When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Suppose that you have 3-6 months to show revenue.
Clarification added 13 days ago:
Assume there is no marketing effort other than the local business directory and your phone.
Good Answers (3)
Maureen Sharib
5000+connects TopLinked.com Telephone Name Sourcer/MagicMethod Trainer-Names Generator at techtrak.com
Best Answers in:Staffing and Recruiting (6)…see more
Just get started - that’s the important thing. Pick 50 and when you get through those pick 50 more. Be sure you talk to the right person at each - this is the critical thing, not a pre-set number of targets. Track your results. Call back - and back - and back when you don’t get through. Don’t be obnoxious about it but a call (or two) a week for the first three weeks is not inappropriate (here in the states). Don’t leave VoiceMail messages - you’re wasting your breath and your time and if you’re not doing this you’re free to call as much as you’d like!. Ask questions when you get them on the phone. Don’t deliver a “spiel” - they’ll hear it and it mostly turns decision makers off. Talk to them like you respect their time. That’s about it - what I do.
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Len Rosen
President at Len Rosen Marketing Inc.
Hi Gene,
Building a pipeline should be accompanied by a marketing and tactical plan. You should identify all potential prospects, determine the total revenue value if you achieved 100% penetration, compare that with your target revenue number and then begin your funnel strategy. I recommend to clients that for every 100 raw leads they should get 6-10 qualified leads and 1 sale. So a market universe of 100,000 accessible raw leads, should lead to 6 to 10,000 qualified leads, and 1,000 sales. So look at the net value of every sale and determine what revenue goal you have in mind. That should tell you how large your net has to be cast to meet the goal.
Len Rosen
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Dinesh Kandanchatha
High Energy Executive focused building high performing teams
Best Answers in:Business Development (1)…see more
This is a very tough question to answer as it will depend on a bunch of variables.
1. Total revenue you want to achieve in the period.
2. Average sales price.
3. MTTC-Mean time to close. You need to understand how long it takes to close a deal on average. This will determine how many opportunities you can close in the period
4. Close ratio- Ratio of opportunities won to total opportunities in the pipeline. You will need to back out how many raw opportunities you will need to have in the pipeline.
Based on these four variables you can calculate your ideal pipeline size:
Revenue target/ASP= # of deals you need
# of deals needed* MTTC= Time required to hit revenue target
# deals needed/ Close ratio= pipeline size
You can then adjust your revenue target based on the time you have (ie. 3-6 months) or by the average sales price. For example go for a few large deals or many small deals depending on the market.
All of this assumes you have data to call upon. If you dont, then I would fall back to the old standard told to me by my first sales manager.
100 Calls
10 leads
4 proposals
1 deal
At least this will give you a starting point while you build a dataset.
Good Luck!
Blog: www.mysticselling.com
Links:
· http://www.mysticselling.com
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Deepak Ayappa
Head - Marketing & Sales at Resolve India
The Sales Pipeline depends on the Sales Target & the Sales Cycle .
Else , it ‘ll be like shooting in the dark .
Need clarity on the Sales target & the Sales Cycle .
Deepak Ayappa
Head - Marketing & Sales ; Resolve India
DA18Rocks@gmail.com
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
John Hill
I increase profits
Best Answers in:Sales Techniques (2)… see more
How long is a piece of string ?
What is the market, what is the sales cycle time ?
What is your closing ratio?
In your type of market I’d get a couple of good candidates and hit on 50+ companies in good times 100+ now and go and market them
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Matt Mills
Business Development Excecutive at 1st Place
It depends on what your hit is with marketing campains, we currently work on a 22% to show interest rule as a target. It is normally around that per campaign (we run one every 2 weeks) and then 20% of those who show interest will actually go through and buy.
Having said that we have a high end product, the second 20% could well be higher if the product was less high level. It is actually higher, but sometimes the sales cycle is over 6 months.
If you need 20 clients in that period based on first order values alone then I would say that 200 or so would be a good number to prospect, however It does depend on your hitrate, if you assume 5% of those you prospect will to through and buy then your much more likely to hit target.
