How to build a sales system that brings in the right work consistently
Most business owners who want to grow will say they need more sales. “More” on its own is not much of a target.
Another ten customers will not necessarily improve the business if they buy low-margin work, and one large contract may be less attractive if it absorbs most of the team’s capacity for six months. What is important is whether sales are bringing in the volume, value and type of work the business actually needs.
That is one of the ideas behind our new book, How to Master Your Business Profit Flow. The aim should be to manage your marketing and sales deliberately rather than wait to see what turns up.
A quick summary
Consistent sales come from knowing what you need to sell, who you need to sell it to, what it should be worth, and having a repeatable process that creates enough opportunities to make that outcome realistic. When sales activity is irregular, revenue becomes harder to predict and decisions about people, cash and capacity become harder too, resulting in more pressure and stress for you and your team.
“More sales” needs a better definition
You should always start with the business goal. If you want another £300,000 of profitable revenue next year, what kind of work should make that up? How many customers or projects would that mean at your preferred average sale value? Which services, products or client types produce the margin you want without creating problems elsewhere?
This is where it’s important to address volume, value and type. Volume is how much work you need, value is what that work is worth to the business (margin rather than turnover is more meaningful), and type is the kind of customer, project, service or contract you actually want more of.
Chasing volume alone can fill the diary with poor-margin work. Focusing too heavily on a few high-value deals can leave the pipeline exposed, while the wrong type of client can create operational pressure even when the sale looks attractive on paper.
How predictable is your sales pipeline?
A lot of SME sales activity still happens in bursts. The owner notices the pipeline looks light, sales activity becomes urgent, a few jobs are won, and attention shifts back to delivery until the next gap appears.
That cycle makes planning difficult because the business is reacting to what is about to happen instead of having a reasonable view of what is coming.
GOV.UK guidance describes a revenue pipeline as the flow of opportunities through a commercial process. A structured pipeline can help businesses forecast future revenue with realistic conversion rates and identify where deals are progressing or stalling.
As an SME owner, you need to ask yourself these questions:
- How many qualified opportunities are live?
- What are they worth?
- What percentage normally convert?
- How long does a typical sale take?
If you cannot answer those with reasonable confidence, your sales forecasting is probably mostly guesswork.
Sales should match the business you are trying to build
Sales strategy is one point on our Coaching Star because it affects, and is affected by, the rest of the business.
Marketing has to generate the right opportunities. Delivery capacity has to support what is being sold. Financial controls need to show whether the work is profitable, and systems need to cope with the volume coming through.
Our Profit Flow model takes the same view. The new book looks at three pumps (marketing to draw in opportunities), five taps to take a lead to a prospect and finally a client, and then two taps that owners can use to influence profit, with sales sitting alongside marketing, operations, account management, cost control and margin improvement.
A sales target is only useful if fulfilling it moves the wider business towards its business goals.
Build a sales rhythm you can maintain
To get yourself started in refining your sales process, here are our recommended steps:
- Decide what you want sales to produce over the next 12 months, then work backwards using your own numbers. If you know your average sale value and conversion rate, you can estimate how many genuine opportunities need to enter the pipeline and what regular activity is required to keep it healthy.
- Review that pipeline consistently. Salesforce’s sales strategy guidance makes a similar point: pipeline management and forecasting help businesses see where deals sit and make better decisions about where to focus resources.
You will never predict every sale perfectly, but you can build enough visibility to make better decisions before a quiet month becomes a problem.
If your sales feel inconsistent, or you are winning plenty of work but not enough of the work you actually want, UK Growth Coach’s complimentary 90-minute Business Review can help identify where the issue sits and what should change first.
FAQs
How can I make my sales more consistent?
Start by working out what consistent sales actually means for your business. Set a realistic revenue goal, understand your average sale value and conversion rate, then calculate how many genuine opportunities you need entering the pipeline. From there, marketing and sales activity can be planned rather than restarted every time the pipeline looks thin.
Why are my business sales inconsistent?
Inconsistent sales often happen because business development is treated as something to do when work goes quiet. Delivery gets busy, sales activity stops, and the effects appear several weeks or months later. A regular, optimised sales process helps break that cycle.
How do I build a predictable sales pipeline?
Define the stages an opportunity moves through, track genuine prospects consistently, understand your conversion rates and review the pipeline regularly. You need enough information to make a sensible judgement about what is likely to convert and when.
How many opportunities in my sales pipeline do I need to hit my target?
That depends on your conversion rate. If you normally convert one in four qualified opportunities, you will need considerably more pipeline value than your final sales target. Using your own historic numbers will give you a much better answer than relying on a generic ratio. Of course, you can also look at improving your conversion rates as well as getting more opportunity into your pipeline!
How do I know which customers my business should target?
Look at the customers and projects that produce good margins, fit your delivery capability, value what you offer and are enjoyable to work with. Your ideal customer should make commercial sense as well as looking good on the sales report.
How can I increase the average value of my sales?
Look at pricing, service mix, cross-selling, account development and whether you are targeting customers with sufficient need and budget. Sometimes the answer is selling more to existing customers rather than constantly looking for new ones.
What sales KPIs should a small business track?
Useful measures include qualified opportunities, pipeline value, conversion rate, average sale value, sales cycle length and sales by product, service or customer type. Choose measures that help you make decisions rather than collecting figures for the sake of it.
What is the difference between marketing and sales?
Marketing creates awareness, interest and opportunities and therefore brings leads into the business. Sales turns those leads into a prospect and finally a client or customer. They need to work together because a strong sales process cannot compensate indefinitely for poor-quality leads, and good marketing is wasted if opportunities are handled badly.
Why is sales forecasting important for a small business?
A sales forecast gives you a better view of likely future revenue, which helps with decisions around recruitment, spending, capacity and cashflow. It also highlights potential gaps early enough to do something about them.
Can a business coach help improve sales?
Yes. A business coach can help you understand where the sales problem really sits, whether that is target market, proposition, activity levels, conversion, pricing, pipeline management or accountability. The aim is to turn sales into a repeatable business process rather than relying on occasional bursts of effort.
