So much emphasis is placed on new revenue growth ---revenue targets, quotas, and new deals. But what about the revenue that slowly leaks away under the line of visibility? In our years of experience working with clients to maximize revenue potential, we’ve sealed many revenue leaks. Understanding where these revenue leaks are showing up in your sales process will help you to reach your next phase of growth much more quickly.

#1. Renewal deals not actioned in time.

"Satisfied customers are more likely to upgrade or add services and are less likely to cancel." [Source: Mckinsey]

Renewal opportunities are consistently missed as it is left to the individual sales reps to manage. In situations where there is high volume or peak season, this becomes difficult to manage. 

A huge revenue opportunity, if all renewals are actioned in time. However, in most cases gets missed either due to technology capabilities, technical complexity, lack of data, or integration between key systems such as sales, operations, and customer service.

Are your technology and data giving you the competitive advantage that you need to help prioritize and act on time? 

#2. Win rates, tracking and optimization not prioritized

"The average win rate for sales reps is 47%, while the top and elite performers close at 67% and 73% respectively." [Source: RAIN Group Center]

For example, the revenue potential of a 10 million dollar sales pipeline at 47% vs. 67% is a 2 Million dollar difference. Massive revenue potential can be realized with a focus on win rate optimization.

To improve the win rate, clarity is important. For managers, directors, or VP sales, clarity allows them to take companies to the next revenue milestone. This allows leadership to plan for appropriate coaching opportunities for the teams. 

Are you able to answer why someone's close rate is lower compared to the average? What are the key revenue activities that help to close at a higher rate?  

#3. Lack of pipeline clarity

"24% of forecasted deals go dark." [Source: LinkedIn]

Most sales pipelines have a huge amount of opportunities or deals that are inaccurate. Pipeline management is cumbersome and time-consuming. Accurate real-time sales forecasting is elusive. 

By improving pipeline visibility, you can prevent turnover at your accounts and also your teams while also freeing up more time for strategic focus.

Are you able to rely on your forecast to paint an accurate picture of what is to come? How much time are you spending managing your pipeline?

#4. Lack of nurturing content at each stage of the buying journey

"95% of buyers buy from someone who gave them content at each stage of the Buyer's Journey." [Source: DemandGen Report]

The buyer journey is equally important for sales teams as much as it is for marketing teams. Understanding this helps to surface leads with high intent at the right time.  Forrester's research indicates that the conversation with sales reps is still a strong source of buyer influence.

“57% of the purchase decision is already complete before the customer even calls the supplier.” [Source: CEB]

Enables a higher close rate and closes costly leaks that typically leave leads under-utilized. We have observed a 50% - 75% increase in the warm qualified lead pool when appropriate content is delivered at each stage of the buying process.

Are you able to use your data to surface high intent leads?

#5. Lead-hand off delayed or not actioned in time

"50% of leads go with the vendor that responds first." {Source: HubSpot]

Data suggests 5 minutes is the “golden window” that gives you the highest chances of converting that lead. However, most companies are slow to respond, only a few respond within 5 hours or even the same day. This presents a huge missed opportunity.

"The average B2B business’s lead response time is 42 hours." [Source: HBR]

How quickly does your team follow up on leads? Do you have a manual lead hand-off process? Do you have data that allows you to measure response time? 

#6. Under-utilized qualified leads accumulating in the systems

"Avg. cost per lead for business services is $198. It is even higher if you generated it at an event, $811." [Source: HubSpot]

There is a cost involved with lead generation. Year over year, companies are actively generating new leads, and old leads continue to accumulate. The problem, old leads get ignored. 

With the right intelligence and data, you can prioritize, nurture and get them to conversion a lot more effectively. 

Do you know the cost of the leads in your system? Are you able to use data to prioritize quality leads in the system regardless of when they were generated?

We use data to help our clients plug revenue leaks and accelerate growth. Get on the fast track to leak-proof revenue growth.

About Digital Magenta Inc., 

We are a revenue growth consulting firm. Our team of experts helps companies maximize their revenue potential and build a competitive advantage by setting a data-informed foundation to reach their next revenue milestone.