We had the opportunity to engage with a large business application software company in the South East Asia region who were having a challenge with their current pipeline. 

At the year end, all their pipeline was exhausted and they had very little or no qualified pipeline as they started off the next year.

To them, it almost felt like jumping off a cliff.

Faced with this daunting prospect, they reached out to us for help.

In 7 days, we generated $125 million dollars of net new pipeline

Within 3 months, this translated to $8 million in additional business, offering a whopping 40x return on their investment. 

Today, let me share with you the 3 strategies we used to achieve this result and how you can replicate this in rapidly growing your pipeline. 

Let’s dive in,

1. Adopt an “Outside-In” Perspective.

Traditionally, when companies are planning for customers, they introspect, based on their goals and internal benchmarks. 

We usually start from ourselves, how much we know, and what exactly we want to achieve.

But to rejuvenate a pipeline, you have to flip the script. 

Start by understanding where your customer stands in their industry. 

What’s their vision? 

Which strategies are they driving? 

How can you help them in their journey? 

By thinking first about the customer, you can adopt an outside in thinking

By placing them at the center of your strategy, you unveil a broader scheme of projects for potential collaboration.

2. Empower Managers to Coach

The manager is pivotal in orchestrating the team’s efforts to build a significant pipeline.

Utilize your manager as a coach.

True leadership goes beyond mere direction; it’s about coaching. 

This means fostering an environment where open conversations are welcomed, where team members are encouraged to explore possibilities, and where slight discomfort is leveraged as an avenue for growth. 

It is a concept I refer to as ‘productive tension’ – that feeling of stretching one’s thinking and being supported to set new standards of performance and over delivering. 

Coaching offers a unique vantage point, allowing a focus on what’s truly possible and guiding teams to tread the unknown confidently.

3. Prioritize Customer Validation

The most important strategy is what we call customer validation

All your plans, no matter how groundbreaking, will fall flat without customer alignment. 

The process involves creating the blueprint, presenting it to the customer for feedback, and aligning it with their top-level executives. 

When you get the customer involved on your side,then you’re able to move forward in lock step.

Success materializes when there’s a jointly agreed-upon roadmap, clear projects, and a review rhythm set in place.

Take, for instance, many technology firms today. 

They possess a business strategy, which is underpinned by a digital transformation blueprint. 

This, in turn, leans on an IT strategy, which eventually trickles down to collaboration with companies like yours. 

The magic lies in interlinking all these aspects seamlessly.

In a nutshell, the customer’s vision for you, their strategy alignment with yours, and where you fit in their larger roadmap are crucial aspects of creating new opportunities.

As evidenced by the astounding $125 million turnaround, when applied meticulously, these strategies have the power to transform challenges into unprecedented opportunities.

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