Using the pipeline board: greater control over your quotes

You have several quotations pending, but you can’t immediately tell which customer is still waiting for a phone call. Meanwhile, new enquiries come in and an older quotation slips into the background without you realising. Using a pipeline board helps you see all your current opportunities in one place.

It’s not a complicated sales system. It’s a clear board with columns showing the status of each sales process: new, appointment scheduled, quote sent, won or lost. This way, you can keep track of your quotes without having to rely on your memory, diary or inbox.

What is a pipeline board for specialist firms?

A pipeline board is a digital board on which each ongoing opportunity is assigned a single card. Each card is linked to a customer and tracks the journey from the initial enquiry to the final outcome.

For a specialist business, a sales process often involves more than just a quotation. Perhaps someone rings first for information, followed by a site measurement appointment, with the quotation coming only afterwards. Or a customer gives their approval straight away without you having drawn up a formal quotation first. You’ll want to be able to keep track of both situations.

In ‘Klantly’, a card is created when you:

• draw up a quotation;
• schedule an appointment with a contact;
• manually add a lead to the pipeline board.

The card then contains the quotation, appointments and other details relating to that process. The customer card remains the place where you can view the entire history. This is useful if you manage customer data centrally and a colleague needs to take over a process.

When is it useful to use a pipeline board?

A pipeline board becomes useful as soon as you have more opportunities than you can easily keep track of. In practice, this is often the case when you have around ten open quotations or processes running simultaneously. Not because you suddenly have to sell differently, but because small details tend to fall by the wayside.

Without an overview, you tend to focus on whatever demands attention the most: a customer calling, a job due tomorrow or a new enquiry. A quotation sent last week that hasn’t yet received a response won’t shout out to you. That’s precisely where revenue can get stuck.

With a sales pipeline overview, you can quickly see, for example:

• which quotations are still outstanding;
• which stage each opportunity is at;
• which cards haven’t been moved for a long time;
• how much value is on the board at each stage;
• which deals have been won or lost.

A board is no substitute for your professional expertise. Above all, it ensures you don’t have to remember who you still need to ring. Tasks and automations can help with this, but the conversation with a hesitant customer remains a human endeavour. For regular follow-ups on open quotations, you can also track them using reminders and tasks.

How do you set up pipeline stages that suit your work?

The columns on your pipeline board are called stages. You set them up yourself, so that the board matches the way you work. A building contractor has different steps to an installation company or a business that sells sun blinds.

Don’t think in terms of standard sales terminology, but rather in terms of the moments when you take action or when a customer makes a decision. For a conservatory company, for example, the stages could be: new enquiry, survey scheduled, quote sent, follow-up call, won and lost.

For each stage, you decide the name, colour and order yourself. You can also set a probability percentage and choose whether a stage counts towards the pipeline value. Stages that signify a win or a loss should, of course, be labelled as such on the board.

The most important thing is not to create too many stages. If you add a separate column for every minor action, the board will simply become another administrative chore. Only make a distinction if you handle it differently. For example, a card in ‘quote sent’ requires follow-up, whilst a card in ‘survey planned’ mainly requires a proper appointment confirmation.

How do you calculate pipeline value?

Every card on the board has a value. If a quote is attached, that value is usually derived automatically from the quote amount. For a lead without a quote, you can enter an expected value yourself.

The amounts in each column together make up your pipeline value. By applying the probability percentage for each stage, you can weight the expected value more realistically. A quotation that has just been sent will then be weighted differently from a customer who has already given verbal approval.

Suppose you have a quotation for €8,000 in the ‘quotation sent’ stage. For that stage, you set a probability of 40 per cent. For your planning, that probability is then counted as a weighted value of €3,200. If you later move the card to ‘approval expected’ with an 80 per cent probability, the weighted value will also change.

This makes a pipeline value useful for major decisions, such as purchasing materials, keeping space in your schedule, or determining whether you’ll need extra help soon. But don’t view it as a prediction. A client may still pull out, a project may be postponed, and a probability percentage remains your estimate.

You should therefore use the value as a rough guide, not as money that’s already in your account. A well-maintained board provides direction; it does not offer certainty.

How can you spot dormant quotations and ongoing opportunities more quickly?

The power of a pipeline board lies not just in the figures. Above all, you can see what isn’t moving. A card that has been in the same stage for weeks stands out much more quickly than a quote in a full inbox.

Take an installation company with twelve active projects. On Monday morning, the owner sees on the board that three cards are still marked ‘quote sent’. One quote was only sent on Friday. A second was viewed last week. The third has been there for almost three weeks without any movement.

The owner first calls the customer who has already viewed the quotation. It turns out they are still undecided about the chosen option and want a minor adjustment. The previous quotation appears not to have been received. Thanks to the board, the owner can see not only that there is work pending, but also which conversation requires the most attention right now.

In ‘Klantly’, you can also see when a customer first opens the quote link. This makes follow-ups more targeted: you don’t call on a whim, but know whether someone has already seen the quote. On the page about creating and sending quotes, you can see how the quote, customer and pipeline board remain linked.

Do make sure to keep the board up to date. Move a card as soon as there’s a significant change, and ensure that won or lost deals are actually placed in the correct stage. A pipeline board that hasn’t been updated for months mainly provides a false sense of security.

Would you like to discover how Klantly can help you organise your quotes, clients and current opportunities? Get started for free and take your time to see what suits your business.