Proactively managing the sales pipeline by ensuring every deal has a scheduled next step is critical for preventing stalled opportunities and improving closing rates.

The Challenge of Stalled Opportunities

Recently, I was working with a client to focus on the opportunities that were getting stalled in the pipeline. The sales team seemed to have decent call numbers and meetings were getting scheduled. However, the opportunities in the pipeline were going cold. Some had been just moving from month to month with no progression, as the reps were hoping it may close in another 30-days.

The Reality Behind the CRM Data

Despite assurances from the sales reps that they had identified “next-steps”, a closer inspection of the CRM revealed a concerning reality—no meetings were actually scheduled. Deals were stuck in various stages, from early sales phases where reps were “waiting for the prospect to get back to us to schedule the demo” to deals that were expected to close that month but were “waiting for them to sign.” Shockingly, not a single deal had a scheduled follow-up call.

A Common Pitfall in Sales Pipeline Management

Sadly, this is a very common occurrence when I review pipelines. Sales reps don’t want to be too pushy or they want to allow the prospect to call the shots on the right time to reconnect. When working a deal through your pipeline YOU have to be in control of the follow-up, not your prospect. When you take control of setting the next-step it helps hold your prospect accountable to the process. If they see genuine value in working with you then they often agree to the next-steps.

The Next-Step Challenge

To address this, I issued a challenge to the sales team: reach out to every deal in the pipeline and secure a next-step. I gave them a three-week deadline to book these next steps, adding a bit of humor by suggesting that any deal without a next step might need to be reassigned to another rep. Motivated by the challenge, the team quickly got to work.

Impressive Results

The results were impressive:

In total, 96 prospects were contacted over the three-week period, resulting in 72 next-steps being secured. This equates to a remarkable 75% success rate in converting outreach into actionable next steps.

The Power of Proactive Pipeline Management

This experience highlights the critical importance of proactively managing the sales pipeline. By ensuring that every deal has a scheduled next-step, sales teams can prevent deals from stalling and significantly improve their chances of closing. Sometimes, a simple push is all it takes to reignite momentum and drive success. And, those deals that won’t take your ask for the next-step, well they likely had no intention of buying anyway so you maintain a healthier pipeline by removing them and prospecting to replace them with genuine opportunities.

Learn how to avoid stalled pipeline opportunities with The Reals Secrets To Avoiding Stalled Deals and Prospects Who Ghost You micro-course on Sales Gravy University.