{"id":2034,"date":"2009-06-02T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-02T22:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/06\/funnel-or-sieve\/"},"modified":"2009-06-02T17:42:39","modified_gmt":"2009-06-02T22:42:39","slug":"funnel-or-sieve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/06\/funnel-or-sieve\/","title":{"rendered":"Funnel Or Sieve?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This Selling Power article title made me laugh \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?usr=SP9477331254&amp;NLid=1&amp;Layout_ID=899&amp;ARTid=3995&amp;nDate=June+1%2C+2009\" target=\"_blank\">Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve?<\/a>\u00a0 I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word \u201csieve\u201d carries a special horror.\u00a0 That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son.<\/p>\n<p>My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant.<\/p>\n<p>Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement.\u00a0 This entire graph is valuable:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It&#8217;s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says it costs about one-sixth the amount of money to nurture a lead that has fallen out of the funnel than it does to find a brand new one. Most sales managers know this but are so quarter-driven that funnel leakage tends to hold a low priority on their to-do lists. And until recently, that&#8217;s worked just fine. Prior to the recession, sales teams could &#8220;focus on the hot stuff and they&#8217;d make their numbers. Well, now there&#8217;s not enough hot stuff,&#8221; says Karam. In light of all this, he adds, &#8220;there&#8217;s been a lot of attention recently on recovering leakage and re-mining or re-farming leads.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Finding qualified leads is an expensive process which is why I focus extensively on qualifying ability.\u00a0 When you are hiring salespeople, there is no greater urgency then to discover the candidate\u2019s qualifying ability.\u00a0 It is the backbone of successful selling.<\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t agree more with the statement that most sales managers are aware of &#8220;funnel leakage\u201d due to their quarterly revenue responsibilities.\u00a0 I would go further and say a percentage of the forecast error is funnel leakage and the other is blue-sky forecasting.\u00a0 Many a rep has been known to submit an inflated forecast in the hope of keeping their job for another quarter.\u00a0 I suspect the salesperson is simply buying time with the hope that they will close a large deal during that bonus time.\u00a0 It rarely happens.<\/p>\n<p>Re-farming leads is a valuable exercise for any sales department in any economy.\u00a0 Again, the costs associated with new lead development are far greater than re-farming leads.\u00a0 One question I often ask sales candidates is for them to provide me with an example of when they went back to close a \u201cdead\u201d lead.\u00a0 This question provides some insight into the candidate\u2019s tenacity, strategy and ability\u2026and it is easy to spot a fabricated story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This Selling Power article title made me laugh \u2013 Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve?\u00a0 I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word \u201csieve\u201d carries a special horror.\u00a0 That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son. My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant. Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement.\u00a0 This entire graph is valuable: It&#8217;s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/06\/funnel-or-sieve\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[1748,257,184,1332,1236,650],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring-salespeople","category-sales-techniques","tag-hiring","tag-hiring-sales","tag-qualifying","tag-re-farming-lead","tag-sales-forecast","tag-sales-funnel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-wO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1567,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/redefining-the-sales-funnel\/","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":0},"title":"Redefining The Sales Funnel","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This video from Selling Power discusses a unique look at the traditional sales funnel.\u00a0 The author in the video states that the sales funnel has to be thrown out and redesigned based on the prospect's process.\u00a0 The 4 minute video is an excellent discussion on this topic: If you have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1753,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/10\/6-tips-for-sales-managers\/","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":1},"title":"6 Tips For Sales Managers","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"October 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes these quick tip articles provide little usable information.\u00a0 This article at Eyes on Sales is not one of those articles - there are excellent suggestions within the 6 tips (pay special attention to number 1): Lack of Process - The cure for this problem is to take your time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":488,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/12\/disqualifying-prospects\/","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":2},"title":"Disqualifying Prospects","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Selling entails many skills and aptitudes, but one thing that is often overlooked is the ability to disqualify prospects. Selling Power offers up this article - How to Disqualify Leads - which provides a thorough explanation of techniques. First, a great image that I have not heard used in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":594,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/01\/the-fine-art-of-stalling\/","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":3},"title":"The Fine Art of Stalling","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Let me think it over.\" \"I'll get back to you.\" \"We'll take a look at it.\" If you have been in sales more than a day, you are familiar with these sayings. They are the prospect's attempts to \"stall\" a buying decision. These comments are trouble for any salesperson who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1604,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/secret-traits-of-top-salespeople\/","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":4},"title":"Secret Traits Of Top Salespeople","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"SalesHQ.com offers up an article that discusses the \"secrets\" of top sales achievers.\u00a0 A couple of the secrets: \u2022 Position themselves with the real decision-makers and avoid those without \u2018approval power\u2019. They are able to first identify and then access the formal decision making unit. \u2022 Recognize when to treat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":773,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/ad-writing-essentials\/","url_meta":{"origin":2034,"position":5},"title":"Ad Writing Essentials","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"March 24, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past week there have been more articles than I care to count on how to write an effective job ad - none of which are written with sales positions in mind. When it comes to sales, you need to think a bit differently. Let me give you an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Employment Ads&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2036,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions\/2036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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