Multiple Sales Pipeline for Software Industry

Objective: Improve conversion and manage sales process in B2B and B2C business with the help of multiple pipelines.

Scenario: An animation and design company offers graphic design and art conceptualization services to different brands. They have a very diverse clientele ranging from wealth mangers to hospitals to musicians to home-based business. Their process is simple 4-step approach:

  • Research
  • Planning
  • Designing
  • Production

Research starts with brainstorming to get a clear idea of what the client wants. Based on which, the designers create a blueprint and some rough sketches to add visual interest. This gives the client an idea of the brand conceptualization. Once the concept is finalized, a design is prepared that eventually goes into production after client's approval.

Problem?

The process is simple with a clear set of activities that the developers and designers need to perform at every stage of the project. The challenge is to:

  • Keep track of the process when the clients from different business types such as start-ups, mid-level enterprise or enterprise-level approach them..
  • The company has a standard number of design iterations that they offer without any additional cost, however changes beyond that count are charged at 0.5% of the total project cost for each iteration.
  • The process is longer for enterprise-level customers due to multiple design iterations, price negotiations, and the involvement of stakeholders. Therefore the decision-making process takes longer compared to a start-up or mid-level business.
  • In B2C businesses, the clients are allowed to make payments in two instalments so they require tracking and updation of payments and invoice.

The stages involved in the B2B and B2C business models are:

B2B business modelB2C business model

Concept development

Concept development

Outline and layout design 1

Outline and layout design

Review

Design finalized

Outline and layout design 2

1st instalment paid

Decision-making

Animation and graphics

Negotiation

2nd instalment paid

Design layout finalized

Project completed

Animation and graphics

--

Project finalized

--

Payment received

--

They want to improve the overall management of their sales process, payment tracking, and customer satisfaction.

Let's see how creating different pipelines for each business model can help mitigate the problem.

Solution

Since their sales cycle depends on the type of business the client is, using multiple pipelines based on business type will:

  • Give clear visualization of the different sales stages in a business type
  • Improve forecast estimations
  • Automate sales activities at every stage to speed up the process
  • Set workflows to send automatic notifications to customers and internal teams as each stage progresses.
  • Monitor sales velocity by determining the average time taken to close a project
  • Set up follow-up activities to increase the sales velocity

Now that you understand the benefits of multiple pipelines, let us proceed with creation of multiple pipelines. Below are the pre-requisites to setup the CRM account.

  • Pre-requisites
  • Pipelines for different business models
  •  

Create custom fields in the Deals module

Add fields to store information like project type and number, upload documents, budget, etc.

Tip: If needed, you can rename some of the system-defined fields. You can also rename the deals module to suit your business terminology.

1. Under Setup > Customization > Modules > and click the Deals module to open the layout editor.

2. Drag and drop New section to the layout.

3. Drag and drop the following fields to the new section.

 

Field nameField typeSpecific properties

Project type

Multi-select picklist

Options: Design, Graphics and animation, Website design

Business type

Picklist

Options: B2B, B2C

Budget

Integer

Encrypted field

Additional information

Multi-line

--

Design elements

Single line

Mandatory

Expected date of completion

Date

Mandatory

Payment

Picklist

Options: Full payment, 1st instalment, 2nd instalment

  • Pipeline for the B2B process
  • Pipeline for the B2C process
  •  
Part 1. Create deal or project development stages for B2B model.

The sales stages for the B2B process must first be added to the Deals module.

  • 1. Navigate to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > Deals.
  • 2. Click the More icon and select Stage Probability Mapping.
  • 3. Click on the existing deal stage fields and edit their values.
    You can click on the + icon to add new fields.
  • 5. Enter the probability value, forecast type, and forecast category for each stage as shown in the table below:
Deal StageProbability (%)Forecast TypeForecast Category

Concept development

90

Open

Pipeline

Outline and layout design 190OpenPipeline
Review95OpenPipeline
Outline and layout design 295OpenPipeline
Decision-making95OpenPipeline
Negotiation95OpenPipeline
Project cancelled50Closed LostOmitted
Design layout finalized95OpenPipeline
Animation and graphics95Closed LostOmitted
Project finalized95OpenPipeline
Payment received100Closed WonClosed
Part 2. Build the sales pipeline
Part 3. Additional configuration for automating the sales activities
Part 1. Create deal or project development stages for B2C model.

The sales stages for the B2C process must first be added to the Deals module.

  • 1. Navigate to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > Deals.
  • 2. Click the More icon and select Stage Probability Mapping.
  • 3. Click on the existing deal stage fields and edit their values.
    You can click on the + icon to add new fields.
  • 5. Enter the probability value, forecast type, and forecast category for each stage as shown in the table below:
Deal StageProbability (%)Forecast TypeForecast Category

Concept development

90

Open

Pipeline

Outline and layout design90OpenPipeline
Design finalized95OpenPipeline
1st instalment paid95OpenPipeline
Animation and graphics95OpenPipeline
2nd instalment paid95OpenPipeline
Project cancelled50Closed LostOmitted
Project completed100Closed WonClosed
Part 2. Build the sales pipeline
Part 3. Additional configuration for automating the sales activities

You have successfully built multiple pipelines for different business models. This marks the end of the Multiple Sales Pipeline Tutorial