To put it simply: a pipeline is a tool that allows you to manage steps in a process. Keap’s easy-to-use drag and drop sales pipeline helps you move leads faster, close more sales, and know the status of every deal in one place. The feature recently got some upgrades that make it simple -- and easy -- to create the most seamless sales process for your business.
Two of the biggest challenges that businesses face when managing their sales process are:
- Identifying who to follow up with first
- Making sure that no leads fall through the cracks
Improved features and analytics in Keap’s pipeline directly address both of those problems. Here’s how:
Prioritizing Follow Up
Following up quickly is probably the most efficient way to create a reliable, predictable sales engine in your business. 44% of potential clients move on to another company if you don't respond fast enough. In the Keap Pipeline, you can now leverage the power of Easy Automations to create and manage stage automation from directly within the Pipeline. This means you can automate emails, tasks, and more when a deal enters or exits a stage in the pipeline so that nothing falls through the cracks.
For example, a lead fills out a form on your website that enters them into the first stage of your pipeline. From there, you automate an introductory email telling them a little bit about your business and inviting them to set up an initial call. This sends them directly to your appointment booking page where they can schedule a time to chat that’s convenient for them (and available on your calendar). The confirmation email and/or text for that appointment is automated as well, and you’ve now got a lead who’s moved through the entire first stage of the pipeline without you or anyone on your team having to do anything - and more importantly, your potential client had a fast and easy journey to get there.
No Leads Left Behind
Another issue that a busy sales team runs into is leads falling through the cracks. If you leave the next step in the hands of your leads (who are also busy), you may never hear back from them -- even if they intended to keep moving through your pipeline. When a deal has been in a particular stage for a certain period of time, you can automatically send a follow up message asking if the prospect has any questions and gently nudging them forward. Or, if you notice that a deal is in the “Negotiating” stage and the prospect hasn’t been contacted in more than 72 hours, you can set up an Easy Automation that automatically follows up with the sales rep (with a task reminding them to reach out) and/or directly with the prospect reminding them to take a look at the quote you sent.
Setting up this proactive outreach and follow up ensures that even the best sales teams don’t let any of your prospects get left behind.
"Things used to fall through the cracks, the pipeline is exactly what I needed to stay organized and close more deals.” -- April Tate, Genesis Travel Agency
Now More Than Just Sales
While the most common use for a pipeline is managing a sales process that has clear steps (like new lead, qualifying, quoting, negotiating, closed), with Keap’s pipeline feature you have the ability to create multiple pipelines. This means you can use the pipeline feature to manage all sorts of other processes in your business like fulfillment, client or employee onboarding, hiring, and even project management. And, with newly enhanced features and analytics, you can gain deeper insights into any process you’re running, streamline the way that you and your team manage that process together, and find ways to optimize and multiply the positive results.
Defining Outcomes
Keap’s Pipeline now lets you define Deal Outcomes, which creates a new level of insight into what’s working -- or not working -- in your process. You can create a positive and negative outcome for each of your pipelines, so it’s easier than ever to get a simple, high-level view of end states for all of your potential deals.
And if your mind isn’t already blown, let’s take that one step further: you can define what process comes next for each outcome and seamlessly connect multiple pipelines. For example: when a deal moves to “Won”, setup automation to send a contract to be signed through HelloSign and apply a tag to add them into your New Client Onboarding Pipeline which kicks off with a welcome email and starts to move them towards value. You can create reminders to sign the contract, and once they do, move them into your next stage of onboarding. These opportunities for automation really do just keep going through your entire customer journey.
Pipeline Analytics: New Insights
And now, drumroll please, my favorite part: pipeline analytics. The new analytics section in Keap’s Pipeline provides a simple, visual report of how your pipeline is performing. You can view trend lines to track quarterly performance, filter data by status, sales rep, and date closed to quickly and efficiently give feedback to sales reps in their first 90-180 days on your team. You can also see deal conversions by stage, average duration, deal revenue forecasting, and more to help prioritize ways to help your sales team improve their close rates.
All of these improved features give you the clarity and data that you need in order to have the most effective conversations with your prospects and close more sales. No more leads left behind!
