About this episode
I’m hearing sob stories from leaders and individuals everywhere who are waking up to the cold, hard truth that they are staring down the barrel of a thin or empty pipeline. If you are in this situation and don’t have enough pipe to cover your number—either for this month or the first quarter—then you need to take action now to close that gap because getting behind your number at the beginning of the year means loads of stress and chasing your tail - for the rest of the quarter or the entire year if you get too far behind. Your Empty Pipeline Started Last Month Stepping back for a moment, the reason your pipeline is empty today can usually be traced back to your sales activity in November or December. Some teams get tunnel vision in the fourth quarter. They focus on closing deals and finishing the year strong but fail to balance that with prospecting activity for the future. Other folks just get distracted by the holidays and let the final weeks of the year slip by without prospecting to fill the pipe with enough new opportunities to cover January. In other cases, the pipeline opportunities that you were counting on this month—the ones that pushed decisions until after the holidays - have suddenly gone silent and are ghosting you. You’re finding out the hard way that it is very, very difficult to reignite these deals once you’ve allowed this much time to pass. I’m not going to sugarcoat this because the truth is the truth. No matter what got you to this point, you need to get to work right now to turn this around. So the question is, how do you do this? Block Time for Prospecting One of the biggest pitfalls I see is that when pipelines are empty, salespeople get overwhelmed and paralyzed. They don’t know where to begin, so they waste time worrying and “getting organized.” They "plan to plan to plan" to prospect but don’t get any actual prospecting done. There’s an old saying that goes, “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.” Likewise, the first rule of an empty pipeline is: When have one, start prospecting. That’s it. There’s no magic to it. It's a blinding flash of common sense. Therefore step one is to block one to two hours at the start of your day specifically for prospecting. Close your email and company chat, put devices on do not disturb, and place a singular focus on picking up the phone and calling potential customers. Put these morning blocks on your calendar as an immovable meeting. No excuses, no last-minute changes. Keep this time sacred for outbound prospecting. Why first thing in the morning? Because that’s when you’re fresh, your prospects are fresh and neither of you have gotten buried in your day yet. And the truth is, if you put off prospecting until the afternoon, your willpower is often depleted and you are more likely not to do it. Fast vs Slow Prospecting Next you need to focus on the right kind of prospecting. This isn’t the time for a slow, meandering approach in which you cultivate long-term opportunities on LinkedIn and through networking. While building the future through slow prospecting activities is important, right now you need to move fast. You need to target, engage, interrupt and convert prospects that can move into your pipeline as viable opportunities, right now. By “interrupt,” I mean dialing the phone, knocking on doors, sending personalized emails, text messages, video messages and direct messages —whatever it takes to get attention and engage in conversations with high potential, high probability prospects. 5 Sources for Targeted Prospecting Lists When I say target, I mean not random. Randomness is the enemy of effectiveness. At this moment in time, spray and pray will not turn your pipeline around. You need a rifle rather than a shotgun approach. The key is building a targeted list because the better your list you, the better your prospecting outcomes. There are five sources for building a targeted prospecting list, fast. Inbound Leads Look at inbound leads that came in over the last quarter, or maybe the last six months. These folks have already expressed some level of interest in what you offer—maybe they downloaded a white paper, attended a webinar, or even reached out directly. They might have ghosted you, gone quiet around the holidays, or perhaps you were busy and didn’t follow up as aggressively as you should have. Regardless, this is an easy list to build and there is a good chance that you can reactivate some of these leads, now that we are in a new year. Closed-Lost Deals Build a list of all of the pipeline opportunities that were lost over the past year. Pull your own out of the CRM plus those of any reps that have left your company—you may need to ask your sales leader for permission to do this but ask, because it is surprising how much gold you can find in deals that other people have lost. Many of these prospects didn’t end up choosing any solution at all—and are still living with the same old problems. But because it's a brand-new year, they may be open to exploring solutions. Inactive Customers Inactive or dormant customers are a true gold mine. These are people that bought from you or your company in the past but haven’t purchased in a while. They are already familiar with your brand, product, software, or service and they are easy to talk with. The conversation might be as simple as calling and saying, “Hey, when will you be buying again?” or “What’s new on your end since we last worked together?” Because there’s already a relationship, it’s not really a cold call; it’s more like a warm re-introduction. Active Customers Target existing customers where there may be expansion or cross-sell opportunities. This is a list you’ll want to build thoughtfully so that you target the right, high potential accounts. Because you are already doing business with these people the conversations are easy to initiate. Just call to say "Happy New Year," ask about their upcoming plans, and learn about potential needs you can fill right now. Prospects with Q1 Buying Windows Go into your CRM and run a search for prospects that meet your ICP and have an identified Q1 buying window. This buying window may be a contract expiring with your competitor, a seasonal swing in demand, a budgetary period, equipment coming off of lease, or they told you on past prospecting calls that they would be making changes or decisions in the first quarter. Pro Tip: You may also want to look at industry verticals that are doing well and flush with budget. Set Micro-Goals and Embrace the 30 Day Rule When you are in a hole like this, digging out can be both overwhelming and tedious. You are going to be doing a lot of work and it won’t always feel like you are getting anywhere. This can be demotivating and make you want to quit. Therefore, to stay on track, set micro-goals—a certain number of calls, touches, conversations, or qualifying information that you want to achieve each day. Track your results religiously and celebrate even the smallest wins. If you get a bad number, for example, celebrate the fact that you now know not to call that number. At the same time, use your micro-goals to hold yourself accountable. If your goal is to make 25 calls, don’t let yourself off the hook at 20. This level of discipline keeps your momentum going. The 30-day rule states that the prospecting you do in any 30-day period will pay off over the following 90 days. It’s about having faith that the prospecting you do now will begin paying dividends in the weeks and months to come. You won’t see miracles overnight, but if you stay consistent, you will get the results you are looking for. Remember How This Feels Before moving on, I want you to stop and remember how this feels. Lock this stress and anxiety into your emotional memory. Then make a commitment not to allow this to happen to you again next year because it is completely avoidable. Later this year as we move into the fourth quarter, remember that you must keep prospecting even while you’re trying to close deals. This lesson is going to stick a lot better if you internalize it right now, while the pain is fresh. Action Steps for This Week Stop Digging – If your pipeline is empty, don’t waste time worrying. Accept the reality and get to work fixing it. Block Time For Prospecting – Schedule and keep sacred one to two hours each morning for focused prospecting when your energy is highest. Build Targeted Lists – Start with inbound leads, closed-lost deals, inactive customers, active customers, and high-probability prospects in Q1 buying windows Set Micro-Goals and Embrace the 30-Day Rule – Focus on small daily goals and have faith that the hard work you put in now will pay off in the future even if, at times it feels like you are spinning your wheels. Remember the Pain – Promise yourself that you won’t fall into the same trap at the end of this year. Embrace and make prospecting a daily discipline. It’s not something you do when you “feel like it” or only when your pipeline is on life support. It’s like working out. You don’t go to the gym once, get in shape, and then you’re done. You have to keep going, keep working at it, and keep putting in the reps. Remember: The number one reason for failure in sales is an empty pipeline and the number one reason you will have an empty pipeline is that you failed to prospect every day, every day, every day.