To my fellow karmic sales people, my many apologies for not writing for the past few months. It is a non trivial task to come up with something interesting an actually worthwhile to say every week (even for a blow hard like me

I have been actively working on a related project to this blog with great intensity and that has dominated my time (which I will hopefully be able to share with you all soon). But I am back! This week I thought given that on the north american continent we are starting to feel spring fever in earnest, it might make sense to talk a little bit about spring cleaning in our pipelines.

Pipelines tend to accumulate opportunities that seemed great at the time they were entered but now have lost some of their lustre. Its a lot like that great piece of furniture you picked up at the flea market a few years ago with the best intentions of refinishing it and returning it to its past glory. Similarly over the course of the year or years opportunities get entered into the pipeline with great promise and then sit in a corner. So what does a karmic sales person do about these diamonds in the rough?

1. Dust them off
The first an most important thing to do, is pick up the phone and make sure that the contact info you have, and the information you have collected is still accurate. Call and requalify the opportunity, make sure that there is an opportunity. If there isnt, send it to the curb, if there is redouble your commitment to work it.

2. Determine how much work is needed
Build a plan to work the opportunity. Determine what needs to be done, execute on your sales process. Build tasks and reminders so that you can begin to move the prospect forward.

3. Decide when you are going to give up
Set the amount of calls, emails, etc that you are going to do to revive the opportunity. Set gates and date where you will cancel the opportunity if they arent met. If you are unable to get the prospect to a certain stage by a certain date, or if you cant get a hold of a particular person.

4. Do not fall victim to shiny object syndrome
Dont let the opportunity fall off of your radar, as new fresh deals come in. One of the things I have learned from working with some of the most successful sales people is that what seperates the 6 and 7 figure earners is their ability to never lose sight of their long term deals when a shiny object appears.

Pipeline management is the foundation of successful quota achievement. Perhaps its time for a spring cleaning in yours?

Moment of Zen
May we be fearless... from friends and enemies...from known and unknown ... from night and day...May all the directions be our allies.”-Atharva Vedas

P.S. If you are interested in leveraging the karmic philosophy to accelerate your career or business please check out my website http://www.karmiccoach.com , and get Karma working for you!