What is the HubSpot deal pipeline? Benefits and Best Practices

What is the HubSpot deal pipeline? And how can you make the most of yours? Understanding the benefits of using the HubSpot deal pipeline and setting up appropriate deal stages is key to making the most of your HubSpot subscription. Adjusting some aspects of your deal pipeline can help you manage your team more effectively and increase revenue.

What is the HubSpot deal pipeline?

The HubSpot deal pipeline is a visual representation of where a deal is in the sales process at any given time. It’s a critical tool for keeping track of your sales activities and what the proper next step should be for any given prospect. As deals leave one deal stage and enter a new one, you know nothing is falling through the cracks.

In the HubSpot deal pipeline tool, the default settings give you seven deal stages: scheduled appointment, qualified to buy, presentation scheduled, decision maker bought-in, contract sent, closed won, and closed lost — but you can customize these to best suit your needs.

What are the benefits of using the HubSpot deal pipeline?

The benefits of having a defined deal pipeline in place are many. We’ll focus on a few of the biggest ones here: 

1. It gives managers visibility into the efficiency of their sales reps at every stage. They can see where any slowdowns or holdups may be occurring in the process so they can address them. It also helps them set realistic goals for their team members. At the same time, it allows sales reps to spot patterns in their progress and adjust their efforts to make improvements.
2. It makes forecasting more accurate. When managers can see the performance of each team member at a glance, they can make better revenue estimates for each rep and the team (and company) as a whole. 
3. It helps sales managers allocate the right resources in the right quantities to keep the process moving from stage to stage more quickly. It also allows their reps to close existing and open new deals faster, ultimately increasing revenue.

How can we manage the HubSpot deal pipeline to increase revenue?

Enjoying these and other benefits, of course, requires effective management of the deal pipeline. The Harvard Business Review (HBR) reports that companies that monitor and manage their deal pipelines based on the following three practices experienced a 28% increase in revenue: 

    •    Adopting a well-defined sales process: Clearly define each milestone so you don’t force your reps to guess the status of a deal or how to manage each stage. Deal stages should be universally understandable by the entire team.

    •    Investing time in building and mastering that process: HBR recommends spending at least three hours per month on deal pipeline management. Companies doing this experience an 11% increase in revenue growth. 

    •    Educating sales managers in making better deal pipeline decisions: Managers need to determine the right pipeline size for each team member. They should also guide team members in focusing on the most impactful actions. 

What are the best practices for setting up deal stages in the HubSpot deal pipeline?

Deal stage best practices include:

• Work closely with your sales team to craft a list of deal stages that complement your sales processes. You may need to change the default settings in HubSpot. 
• Give each deal stage a standardized name. Different reps may use other terms for the same deal stage, but this sets up your team for confusion. 
• Before entering a new deal, search your database in case the deal already exists. Duplicate data is a source of confusion and inefficiency in your pipelines.
• Always enter the amount of revenue a contract will generate within a specific time frame. HubSpot’s default setting for this is 12 months. 
• Forecast your revenue more accurately by giving each deal stage a win probability percentage. 
• Establish a realistic closing date based on your performance history. This expectation helps your team effectively nurture leads and conduct follow-ups.
• Create focused, personalized communications so you can customize pitches specifically for each of your contacts. Make sure each deal is associated with other “objects” in HubSpot, such as company, contact, or ticket. This way, you can view everything related to that deal in one place. 

Get help from an agency who keeps their own HubSpot deal pipeline rolling.

Do you need help dialing in your HubSpot deal pipeline and deal stages? Waypost is a top-rated Gold-Tier HubSpot Solutions Partner with the experience and expertise to optimize any deal pipeline. Get in touch!