Nimble CRM for B2B Salespeople - How to Level Out the Rollercoaster -

Selling has a well earned reputation of being a rollercoaster ride and, by default, so goes your paycheck especially if your earnings are based on commission. Nimble CRM can improve your sales and your bank account!

Part of this problem might be based on a lack of consistent prospecting. This may be pointing to selling skills and/or training. Another culprit is just not knowing what you have in your pipeline and whether or not you have enough in there, let alone if what you do have is even remotely accurate.

“More” is not always the answer. I prefer to focus on ratios. Fewer and better activities that will yield higher success rates.

Pipelines and Deals in Nimble CRM

Let’s look at a pipeline. Go to the “Deals” tab. Your pipeline should reflect your sales process. You can create your own pipeline, stages, and the maximum number of days that it should stay in a given stage. In fact, you can create multiple different pipelines! Your pipeline(s) needs to be accurate, realistic, and well maintained.

If your process is successful, it allows you to duplicate that and to do so consistently. It allows you to create a predictable revenue stream. You can drag deals forward, backward, or out (won or lost), and can also delete them.

Let’s take a closer look at a deal in Nimble CRM. Here you can see the various fields …

Give your deal a name
Provide a projected dollar value
Set a projected close date
Assign a percentage chance of closing
Identify which stage the deal is currently in
You can also associate this deal with multiple contacts

Your percentage chance of closing is used to calculate a “weighted value”. A $10K deal at 50% = $5K. I tie the percentage chance directly to the deal stage. This requires a little more work but it yields great accuracy.

When you move a deal to another stage, you will need to edit that deal to update the percentage chance of closing. If you do not do this, that percentage will remain static irrespective of what stage the deal is in.

Note that deals can be created from a contact record, from within your pipeline view, and even from the “Deals” widget (providing you have added this) that is found on your “Today Page”.

Forecasts

Let’s take a quick look at the “Reports” tab. You have three views … your dashboard, forecasted deals, and a deals history. Data can be filtered to show you, your team, or any individual team member.

You can see data for a pre-defined period of time or you can specify a date range. Note the “weighted value” of deals. When I am looking at my forecast, I use the weighted value and that has never failed me!

Best Practices – Watch your pipeline! Is this deal in the right stage or does it need to be moved forward, backward, or out? Is the value correct? Is the close date still accurate? Is the percentage close probability accurate or is it a pipe dream?

Why is this deal stuck? You can set the maximum number of days in each stage before Nimble will alert you to these (Nimble CRM will change to the color of the deal from gray to yellow to red when this happens). How can we move it forward? Your pipeline will become the basis of your forecast, your expected revenues.

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Craig M. Jamieson

Managing Member at Adaptive Business Services

Craig M. Jamieson is a lifelong B2B salesperson, manager, owner, and a networking enthusiast. Adaptive Business Services provides solutions related to the sales professional. We are a Nimble CRM Solution Partner. Craig also conducts training and workshops primarily in social selling and communication skills. Craig is also the author of "The Small Business' Guide to Social CRM", now available on Amazon!