Sales Pipeline
One of the questions we are often asked is how to set up the sales pipeline in Tall Emu CRM. There are no hard and fast rules for exactly how you should do this since every business is different, however there are a few setup structures that we see a lot.
Follow the information below and set up a sales pipeline that works for you. You can adapt and customise depending on how your sales cycle operates. For more information, you can also see our Videos section on Sales Pipelines and our Help Articles sections on Sales and Opportunities.
Order Taking
If your customers call you and place orders directly, then there is no real pipeline in place. In this scenario, enter your orders as Sales Orders in Tall Emu as they come in.
If you have an online store, we currently support automatic download of orders via Woo Commerce (other carts could be available on request).
Quote and Sell – Fast Sales
If potential customers call in requesting quotes that are expected to convert quickly without too much complexity, then the best approach is to use the standard quoting module.
This is great for B2B sales, B2C sales where you are quoting line-items or manufacture-to-order.
The sales process becomes:
- Generate the quote in Tall Emu.
- Use the follow-up date to chase the quote as required.
- Log sales activity directly on the quote timeline.
- Use the attachments feature to store additional documents.
- Either convert the quote to a sales order on win, or close the quote on loss.
Pipeline – Slower Sales
Many clients have longer sales processes that go through a number of sales stages which may take months (or years) to progress from initial enquiry to acceptance. These stages can include things like needs analysis, product scoping (which may require one or more meetings), followed by one or more quotes.
In this case, the Opportunity Module is the right choice – allowing you to set up a classic ‘Sales Pipeline’. You can configure stages that the sale must pass through, from initial enquiry through to win or loss.
The sales process becomes:
- Generate an Opportunity in Tall Emu, link it to the customer and set the required stage.
- Use the follow-up date to plan follow up activity as required.
- Log sales activity directly on the opportunity timeline.
- Use the attachments feature to store additional documentation.
- Move the Opportunity through the stages as the deal progresses, so you always know where it is in the deal.
- When appropriate, optionally create one or more quotes and attach them to the opportunity.
- Finally, mark the opportunity as won or lost.
Project Based/Multi-Bid or Tender – Slow Sales
Project-based opportunities occur usually when a piece of infrastructure is being built, and your opportunity is with one of the bidders. For example, if you sell cement to bridge builders and 5 companies are tendering for a bridge, only one of the opportunities can possibly close.
Early projects where contractors have not been announced are also an area where you may wish to use our project-based approach.
The sales process becomes:
- Generate a Project in Tall Emu (For example, for the bridge).
- From the project, generate one or more Opportunities.
- Progress discussions with each tenderer under their opportunity record, using the standard opportunity tools.
- When the winning bidder becomes apparent, close the additional opportunities and progress your opportunity with the winning bidder as normal.
Proposal Based Quoting
Should your sales be more proposal-based, for example submitting detailed tenders in document form, then we would recommend either the pipeline or project-based approach depending on how the relationships between the parties works.
In any event, the opportunity record will work to keep the deal in your pipeline, though your actual proposal may be stored elsewhere and you may not be issuing quotes out of Tall Emu.
You may want to keep your proposal as an attachment on the opportunity for easier reference, along with any other proposal based documentation you may have received from the client.