Unclog your sales pipeline
Are you having a tough time closing at least one Web site deal each month? Do you ever wonder how some WebCenter owners are able to close multiple deals month after month?  It takes a lot of work for these sales superstars to consistently sell sites, and it all starts with how well they manage their sales pipeline.

The sales pipeline (also called the “sales funnel”) is a term that describes the flow of prospects from the initial contact (when they’re just a lead) all the way to the final sale (when they become a customer).  It’s important to understand your sales pipeline because it helps you plan your activities to keep your business operating at optimal efficiency.  If you are too focused on closing sales, you won’t have any prospective customers to close next month; if you are too busy finding prospects, you won’t have enough time to conduct walkthroughs and sell sites.  Managing your sales pipeline is key to selling Web sites week after week, month after month.

So how do you manage your sales pipeline?  Start by figuring out the answer to the following three questions:
1. How many leads it usually takes before you find one prospect?  (A lead can be anyone you’ve approached about a Web site; a prospect is someone who has expressed an interest, and has agreed to a walkthrough presentation.) 
2. How many prospects does it take for you to find one customer?  (A customer is someone who has actually purchased a Web site from you.)
3. On average, how long does this process take from start to finish? (From the time you first met the business owner up until you close the deal)

If you already know the answer to these questions, great!  If you don’t, it’s time to figure it out.  This may seem really basic, but you’d be surprised how much of an impact this can have on your monthly sales figures.  You cannot actively managing your leads and prospects if you don’t know how many leads you need to find a customer, and it makes it difficult to sell Web sites on a consistent basis if you don’t know how long it will take to close the deal.

Here’s an example:  If it takes me 10 leads to find one prospect, and I close one Web site deal for every three walkthrough presentations I conduct, I know that I’ll need about 30 leads to generate one sale.  If it took 14 days from the time I first met the prospect until the time they finally bought the site, I know that I’ll need to meet at least 30 business owners this week if I want to close a deal two weeks from now.  At this point, it’s just a matter of deciding how many Web sites I want to sell in a given period of time.  If I want to sell five sites next month, I’ll need to call or visit 150 leads over the next few weeks; if I plan to sell ten sites, I better work through 300 leads by the second week of next month.

Remember, keep your sales pipeline full—with leads, prospects, and follow ups.  If you do not continue to find new prospects on a regular basis, you are setting yourself up for future failure.  At the same time, if you focus too much on prospecting, you won’t have time for walkthroughs and follow ups.  Manage your sales pipeline well, and you’ll start closing deals like our top performers!