Manage your sales pipeline better to build your business

Manage your sales pipeline better to build your business

From the time a business acquires a lead, up until they close a deal - either won or lost, it is essential that they keep track of all the stages within the sales pipeline and ensure a smooth flow between them.

So what is this Sales Pipeline?
It is nothing but a systematic method that one follows to navigate between multiple stages through which a sales prospect goes - from becoming a lead to becoming a customer - and a sales pipeline helps you determine where exactly your opportunities are. Besides, it also outlines the actions that you need to perform in order to convert a prospect into a customer.

Stages in a Sales Pipeline?

There are multiple stages every sales team has, including tasks such as gathering leads and qualifying them:

1. Prospecting
It is the process by which companies attract prospects into their customer database in the hope of nurturing them through a sales process and converting them into customers. They therefore make effort to generate an interest in the prospects towards their products and services. There are various sources through which you can generate leads. Some of them include trade shows, email campaigns, social media, webforms, etc.

2. Nurturing and Qualifying
Once you have generated prospects, you will need to ensure that they are the right fit for your business. Therefore, you will need to qualify them and manage them. This is a crucial step in a sales process as it helps you prioritise the promising leads and keep them at the top of your to-do list.
3. Set Meetings and define prospect's needs
Now, in order to get to know your prospects better, or in other words, understand their requirements, better, you need to set up a meeting with them. After interacting with them on several occasions, you need to tailor your proposal to address their needs. So basically, it is crucial that you articulate how your products or services can help solve their problems.

4. Negotiate and close deal
You have done your job of understanding your prospect's needs and built a solid relationship with them. While some may be ready to purchase your products or services, in the case of other prospects, you may have to address further concerns - all of which will eventually help you provide your customers with exactly what they are looking for. After these terms and conditions are finalized, you will be in a position to close the deal - either in success or otherwise.

While most companies differ in terms of their method for follow-up, and stages in the sales pipeline. the top-level stages continue to remain the same for all.
They are:
  • Prospecting
  • Qualification
  • Proposal 
  • Closing
Benefits of a Sales Pipeline

1. Get a better understanding of the sales process
2. More efficient sales strategy
3. A better understanding of the position of each lead in the sales funnel
4. Less time spent in closing deals.

Manage your Sales Pipeline with Zoho CRM

Now that you have understood the concept of a sales pipeline and its stages, imagine managing the same without a central process in place. Defining the stages in the sales pipeline and tracking the progress in the sales process could be extremely challenging. With the help of a software like Zoho CRM, therefore, you can:
  1. Define stages in a sales pipeline
    It is crucial to define the stages in your sales pipeline early on in order to have a strong sales process as sales reps in your company will know in advance what is expected of them in order to take the lead forward through the sales pipeline and finally close the deal. This can be achieved by customising/adding values in stage field within the Deals module in Zoho CRM. For instance, imagine you run a magazine publication. You do not require some of the default values within the stage field, such as Value Proposition or Proposal. You can therefore customise or delete these fields to meet your requirements.

  2. Track your deals
    It is crucial to track your deals to get an idea of the entire progress of your deal and avoid any further errors and make better decisions in terms of your way forward. Also, it is crucial to keep track of all updates in order to avoid missing out on any vital information.

    a) Historical analysis will help you avoid repeating mistakes that may have caused you to lose deals in the past. Therefore analysing your sales stage history in Zoho CRM is crucial as it will give you the number of potentials in each stage for a specific time period.

    b) Another method of tracking your sales pipeline within Zoho CRM is by creating reports and dashboards. You will be able to track your sales trends, marketing campaigns, team performance, etc. with the help of these reports.

    c) With multiple deals within your software, trying to view each of them to determine their status could prove to be quite taxing. However, within Zoho CRM, you can view your deals in a single view with the help of kanban view. It will display the data in an organised manner.

  3. Identify priority deals to focus on

    a) If you want to locate deals that are priority (for instance, deals that are closing this month), you can use advanced filters, which is a powerful search tool that can help you extract necessary information in no time. In this case, therefore, you will be able to quickly locate deals that fit your criteria (deals that are priority) and then you can immediately follow-up on them.

    b) On the other hand, if you want the system to suggest deals that you need to prioritise, you can use Zia, Zoho CRM's data intelligence tool. Based on the trend, she will predict for you those deals that are most likely to be won. This will give you a better understanding of what to focus on. In fact, she will create a view - breaking up your deals into those which are likely to be won, lost, or those which could go either way. This will help you shift your focus onto those deals that require your attention. 

    What are your thoughts on effective sales follow up? Share your questions and opinions by commenting below. Also, feel free to suggest topics for discussion in the CRM Admins Chat Room. 


