REDESIGN YOUR SALES STAGES WITH DECISION MILESTONES

Your sales stages aren’t just placeholders—they’re the backbone of your revenue engine. To move deals efficiently through the pipeline, each stage must align with a clear buyer decision. This guide will help you redesign your sales stages to create clarity, reduce friction, and drive consistent progression.

1. Map the Buyer's Journey

• Start with the Buyer: Align each sales stage with a specific decision your buyer needs to make, such as agreeing to a discovery meeting, committing to a demo, or approving a proposal.

• Key Buyer Milestones: Identify critical moments in the journey, such as identifying a problem, evaluating solutions, and securing buy-in from stakeholders.

• Avoid Seller-Centric Stages: Focus on the buyer’s actions, not just your team’s internal tasks. For example, replace “Proposal Sent” with “Proposal Alignment.”

2. Align Sales Stages with Decision Milestones

• Define Exit Criteria: Ensure each stage has clear, measurable conditions that indicate the buyer is ready to move forward. For example:
  • Discovery: Key decision-maker confirms pain points and goals.
  • Demo: Buyer agrees to explore a tailored solution.
  • Proposal: Stakeholders confirm alignment on key terms.

• Use a Framework like SPICED: Structure stages around Situation, Pain, Impact, Critical Event, and Decision to ensure alignment with the buyer’s journey.

3. Diagnose and Fix Common Stage Items

• Stage Stalls: If deals are getting stuck in a particular stage, examine the exit criteria. Are they too vague or difficult to achieve?

• Stage Creep: If deals linger in multiple stages, clarify transitions and enforce accountability for progression.

• Stage Gaps: If key buyer decisions aren’t reflected in the stages, add or adjust as needed to cover the entire journey.

4. Create Playbooks for Each Stage

• Actionable Guidance: Define the specific actions reps should take in each stage, such as asking qualifying questions or preparing tailored demos.

• Buyer Signals: Include key indicators that suggest readiness to progress, such as a signed NDA or participation from decision-makers.

• Objection Handling: Equip reps with tools to address common concerns that arise in each stage.

5. Train Your Team

• Workshops and Role-Playing: Run training sessions to introduce the redesigned stages and practice handling transitions between them.

• Real-Time Coaching: Observe reps’ pipeline reviews and provide feedback on how to apply the new stage criteria.

• Feedback Loop: Regularly gather input from the team to refine stages and criteria over time.

6. Measure and Optimize

• Track Stage Metrics: Monitor metrics such as stage-to-stage conversion rates, time spent in each stage, and win rates by stage.

• Spot Trends: Use data to identify which stages are working well and where bottlenecks persist.

• Iterate Based on Insights: Refine stages and exit criteria based on what’s driving progression and what’s stalling deals.

References

1. Winning by Design: The Bowtie Model Explained - A guide to aligning sales stages with decision milestones.

2. HubSpot: A Beginner's Guide to Demand Generation - Practical tips for managing and optimizing sales stages.

3. Sales Hacker - Insights on diagnosing and fixing pipeline bottlenecks.