Sales Pipeline: A Complete Guide for Sales Leaders - Gartner

Building a sales pipeline is harder than ever before as buyers shift toward self-guided, digital buying behaviors. In fact, 75% of B2B buyers prefer rep-free experiences instead of working with a sales rep directly.

To compensate for this shift, many sales leaders demand a higher volume of activity from the sales organization to make up for lower engagement rates — more calls, more emails and more social touches. This can create tension among sellers and marketing partners, not only because bandwidth is limited, but because more touches lead to diminishing returns and potentially annoyed prospects and customers.

Successful sales leaders bring sales and marketing functions together to design orchestrated programs that deliver more value to prospective buyers, increase engagement rates and make better use of available resources.

Orchestration is a key strategy for solving the sales pipeline challenge. Three proven steps enable successful execution and engagement with hard-to-reach buyers:

Step 1. Assign a program owner from sales and marketing. The program owners assigned to design an orchestration plan should be responsible for three core elements:

• Marketing air cover. Marketing delivers digital advertising to key contacts or specific target roles at target accounts across the entirety of the program.

• Pre-outbound. Marketers, executives and/or other nonsellers deliver a set of initial touches via multiple channels (email, phone, social) before sales or sales development begins their primary direct outreach campaign.

• Outbound. Sales or sales development delivers a set of direct outbound touches aimed at driving direct engagement with targets, with the intent of having more in-depth conversations to qualify potential needs and promote a high-value offer.

The most effective orchestration programs require a high level of coordination to ensure that everyone involved stays on message and supports one another to drive meaningful buyer engagement. Clear identification of owners and timing of each planned touch will create a more seamless and impactful experience for the buyer.