    Access your files securely from anywhere



      Zoho Campaigns Resources

            Zoho Developer Community

                Bootcamp
                Community
                Pricing
                Webinars
                What's New
                Integrations
                Contact Support
                Contact Sales

                  Zoho Survey Resources
                    Features
                    Survey Templates
                    Integrations
                    Community
                    iOS Mobile Surveys
                    Pricing
                    Android Mobile Surveys
                    Insurvey Blogs
                    Insight Blogs
                    Tips & Tricks






                                  Latest Feature Updates


                                      Zoho Desk Resources

                                      • Desk Community Learning Series


                                      • Digest


                                      • Functions


                                      • Meetups


                                      • Kbase


                                      • Resources


                                      • Glossary


                                      • Desk Marketplace


                                      • MVP Corner


                                      • Word of the Day




                                          Zoho Marketing Automation
                                            Zoho SalesIQ Resources


                                                  Manage your brands on social media
                                                  Access Zoho Social

                                                    Zoho Pagesense Resources


                                                        Zoho TeamInbox Resources

                                                          Zoho DataPrep Resources



                                                            Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                              Zoho Books Resources


                                                                Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                  Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                    Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                      Qntrl Resources


                                                                        Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                            Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                            • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                              CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                            • Kaizen

                                                                              Kaizen

                                                                            • Functions

                                                                              Functions

                                                                            • Meetups

                                                                              Meetups

                                                                            • Kbase

                                                                              Kbase

                                                                            • Resources

                                                                              Resources

                                                                            • Digest

                                                                              Digest

                                                                            • CRM Marketplace

                                                                              CRM Marketplace

                                                                            • MVP Corner

                                                                              MVP Corner





                                                                                Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                Get Started Now


                                                                                  Zoho Show Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Writer Writer

                                                                                    Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                    Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                      Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                                                                        Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                            ご検討中の方





                                                                                                  • Recent Topics

                                                                                                  • Canadian payroll

                                                                                                    Hello ZOHO, is any updates on when payroll for Canada will be available?

                                                                                                  • Default reminders on Emails

                                                                                                    I have seen that it is possible to set, for each email, a reminder when the email remains unresponded for some time. This is very useful, so useful that I would like to set it for all my emails, by default. Because an unanswered email usually requires

                                                                                                  • in zoho assist I would like to temporarliy go into view only mode

                                                                                                    During a zoho assist remote support / remote control session, I would like an option to turn off control, and go into view only mode. Then later, turn back on control, all within the same session. (Many other remote login apps have this feature.) For

                                                                                                  • Zoho notes list issue

                                                                                                    Hi team, Suddenly my extension is not working and I could not find the extension in my marketplace list anymore. Extension version deprecated This version of the extension is no longer in use. Please update the extension and try again.

                                                                                                  • Assignment Rule: Immediate Ticket Assignment to Agents Upon Shift Start

                                                                                                    Dear Zoho Desk Team, I hope this message finds you well. Currently, when the option to assign tickets to offline agents is turned off, agents who come online during their shift have to wait for about 30 minutes before any tickets from the queue are assigned

                                                                                                  • Change email template depending on answer from form

                                                                                                    Is it possible to set up the following in Zoho Desk: When a user submits a ticket via the Zoho Help Center's form, they can select an answer from a dropdown field. In this example, the dropdown options are 'Option A' and 'Option B.' If a user selects

                                                                                                  • Kaizen #171: FAQs on COQL API

                                                                                                    Hello all!! Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series! In this post, we will address some of the most frequently asked questions about Zoho CRM's COQL API from the Zoho CRM Developer Community Forum. COQL API Query API lets you query for records

                                                                                                  • Issue with Date Placeholder Formatting in Ticket ID Customization

                                                                                                    Hello Support Team, I'm experiencing an issue with the date placeholder formatting in Zoho Desk's Ticket ID customization. Specifically, when using the `{{DD}}` placeholder for the day in the prefix or suffix, the output displays the day as a single digit

                                                                                                  • Time Field

                                                                                                    Good Day, I have a question, when I save a draft and reload it. Why does the time field format keeps goes from hh:mm to hh:mm:ss? Is there a way I can force it to load to hh:mm only? I have tried example = totime(input.TimeField, "hh:mm") in the -created

                                                                                                  • Feature Req - See imap emails in Timeline tab of a deal

                                                                                                    In many other CRMs such as pipedrive and hubspot, when you are looking at the timeline of a deal you can also see snippets of emails that have been sent or received and then click to view the full message. This gives users a fast way to catch up on EVERYTHING

