Our sales workshops have been developed with the help of those who read seller’s proposals and listen to seller pitches – professional buyers. When it comes to the pipeline workout they are the ultimate fitness instructors.

1. For Sales Managers & Directors:
Planning A New Year Pipeline Workout?
“Improve your
organization's
According to research from the US Calorie Control
Council, the traditional holiday dinner with turkey and
closing rate by
all the trimmings can amount to a whopping 4,500 up to 30%!”
calories!
Little wonder many of us make New Year resolutions to work out in the
gym. Now you may think: what has that to do with sales and sales
performance? Well, many sales pipelines could do with a new year
workout too!

2. Fighting The Flab In Your Pipeline
Start the new year with a new pipeline, as well as a new waistline. In
particular removing the fat from the pipeline, in terms of a more rigorous
approach to pre-qualification, forecasting and closing. Exploring new
ways of pipeline management, including deal behaviors, pipeline reviews,
bid-no bid processes and win-loss reviews.
The Pipeline Workout
Recently we brought 24 people together for 7 hours to work on
advancing their key deals and a general all round pipeline
workout. Before they entered the workshop those participating
had rated their confidence with; closing, pre-qualification and
forecast accuracy at lowly 3 to 5 out of 10.
Here is a profile of the group’s tendering/bidding activity:
Avg. Order Value: €37k*
Avg. Customer Value: €670k
Proposals/Tenders Last Quarter: 43 (both public and private sector selling)
Win Rates: 28% Private, 18% Public
Avg. Years Sales Experience: 10 years
Boosting Closing Success
As they left these confidence ratings in respect of key pipeline
opportunities had jumped to 7/8 out of 10. What is more important is
that their estimates of closing success had jumped by up to 30%. In less
than a day they had reshaped not only the pipeline, but their attitudes
and motivations too!
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3. The Workout
During the workshop we helped participants apply tools to reshape their
pipeline and more importantly to advance key deals. That included:
 Writing down inflated opportunities.
 Deciding to focus their energies on those opportunities which
promised the greatest chances of a win.
 Identifying early warning signals that a deal may be in trouble.
 Agreeing actions to advance key opportunities.
During the course of the day salespeople implemented strategies which
they expected would deliver anywhere from a 15-30% improvement in
closing rates. “Our extensive
buyer research
Why It Works has revealed
how buying
What makes our approach different and so particularly effective is the
new levels of insight into the way modern buying decisions are being decisions are
made. Our workshops have been developed with the help of those who actually made.”
read seller’s proposals and listen to seller pitches – professional buyers.
When it comes to the pipeline workout they are the ultimate fitness
instructors.
Our extensive buyer research has revealed how buying decisions are
actually made. That is the full implications of how buying decisions are
made in the post credit crisis market environment of slashed budgets,
shifting priorities and increased competition.
We say revealed because it is generally a secret kept from salespeople.
Buyers generally like to play their cards close.
If you would like to find out how our deal closing clinics/workshops can
help reshape your pipeline in 2013 please contact us.
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4. How Can We Help You?
Recognized as world-leaders in selling to sophisticated buyers, The ASG
Group helps B2B sales teams to increase the likelihood of closing by up to
30%. If you are:
− Planning sales training,
− Want to boost sales success and get more deals over the line,
− Looking to accelerate sales performance,
− Considering how to link behavioral changes to revenue,
then we may be able to help.
For more information please contact us.
Phone: +353 1 620 57 87
E-mail: johnogorman@theasggroup.com
Or visit our website at:
www.theASGgroup.com
About The Author
John O'Gorman is a B2B sales coach working with
sales teams and their managers across Europe to
pinpoint sales opportunities and accelerate sales
performance. John is co‐author of The B2B Sales
Revolution TM and Quick Win B2B Sales.
The entire contents of this document are copyright of The ASG Group and cannot be
reproduced in any format without written permission.
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