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This Week: Pipeline Management to Keep Leads Flowing

Immediate gratification. We all want it... but when it comes to business development from lead generation the fact is, it rarely happens that way and if that's the expectation there may well be disappointment.

Research shows that it takes between 8 and 12 contacts with a prospect before the initial business comes through. This is pipeline management, building trust and developing the relationship sufficiently for them to feel comfortable leaving their present supplier and going with you.

In pipeline management, appointments with fresh prospects are important, but just because they don't lead to a deal now doesn't mean that it isn't valuable. On the contrary, there may be a variety of legitimate reasons why a prospect can't shift to you today. They may be tied to a contract, there may be a budget freeze, they may not yet be certain you can do the job. These may be issues for them today, but will they be tomorrow? Identifying them as a lead for the future is necessary now. It is important to have a system that identifies those worth pursuing and those that are not. It is essential to use prospecting as a springboard to business that may come 6 to 12 months down the line. In the same way, don't write off the appointment just because you didn't come away with a signed contract. Valuable market intelligence acquired each time we have contact nurtures potential customers, planting seeds and building trust towards a more timely result.

There is also pipeline mismanagement. Once the customer comes on board, the temptation is take the foot off the pedal and shift the focus and investment to new prospects. This can lead to dormant customers with all that profit disappearing from your bottom line.

We all have customers that no longer buy from us, but do we know why? In some cases it is beyond our control, or perhaps they've shifted focus or gone out of business. Or perhaps a competitor has diverted them into their pipeline? Or perhaps we took them for granted.

In our experience, AQL suggests viewing lead generation as long term pipeline management, where there is a continuous flow of potential prospects requiring cultivating. Investing all expectation in the initial appointment is a recipe for disappointment.

Secondly, we recommend revitalising your dormant customer base. It is a real shame to let this former revenue stream to become an historical dry riverbed.

Achieving Quality Leads is happy to discuss both sides of pipeline management with you. It may be more cost-effective than you think.

There's more about the way AQL works in a short video presentation: http://www.aql-ltd.com/timing-and-touch-aqls-business-breakthrough.html

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