                                                                                                  • HOW TO: Searching a thread (email body/text) with a custom function, allowing filtering and specific actions

                                                                                                    We are still trialing out Zoho at this time, but have found a major expected feature to be missing - the ability to search within the text of an email for automation/workflows. NOTE: You need to create a connection for zohodesk under settings -> Developer

                                                                                                  • Partnership Proposal for Supporting Number Porting Services in Singapore

                                                                                                    Dear Zoho Representative’s, I hope this message finds you well. My name is Honelito Gilos, and I represent Borderless Hub Pte Ltd (Singapore). We are a Telco here in Singapore specialising in providing seamless number porting services, and I’m reaching

                                                                                                  • Tip #2: Prefill forms automatically with existing Zoho CRM data

                                                                                                    How to automatically prefill a form with existing Zoho CRM data? Prefilled forms can be useful when you want your prospects to view and confirm their data, and in a wide range of other situations. In Zoho Forms, we prefill the fields with the values from Zoho CRM using the Zoho CRM field. What is a Zoho CRM field? A Zoho CRM field acts as a two-way communication channel, by sending data to Zoho CRM from forms and fetching information from CRM into Forms. The field will look up data from your CRM

                                                                                                  • Transform Your Customer Support with AI-Powered Chatbots in Zoho SalesIQ

                                                                                                    Ever wondered how some companies seem to have superhuman customer support? Let's uncover their secret! In the digital age, customer expectations are skyrocketing. Did you know that according to McKinsey, 75% of consumers expect a response within five

                                                                                                  • Quickbooks conversion and Internet sales

                                                                                                    Hello, we are considering converting from Quickbooks enterprise to Zoho Books and using MonotorZ for our mrp needs. Today we import Internet sales under a single customer with multiple ship to addresses. We want to maintain the detail in CRM for marketing

                                                                                                  • How to add two columns in Zoho forms

                                                                                                    I would like to have two columns in Zoho forms. How can i enable two columns?

                                                                                                  • When creating Sales Order / Estimate via API, the line item Tax Code does not get pulled in.

                                                                                                    I'm creating Sales Orders via API from CRM but it does not pull in the "Tax Code" I've read within the forums that this should be done automatically but it's not happening. Not sure if it's a bug or by design? Anybody else know? Should we be adding the

                                                                                                  • Chart showing schedule

                                                                                                    I want to be able to create a chart for everyday to check and which of which driver is available on the timeframe. Here's my table Name City Day Start Time End Time Driver1 Medicine Hat Monday 11:45 AM 4:45 PM Driver 2 Medicine Hat Tuesday 11:00 AM 7:00

                                                                                                  • Quais são os maiores desafios que você enfrenta ao implementar o Zoho CRM?

                                                                                                    Olá, pessoal da comunidade Zoho Brasil! Sou parceiro autorizado da Zoho e, ao longo do tempo, tenho notado que cada implementação de CRM traz desafios únicos, dependendo do segmento de negócio, das metas da empresa e até da familiaridade da equipe com

                                                                                                  • 2025 Just Got More Exciting for Developers!

                                                                                                    Hello, Greetings to the Zoho Books Community! As we step into the New Year, we're thrilled to roll out something truly special for our Zoho Finance enthusiasts – the "Zoho Finance Developer" Community! This is your exclusive space to connect with fellow

                                                                                                  • Error in executing On user input script

                                                                                                    I'm having problems with this  this script : ; Tipo_list=List(); Tipo_rec = Tabla_factores[Periodo == input.Periodo_anos.toLong()]; Tipo_list.addAll(Tipo_rec.Clase_credito.getall()); for each Clase_credito in Tipo_list { Tipo_credito:ui.add(Clase_credito) } Error in executing On User Input script of Periodo en años. Error. Error in executing Fetch Record task. Unable to fetch Tabla_factores and update variable Tipo_rec. Error in evaluating the criteria : Error. Error evaluating NUMERIC expression

                                                                                                  • sync data from outside of zoho plateform

                                                                                                    hii team , i am creating a platform using zoho platform, i want to sync the data from out side of the platform like people-soft, but i am not able to sync the data , if it is possible , then suggest me how can i do it , i want to sync data from other

                                                                                                  • How to add a Data Updated As Of: dynamically in text?

                                                                                                    I need to add a "Data Updated As Of" in the dashboard to show when was the last date the data was updated. I tried to create a widget but it does not look really good, see below. Is there a way I can do this through the text widget and update it automatically

                                                                                                  • Automate search in customer list and easilly initiate email

                                                                                                    Hello and happy new year ! I have a customer list with name, telephone, emails and some criterias like location, type of customer, etc. I want to search that form to extract part of it, for example all customers that have a location of "Québec city" and

                                                                                                  • "Select All" item in the context menu

                                                                                                    In the Client on Android, there is a “Select all” item in the note’s context menu. There is no such item in the PC client. Can it be added in future versions of the client?

