDMs what success looks like based on issues uncovered, their KPIs and any needs already agreed on.
- Gain agreement to progress to quote/ proposal stage.
The Deal Owner will also be tasked to develop a solution based on the agreed outcomes from the sales meeting with KDMs conducted within this stage. Please note that more than one stage can be progressed at a time - but it is important to ensure that all tasks and activities that have been requested/suggested are carried out before progressing the opportunity to ensure a greater chance of success.
On leaving Design and moving the Deal to Quote, the Deal Owner will be requested to note whether or not a product trial has been required to move forward with the decision by the customer.
Quote
Within the email to the BDM for the Quote stage you will be asked to:
- Identify root causes of issues and needs behind the needs (5 whys).
- Investigate internal processes and potential "causes" of issues/needs.
- Arrange for product evaluation or trial if required.
- Prepare a quote/ proposal for a Swagelok solution based on insights and understandings of this customer's issues and needs.
The task assigned to the Deal Owner will be to develop a Quote/ Proposal based on the agreed outcomes from the sales meeting with KDMs during this stage; book a meeting to present the proposal to all KDMs (if appropriate); and update notes in HubSpot. Remember that if the Deal Type is a CS Opportunity, the CS Team will be managing this stage in the CS Quotes Pipeline.
Finally, to leave Quote and move to Order, the BDM will need to state if they have or haven't presented the proposal to the customer.
Order
To move the Deal through the final stage of the sales process and this pipeline, the BDM will be asked to:
- Present the quote/ proposal to all KDMs.
- Reiterate the major issues and needs identified and discuss the customised solutions proposed with all KDMs.
- Reinforce the value of moving forward with a Swagelok solution.
- Reiterate the implications to the customer's business of not changing or adopting the proposed Swagelok solution.
- Address any concerns raised about the quote/ proposal provided.
You will also be asked to update all meeting notes in HubSpot.
If the Deal is moving to Closed Won, you will be required to note the amount the Deal was closed for, the reason you won the opportunity, and a final summary of what the Deal involved (Solution presented).
The Deal Owner will also receive an email asking you to:
- Identify next steps with the customer and gain agreement to recommendations to move forward and implement solution.
- Begin the process to implement solution for the customer.
- Get PO and arrange for stock required.
If the Deal is moving to Closed Lost, you will be required to state the Amount the opportunity was potentially worth in £s to Swagelok Bristol and the reason why the opportunity was lost.
The email sent to the Deal Owner in this situation will request that you:
- Identify the reasons why the Swagelok solution was not accepted by the customer and enter notes about this into HubSpot.
- Review the process to understand what could have been done differently.
- Gain acceptance from the customer to keep in contact.
Remember, HubSpot is your primary depository for all documents, emails, communication, meeting notes and tasks for your Deals - use it wisely and effectively to help you achieve your professional and personal sales goals.