A Sales Manager’s Roadmap for Guiding More Potential Customers to Purchase.
Every company benefits from implementing a funnel model that strategically guides potential customers through the steps needed to ultimately make a purchase. Effective funnel management is not just about organizing sales activities—it provides deeper insight into the true status of deals.
By consistently managing the funnel, sales managers can maintain a real-time understanding of their team’s activities and the opportunities available. This ongoing cadence uncovers timely opportunities to refine and optimize sales approaches, ensuring the team operates at peak effectiveness.
Key Benefits of Funnel Management
- More Accurate Sales Forecasts: Tracking deal progression through the funnel allows for realistic predictions and better resource planning.
- Improved Conversion Rates: Monitoring each stage provides insights to address bottlenecks and enhance conversion at every step.
- Timely Strategy Adjustments: Managers can quickly identify areas for improvement and coach their salespeople to higher performance.
- Increase your average deal size
Four Keys to Managing Your Team’s Funnel
To maximize the effectiveness of your sales funnel, consider these four essential approaches:
Key One: Switch Focus from Selling Steps to Buying Steps
Many sales teams traditionally measure progress based on the actions their salespeople have taken—for example, qualifying leads, making a presentation, or submitting quotes. While these selling steps are important, they do not always reflect the true status of a deal.
Instead, shift your focus to buying steps—the actions taken by the customer, such as customers explicitly stating needs, agreeing to performance criteria, or scheduling meetings with multiple decision-makers. For instance, compare the following scenarios:
- Scenario 1: A salesperson updates your CRM after qualifying a lead, talking to a key contact, and submitting a proposal. They expect the deal to close in two weeks. However, these are steps taken by the salesperson, not necessarily by the buyer.
- Scenario 2: Another salesperson secures an introductory meeting with a new prospect, who then enables access to a second decision-maker, obtains their sign-off on design criteria, and schedules a meeting for a presentation. The prospect’s actions indicate genuine engagement and progress toward a purchase, making the two-week close expectation far more credible.
By prioritizing buyer actions, you gain a more accurate picture of deal status and can forecast sales outcomes with greater confidence. For more specific ideas on these buyer actions, refer to the Buy-Learn model I discuss in my book, “Slow Down, Sell Faster!”
Key Two: Establish a Consistent Funnel Management Cadence
Regularly reviewing and updating the sales funnel ensures the sales manager stays informed about team activities and deal progress. This consistent cadence—whether weekly, bimonthly, or monthly—creates accountability and allows for proactive adjustments to strategy.
- Set regular meetings to review funnel activity and discuss deal status.
- Use data-driven insights to identify stalled deals or high-potential opportunities.
- Encourage open communication so salespeople share both successes and challenges.
Key Three: Prioritize opportunities in the earlier stages
Sales managers are under incredible pressure to deliver revenue. They believe that helping salespeople close deals is the best use of their time. But by doing so, they are implicitly endorsing poor selling practices – that of emphasizing the importance of being a “closer.”
The trouble is that the size of a purchase is determined in the early stages of the buying process – when customers are recognizing the breadth and depth of their problems, needs, and requirements.
If you want to increase your team’s average deal size and improve the quality of deals in your funnel, coaching your salespeople’s skills in the earlier phases is the most effective way to achieve this.
The key question to ask your salespeople in the earlier phases is: “What problem is the customer trying to solve and why is this important to them now?”
Key Four: Coach and Refine Sales Strategies in Real Time
Funnel management is not just about tracking; it’s about continuous coaching and improvement. When sales managers closely monitor funnel activity, they can quickly identify areas where salespeople require support or where sales strategies need refinement.
- Provide targeted coaching based on funnel data, focusing on buyer engagement and conversion points.
- Spot opportunities to adjust messaging, outreach efforts, or proposal tactics.
- Celebrate wins and learn from losses to drive ongoing improvement.
Conclusion
A well-managed sales funnel is a powerful tool for driving revenue growth and building a high-performing sales team. By focusing on buying steps, establishing a regular management cadence, and actively coaching your team, sales managers can guide their team to achieve more consistent sales success.
