Practical Sales Training™ > How To Convert > Client Flow
What is it?
Businesses monitor cash flow – how much money they have on hand and coming in, but pipeline (client flow) is another way to look at it. By taking a longer term approach we can forecast potential income from the deals in our pipeline that haven’t yet landed, to give us a better understanding of our position.
Why does it work?
It works because it helps you to understand when you might get paid or require certain resources within your business. There is some guesswork and estimating at play, but it’s better to have a roughly calculated plan than nothing at all. The main thing here is the dimension of TIME. You may well have a pipeline of potential deals, but no real understanding of when they may proceed – its the time element that helps make forecasting a little bit easier.
How can you use it?
Firstly you need to have an understanding of your client speed. For me it’s about 12 weeks.
With that understood, you can then forecast 12 weeks from the date you first met or were introduced to a prospect.
If you couple this with the value of the deal and your perceived likelihood of closing the deal, you end up with a more accurate view of how much you might make over what timeframe.
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