Links:
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
David Almodovar
CEO at DNA Vertical, Inc.
Best Answers in:Starting Up (2)… see more
Target as many companies as your current resources allow you to. You can only do so much in a certain amount of time. Breakdown your capability by month, week, day, maybe even hour to determine what your average level of activity should be depending on how many resources you have on the project. You can do this if you are alone or if you have a team. If you find that that you are not generating revenue, add resources or adjust your pitch along the way. At least you will no what level of effort is required to generate your desired revenue.
Links:
· http://www.dnavertical.com/sales.html
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Brian Casto
Group 19 Founder and CEO
Best Answers in:Business Development (5)…see more
Assuming a 5 step sales process and a 6 month sales cycle, you can use a widely accepted “solution selling” formula for pipeline management:
Step 1 must contain at least 8.3% of your pipeline yield (total pipeline yielded at 10%)
Step 2 must contain at least 16.7% of your pipeline yield (total pipeline yielded at 25%)
Step 3 must contain at least 50% of your pipeline yield (total pipeline yielded at 50%)
Step 4 must contain at least 16.7% of your pipeline yield (total pipeline yielded at 75%)
Step 5 must contain at least 8.3% of your pipeline yield (total pipeline yielded at 100%)
The sum of your yielded pipeline should cover your sales target. If not, it is easy to calculate your shortfall. Given this yield curve, an average transaction size, and an acceptable prospecting multiple (assume 10x) you can estimate the number of prospects needed to reach your sales target. To calculate that number, simply divide your revenue shortfall by the average transaction size then multiply it by your prospecting multiple. For example, assume you are $10M short, with an average transaction size of $100K and a multiple of 10 – your total desired prospect target is 1,000. The difficulty is always determining your prospecting multiple. To do this you need to look at history and talk to experts in the targeted industries.
Hope this helps.
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
David Steinbach DavidSteinbach AT gmail.com
Recruiter / Staffing Specialist at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems
Depends on the number of decision-makers you are able to identify. Assuming you have “all,” then as many as you can hold quality conversations with during the day.
It should be a minimum of ten (10) companies per day for biz dev.
Line up your calls the day before, and begin early in the morning.
Dave Steinbach…
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Bruno Verlinden
Business Development Manager at CEVA Logistics ( formerly TNT Logistics & EGL )
Best Answers in:Supply Chain Management (3)…see more
This seems a rather strange question. You need to have your “position” clear, so you know who to go for. Knowing that you want results in 3-6 months, you will have to select those prospects that you evaluate as being likely to buy within that period. All the rest you will have to let go for now. Your constraint will be your time between continued prospecting and the sales-effort on the selected valuable oppotunities.
Kind regards
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Bill Abramovitz
CEO, Ideopia - Advertising, Interactive and Buzz Marketing Agency
Best Answers in:Advertising (1)… see more
Based on the resources you’ve described, I would focus on developing a detailed profile of the ideal prospect that desperately needs the most competitive features of your product or service. Quality is much more important than quantity. Time is your most valuable resource, so focus on the sales you have the best chances of winning, and let the rest go.
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
Greg Deming
SVP Sales, Sales Performance Advisors. Creating Quality Sales Cultures
Best Answers in:Sales Techniques (5)… see more
Tilt your pipeline on it’s head…think of it as an upside down funnels
10 Accounts - Step 8 Contract
11 Prospects - Step 7 Negotiation
16 Prospects - Step 6 Decision Pending
21 Prospects - Step 5 Proposal Submitted/Formal Presentation
30 Prospects - Step 4 Needs Analysis
45 Prospects - Step 3 First Meeting/Initial Presentation
300 Prospects - Step 2, Initially qualified as good potential
1,000 Suspects - Targets, (some people call them leads but that’s a poor name. These are suspects, leads are prospects.
So for every account you want to implement you need 100 suspects. You also need great sales skills and a decent product (not to mention a high degree of will to get in front of 5 qualified prospects). It’s hard work!
Links:
· http://www.peaksalesperformance.wordpress.com
· RE: When developing a sales pipeline, what is the number of target companies that you would prospect?
