by Raphael Winters

Created on: January 26, 2009   Last Updated: February 13, 2009

Corporate world sales are like a wonderful tree full of delicious fruits full of money. It grows alone in a small oasis formed by offices, payroll, and employees. Sales people make its leaves and those who create its product or service make its trunk. However there is no water at all near that oasis. All the water that helps this wonderful tree to grow must be piped in through the efforts of water finding engineers that we call 'salespeople'.

They build the sales pipeline. Prospective clients are like life giving water and yet they are many kilometers away from this wonderful tree. This life giving water can only be brought to the wonderful tree of the company through the sales pipeline. When prospective clients turn into qualified customers then that is the time when the life giving water emerges from the sales pipeline and waters the tree.

Making it work is prospective clients who may be able to be turned into qualified paying customers soon. The following is seven keys that marketing or sales professionals can use to increase sales performance in today's tough economy.

SEVEN KEYS TO BUILDING SALES PIPELINES

1. LOOK AT THE OLD PIPELINE. Is there a moldy and old list of contacts and previously qualified customers that has been nesting in a forgotten co-workers desk? Check and evaluate it. Offer rewards and incentives people to refer other people for your product or services.
2. ADD NEW PIPE TO PIPELINE. Create new lists of potential clients along with the old. Use research, commercial databases, direct mailing, whatever it takes to build it.
3. MAKE STURDIER PIPELINES. Identify about three reasons that would turn a prospective client to a qualified customer in the target market. Integrate these top reasons with the client's cultural assumptions while connecting with them.
4. BUILD MORE PIPELINES. Automate the process of finding new potential clients as much as possible. Always check and evaluate your communications and marketing. If the marketing return on investment horse you are riding wants to start diving down mid-river, change horses.
5. BUILD UP THE BUILDERS OF THE PIPELINE. Management must treat its employees positively. Abuse of employees will result in abuse of customers. And abused customers will not want to give you money.
6. HIRE MORE PIPELINE BUILDERS. Great people are necessary for the success of the building of the sales pipeline. These kinds of people are needed especially in tough times regardless of their 'fit' to corporate culture. Multiple corporate cultures may be required to be successful.
7. AVOID PIPELINE WIZARDS. These slick snake soil salespeople tell you to do gobbledegook restructuring, sell you on their presentations skills, and skip off with money. The mediocre at the top of your business (see the Peter Principle) hires them cover their own incompetence by screwing everyone up too much to notice.

By following these seven tips you will build a big fat sales pipeline that will water your company with much revenue and make it grow strong and big!

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