                                                                                                  • Syncing Leave Calendar With Shared Google Calendar Does Not Remove Canceled Leaves

                                                                                                    Our organization has each employee sync their Leaves calendar with a shared Google calendar, but am I right that if an employee cancels a Leave in Zoho that it will not be removed automatically from the shared Google calendar through the same sync m

                                                                                                  • Is it possible to display formulas in cells instead of calculated results?

                                                                                                    I want to export my Zoho sheet as tab separated text without losing the formulas. In excel, I would use the settings Options - Advanced - show formulas in cells instead of their calculated results then save as tab separated values. How do I do this in

                                                                                                  • Creator Simplified #11: Create a custom button to download files

                                                                                                    Hey there! This time, let's see how to create custom buttons to download the files uploaded in the file upload field. Sample use-case A training app has a module that provides the materials for all the available courses. Students can click on the corresponding

                                                                                                  • Batch Tracking Enhancements In Zoho Inventory

                                                                                                    Hello users, We’re excited to announce that we’ve taken batch tracking to a whole new level in Zoho Inventory! We’ve made it more accessible and easier to use than ever. Here’s a quick look at the improvements: 1) A New Way To Create or Modify Batches

                                                                                                  • Zoho Desk Mobile App Year-End Roundup - 2024

                                                                                                    Hello Everyone, Greetings! As you gear up for the festive season, we are excited to share a quick journey into all that is released in 2024! Availability of each feature in iOS and Android released in 2024 are as follows: For more information on the above

                                                                                                  • Task Completion vs Estimated Time

                                                                                                    I need to represent the Estimated Date vs Actual Completion Date for multiple Tasks. How Can I Do this in Zoho Analytics.

                                                                                                  • Upload Field - cannot be checked in rules configuration.

                                                                                                    We wanted to create a process to verify whether the upload fields are empty or not. If empty, then it should deny during submission. We don't want to use the mandatory field setting because in a 10 pager form, some upload field located in page 1 will

                                                                                                  • Is it possible to hide Developer Space for all user in Zoho Projects

                                                                                                    Hello! I am Zoho admin in a company and we want to use Zoho Project to manage projects, but after a few days of testing we are not able to "hide" the Developer Space from all kind of users except the admin. To sum up, I want to hide this for all users.

                                                                                                  • Chat function not working properly

                                                                                                    Ever since upgrading to plus, the chat is all messed up. it is coming up behind the web page so that I cannot see what I'm typing and cannot read replies. I can only see the bottom of the text box at the bottom of the page, and then it is blocked. I've

                                                                                                  • Wrong Time on Exported Records

                                                                                                    Hello, All records in my exported Notes .csv file have the incorrect time for Created Time. They are all 8 hours ahead. I've already verified that my time zone is correct in both Personal Settings and Company Settings. Is there any way to fix this?

                                                                                                  • Sync workspace - table

                                                                                                    I have connected two workspaces and I have imported two different query tables from one workspace to the other one, that was a succes. But now I want to import another query table from the same workspace to the other but I get an error. Why is that? (there

                                                                                                  • Subir o Preço Unitário já acrescido de um valor

                                                                                                    To com um desafio grande, e se alguém conseguir me ajudar, seria ótimo! O que eu preciso é que o na hora de adicionar um item no subformulário dos itens cotados do módulo Orçamentos, o preço de lista do item venha acrescido de 20% automaticamente e de

                                                                                                  • Ring in the New Year with Guided Conversations for Smooth Offline Support

                                                                                                    As we step into the new year, it’s time to refocus, re-energize, and gear up for fresh opportunities. But what about your customers as they begin the year with their own set of challenges or queries to resolve? With Zoho Desk’s Guided Conversations (GC),

                                                                                                  • Exploring SalesIQ's Top Features of 2024: An Insider's Look 🔍

                                                                                                    As we wrap up another year at Zoho SalesIQ, it's time to reflect on how far we've come. This year has been incredible for us in our journey to build a more powerful, flexible, and customer-centric engagement platform. We've introduced several features

                                                                                                  • updateTask Zoho Connect API

                                                                                                    When I do POST request by https://connect.zoho.com/pulse/api/updateTask with parameters scopeID, taskId, title, status and with header Zoho-oauthtoken, I got next response: {'updateTask': {'reason': 'You are not authorized to do this action.', 'result':

                                                                                                  • Next Page