Module 3.1 - Sales and pipeline management The SENSES project co-funded by the European Union funds (ERDF and IPA) For more information check the official website: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/senses

1. SALES AND PIPELINES MODULE
Business Support Centre Kranj, Slovenia in collaboration
with
University Maribor, Faculty of Organizational Sciences,
Prof. Ph.D. Robert Leskovar
2018
Module 3.1.
Project co-funded by the European
Union funds (ERDF and IPA)

2. Sales and pipelines management - Content
Content
• Introduction: sales vs. marketing
• Identifying and understanding social problem
• Definition of sales
• Defining the product or service
• CAB (Customer Advisory Board) Analysis
• Elements of successful sales
• Sales objectives
• Sales cycle
• Planning the sales in social enterprise
• Recruiting and training of sales personnel
• Analysis of sales channels and potential customers
• Effective use of ICT and digital marketing
• Establishing and maintaining relationship with customer
• Finding supporters and new sales opportunities
• Sales role in new product and service development
• Best practices in Slovenia
• Conclusion
Project co-funded by the European
Union funds (ERDF and IPA)

3. Sales and pipelines management - Introduction
Sales versus marketing
• sales and marketing are closely connected and they both aim to increase revenue
• hard to briefly describe the difference between the two
• we will simply define
– sales as a process which focuses on individuals or small groups and
– marketing targets a larger group or the general public
More serious definition of marketing
• AMA: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,
clients, partners, and society at large.”
Project co-funded by the European
Union funds (ERDF and IPA)

4. Sales and pipelines management –
Identifying and understanding social problem
1. Identifying and understanding social problem
• a social problem is:
– any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large number of people
and
– it is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed
2. Social enterprise is considered as one of possible solutions to address social
problems
3. Social enterprise main aim and dimensions
• main aim: to have a social impact rather than profit
• main dimensions of a social enterprise:
– entrepreneurial,
– social and
– governance
4. Social enterprise needs to start with active selling with ethical pride and high morals

5. Sales and Pipelines Module - Definition of sales
Sales situations
• sales in relationships
• assertive sales
• advisory sales
• expert sales
Sales channels
• personal sale
• door-to-door sale
• customized sales
• phone sales
• telemarketing
• tele media
• digital marketing

6. Sales and Pipelines Module - Defining the product or service
Try to answer
• Are you offering products or services that help your ideal customer overcome some critical
need?
• Have you communicated the features and circumstances that highlight your uniqueness?
• Are your products priced to fit the budget of your potential customers?
Management of social enterprise assures that sales person is trained to answer
• What defines the core business of social enterprise?
• What is the value of the product or service to the customers?
• What are features and main technical specifications of the product or service offered?
• What is the social impact of purchase?
• Why the purchase generates value for customer, social enterprise and society?
• What are typical profiles of customers?
• What are the events, occasions, situations for potential customers to be contacted and
attracted by product or service?

7. Sales and Pipelines Module - CAB (Customer Advisory Board)
Analysis
Social enterprise defines the purpose of customer advisory board (CAB)
• CAB should address the key elements for boosting customers
• select the members of the board to reflect best prospects and important existing
customers
• identify the influencers
• demonstrate that recommendations of CAB will have or already has impact on your
business
• prepare meeting and invest in high quality personal communication
• agenda for CAB meetings would typically include strategic issues, released products
(services), and product (service) roadmap.
Valuable outcomes of CAB meetings
• customer characteristics, their specific expectations and
• gap between CAB expectations and current characteristics of your products or
services

8. Sales and Pipelines Module - Elements of successful sales
Sales staff profile
• decisiveness
• understanding
• empathy
• ability to solve problems.
• "Playing Emotions"
Sellers are those who represent the company
• with an inappropriate relationship can harm the reputation of the company
Customers want to work with
• professional vendors
• distinguished by determination
• understanding
• having empathy
• ability to solve problems

9. Sales and Pipelines Module - Sales objectives
Different approaches in different sales situations
• with a good, loyal customer returning and re-ordering
• with a potential buyer who does not need anything but you managed to organize a
meeting with him
• with a professional buyer whose goal is to get a discount from you
• with a manager looking for advice and help on how to find the best solution
The sales situation is derived from the triple
• buyer
• offer
• seller
Sales objective is always to keep customer or prospect satisfied with the package
sold or with your advice.

10. Sales and Pipelines Module - Sales cycle
Repeate sequence of actions
• pipelinine potential customers,
• check if pre-sales is possible,
• make pre-contact,
• check if sales meeting is possible,
• assess the situation,
• check if offer is reasonable,
• provide the offer,
• make the contract if offer is successful.
Presentation of a single case of sale as flowchart
• start, stop (ovals)
• actions (rectangles)
• decisions (rhombuses)
• flows (arrows)

11. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Planning the sales in social enterprise
The most important parts of a sales plan
• new business acquisition strategies
• new business acquisition tactics
• existing business growth strategies
• existing business growth tactics
Basic term in business planning
• sales quota: planned quantity of products or services in time periods
• sales territory: geographic area, named market segment
• sales channel: distinct paths of sales
• strategy: the way to accomplish your goal
• tactics: actions to support strategy
Techniques to prepare sales plan
• brainstorming
• statistical forecasting
• expert opinions
• new business acquisition strategies and tactics

12. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Recruiting and training of sales personnel
Main responsibilities of sales personnel
• finding potential customers
• working with potential customers
• making business
• caring for customers to buy again and to buy more
Well trained sales personnel are characterized by
• can play the role of the buyer
• have a desire to realize sales
• have the motivation to meet the needs of customers and
• can accept the rejection.
Recruiting and traning process is focused to discover and improve
• ability
• motivation
• creation of opportunities for individuak and social enterprise
Content of the training
• general topics: social enterprise mission, organizational culture, important legislation
• domain specific skills and knowledge

13. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Analysis of sales channels and potential customers
Present actual sales and planned sales
• use spreadsheets, tables, graphs, drill-down feature, sorting, statistical analysis
• if available use CRM tools
Sales channels analysis addresses
• personal selling, sales outsourcing, retail, automated retail, ecommerce, resellers, white
label sales (your products and services branded by resellers), direct marketing (by
telephone, mail, door-to-door or digital communication tools such as email), value added
resellers, original equipment manufacturer, wholesale, export and agents.
Digital channels
• web, search machines, communication (email or messaging apps), mobile apps, on-line
events (auctions, webinars, videoconference workshops etc.), digital media (streaming
video and music services, DVD) and finally games.
• Some key digital channel indicators include: quantity of sales, orders, average order value,
buyers/visitors, buying sessions/all sessions, clicks, bounce rate, unique visitors, new
visitor percent, average session length and page views / session.

14. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Effective use of ICT and digital marketing
ICT as a vehicle for change
• spreadsheets
• web shop
• BI Tools
• CRM
• social networks
• telework
ICT for people with disabilities
• text-to-voice generators, voice-to-text convertors,
• magnifiers, amplifier
• bigger screens, headphone sets,
• adapted keyboards and pointer devices,
• eye trackers
• can be used by sellers and buyers

15. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Establishing and maintaining relationship with customer
Existing customers and prospects
• rule of thumb: 60-70% chance to sell to an existing customer
• rule of thumb: 5- 20% chance to sell to a prospect
Establishning and maintaining a customer relationship include
• listen to your customers
• be genuine to your customers
• create, engage and use your “ambassadors.
• success of your customers celebrates your product or service
• communicate your customer regularly
Exceeding expectation of your customer will reflect in good relationship.

16. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Finding supporters and new sales opportunities
Supporters are volunteers whose belief match the mission of your social enterprise
• one CEO of a successful B2B software company said: “Give away your product for free three
times so you’ll have three great references”. That’s how you can start building the network of your
supporters.
Review the log of purchases, find a pattern
• contact your customer when the time comes to buy
• start scoring your leads
First customers
• huge advocates that will drive further sales
• maintain the relationships
• sales is not an easy job and it is vital for the next round of fundraising
Tips for finding supporters and new sales opportunities
• host a themed event, test Facebook ads for your social enterprise, utilize email marketing, make
your portfolio of products inclusive, create photo-friendly opportunities, be good to your neighbors.
reach out to local media, lead a community fundraising campaign
• good relations with local people will open the doors of your supporters

17. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Sales role in new product and service development
How to involve sales personnel in new product and service development
• sales personnel can bring echo of customer voice
• sales personnel can provide valuable hints for new product or service development
New product/service versus innovation
• new product development is not always innovation
• some practitioners consider innovation as any activity which enterprise did not perform yet
• the essence of innovation is added value of the product or service
Good practices in new product and service development
• sales personnel may act as an interface between customer’s needs and developer’s ideas
• well trained sales personnel sometimes specify the customer requirements more precisely than
customers itself
• truly innovative companies foster a collaborative atmosphere that allows access to the product
development team engineers, manufacturers, sales and marketing personnel, financial and legal
department
• sales personnel is additionally motivated if they were invited in new product or service
development
• sales personnel tell the customer that they are not “just another sales person” but a trusted and
valued consultant that has their best interests and success in mind.

18. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Best practices in Slovenia
Social entrepreneurship in Slovenia
• specifically regulated in legislation (Law on social entrepreneurship, Official Gazette of
Republic of Slovenia, no. 20/2011)
• total number of social enterprises in RS was 266 (13. January 2017)
• the most frequent branches or businesses are: membership organizations (48), education
(42), business consulting (13), professional and disabled associations (13), trade (11),
research and development in social studies (9), social care (9) and healthcare (8). There
are also social enterprises in agriculture, farming, production of goods, tourism, arts,
humanities, humanitarian organizations brokering, ICT, engineering, sport, leisure and
exhibitions.
Best practice example – Institution for drug addicts healing and support to
drug addicts and their relatives “Fundacija Vincenca Drakslerja“ has seven stores
scattered in Gorenjska region
– ŠTACUNA PRISTAVA; Center for refurbishing goods.
– ŠTACUNA ZARICA; Collecting centre for vaste material.
– KR"ŠTACUNA; General store.
– KR"ZAŠIJ; Sewing workshop.
– ŠTACUNA ROKODELC, Handcrafts store.
– KR"PISKR
– ŠTACUNA BRVAČ, Center for refurbishing goods.

19. Sales and Pipelines Module –
Conclusion
Lessons to learn in sales and pipeline management
• Every social enterprise has to understand „What are they selling?“,
„Why are they selling it?“, „Who are they selling it to?“ and „How are
they selling it?“
• The starting point in every social enterprise is always the mission.
• It’s about selling a product and a mission together.
• Your brand is your reputation or your credibility.
• Show your social impact!
• You have to reach your target with the most compelling messages
multiple times in as many different media as your resources allow.
• Experts agree that there is nothing more important than understanding
what your customers want - by asking them - and using their voice to
communicate the brand.

20. Sales and Pipelines Module
Thank you for your attention!
Project co-funded by the European
Union funds (ERDF and IPA)