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 model | B2C 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 name | Field type | Specific 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
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 Stage | Probability (%) | Forecast Type | Forecast Category |
---|---|---|---|
Concept development | 90 | Open | Pipeline |
Outline and layout design 1 | 90 | Open | Pipeline |
Review | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Outline and layout design 2 | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Decision-making | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Negotiation | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Project cancelled | 50 | Closed Lost | Omitted |
Design layout finalized | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Animation and graphics | 95 | Closed Lost | Omitted |
Project finalized | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Payment received | 100 | Closed Won | Closed |
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 Stage | Probability (%) | Forecast Type | Forecast Category |
---|---|---|---|
Concept development | 90 | Open | Pipeline |
Outline and layout design | 90 | Open | Pipeline |
Design finalized | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
1st instalment paid | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Animation and graphics | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
2nd instalment paid | 95 | Open | Pipeline |
Project cancelled | 50 | Closed Lost | Omitted |
Project completed | 100 | Closed Won | Closed |
You have successfully built multiple pipelines for different business models. This marks the end of the Multiple Sales Pipeline Tutorial