Replies are where meetings are lost
Teams obsess over the first message and rush the reply. Here's how to read each kind of buyer reply and answer it so it turns into a real meeting.
4 min read
Blog
Tagged pipeline Page 2
Every post tagged pipeline.
Q4 pipeline for next year's Q1
Q1 deals are won in the planning cycle before them. How to build pipeline in Q4 that turns into signed work when next year's budgets open.
3 min readBuilding pipeline in a slow quarter
A slow quarter is the best time to build the pipeline that closes in the next one. Where to point the team, what to research and what to stop doing.
3 min readMeetings booked versus meetings held
Why meetings held is the number that matters for services pipeline, what a gap between booked and held tells you, and how to close it.
3 min readReply rate is the wrong north star
Reply rate rewards clever subject lines and volume. For large services deals, measure committee meetings and buyer corrections instead.
3 min readWhy volume outbound breaks for $250K deals
Volume outbound works for small deals with one buyer. Here's why it breaks on $250K services engagements and what to run in its place.
4 min readBoard reporting on pipeline
How services firm leaders should report pipeline to a board, with fewer stage totals and more honest evidence about which deals are real.
3 min readTime to first meeting as a metric
Time to first meeting tells you whether your outbound is working better than any reply count. How to measure it and what it reveals.
3 min readStage definitions for services sales
Services pipeline stages should track what the buyer did, not what the seller did. How to define stages that make your pipeline honest.
3 min readGetting partners to sell
Partners hold the relationships in a services firm, yet they rarely sell. Why they hold back and how to make selling fit their week.
3 min readPipeline reviews that change behavior
Most pipeline reviews update a spreadsheet and change nothing. How to run a review that changes what your sellers do the following week.
3 min readUtilization pressure and the sales calendar
Services firms sell hardest when the bench is full and stop when it empties. Why utilization pressure wrecks the sales calendar and how to fix it.
3 min readWhy your forecast misses in month two
Services forecasts break in the second month of the quarter. Here's why the miss starts at the top of the funnel and how to catch it early.
3 min readPricing conversations start in Stage 1
Services firms lose margin at the proposal, but the damage starts earlier. The problem you name in the first conversation sets the price you can charge.
3 min readQualifying in the first conversation
How to qualify a services deal in the first conversation by testing the problem, the owner and the cost of doing nothing, not by running a checklist.
3 min readThe first meeting is not a demo
Why the first meeting with a senior services buyer should test your hypothesis about their problem instead of walking through slides and case studies.
3 min readInbound is not a strategy for big deals
Inbound leads rarely bring the large services deals a firm needs. Here's why big buyers don't fill out forms and what to build in their place.
3 min readEvent pipeline that survives the event
Event pipeline dies the week after the event if the work starts late. Here's how to pick targets early and turn hallway talks into deals.
3 min read