The 3 Steps of Pipeline Management In Manufacturing Sales

Posted by Leo Boon Yeow on Dec 14, 2020 1:42:00 PM
Leo Boon Yeow
Find me on:

Within the framework of manufacturing sales is a wide variety of sales processes, needs, and challenges. A contract manufacturer will have unique requirements that will differ greatly from a precision engineering company. Sales cycles can be long and drawn-out, or they can be straightforward upsell opportunities that require significantly less resources.

However, there is one thing that all manufacturing sales teams always need: the ability to project their earnings. Every sales rep needs visibility into their closed sales, and every sales manager needs visibility into the rep's pipeline.

This requires a digital sales platform that performs intuitive pipeline management. With such a platform, opportunities and leads can be tracked across lifecycle phases and key touchpoints.


Would you like to explore the potential of digital sales for your manufacturing business? Download our Guide to Accelerate Manufacturing Sales"!


Importing Leads from Unstructured Data

In manufacturing firms still using legacy systems, sales reps need to work with sales reps work with large spreadsheets or CAD files. These are unstructured data sets that can be result in time-consuming manual work. They can also be outdated, and require manual updates via emails. 

This manual way of doing things is not by choice. However, manufacturing businesses are facing challenges digitalizing their sales process, because of siloed systems. Sales reps who try to make sense of their data, need to navigate pages of emails and files to gather the necessary dataan inefficient way of doing things to say the least. 

Because 80% of the data in companies is unstructured, organizations need to understand the types of unstructured data they are accumulating and the best ways to process and store this data for business advantages.” – TechRepublic

In this complex scenario, a manufacturing-focused digital sales platform is the ideal solution. It is fully integrated with back-end systems (ERP), and has CRM and CPQ capabilities that are designed to handle the complexities of manufacturing sales. 

A digital sales platform with built-in CRM features can organize unstructured data, and help sales reps extract the most profitable leads automatically. 

From contact information to Auto-CAD designs, to configuration and quotes produced; a great manufacturing digital sales platform should meet all these manufacturing requirements.

Managing Leads through Pre-defined stages and Steps

With a digital sales platform, sales reps can segment leads, and prioritize each lead according to its the lifecycle stage. It can also set pre-defined stages and steps that each sales rep needs to go through to close a sale. These stages can differ across companies, even those in the same manufacturing vertical.

Sales managers have the flexibility to define each stage according to their unique requirements, and build the sales funnel that guides each rep towards success. 

This helps sales reps prioritize their daily sales activities, and will allow them to focus on the hottest, most profitable opportunities for the quarter.

If there are approval stages or engineering input is required, these pre-defined stages can be set up within the system to help keep everyone accountable, on time, and on track. 

Complete Visibility into Sales Pipeline for Managers

One of the most critical capabilities of a digital sales platform is to improve pipeline management. Its tight integration with the back-end ensures only the most accurate and updated data. This data can help ensure forecast accuracy for sales managers while helping sales reps keep their pipeline neatly organized with the most appropriate leads.

A digital sales platform will also provide powerful dashboards so that sales teams can extract information at a glance. For the most accurate forecasts, manufacturers can use probability-based forecasting. It allows for weighted measurement of opportunitiescrucial for sales reps, who might be able to hit their targets with one large sale.

Using a digital sales platform, data can be analyzed to create sales management dashboards. Sales performance and activity can be monitored easily, eliminating the need for lengthy meetings that eat into a sales rep’s precious selling time.

Sales managers can also be assured of periodic updates, thanks to the digital sales platform's data analysis capabilities. Sales managers can easily stay updated on the latest opportunities, and projections of recurring revenue and variances in the dashboard.  


A digital sales platform can help manage, and even improve your manufacturing sales pipeline. Download our new guide to find out more.
Download the full Guide
Leo Boon Yeow

Written by Leo Boon Yeow

Boon Yeow – is passionate about all things tech. His background as a journalist helps him understand complex B2B technology. His mission is to translate it into fact-based, comprehensible stories that help manufacturers improve their businesses.

Leave a Comment

Jump to a Section

Sign Up For Our Newsletter