Agile and Lean methods are not just for developers!
Many departments have chosen to align with the development teams’ 2-week sprints/builds typical of a kanban framework.
For marketing departments, to name one, it makes sense start using a kanban/Scrum approach, as the marketing goals naturally align with the builds and releases. But, would a kanban/Scrum approach make sense for a would-be Agile sales team? And if so, where should you start?
Download my free kanban board (KB) spreadsheets for sales teams.
You can use them in Google Sheets or Excel to play around with kanban principles to help you decide if kanban suits your organization or not.
Free, easy!
1. Kanban for Sales
2. Basic Kanban Board for Sales Team
3. Kanban Board for Sales Team with Negotiation Column
4. Kanban Board for Sales Team with Demo Column
5. Kanban Board for Online Sales
6. How to Download
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1. Kanban for Sales
Agile Manifesto was founded in 2001 by a group of 17 software developers. After almost two decades, Agile and Lean methods are not just for developers any longer. In fact, many departments and business leaders have implemented agile methodologies in an effort to accelerate business and product development.
Sales can benefit from Agile as well. Managing sales projects with an Agile approach can help you achieve more in shorter periods of time. Incorporating Agile into your sales workflow makes sense when you realize that its core goal is to put customers first – something you do every day.
Among Agile project management frameworks, kanban project management is a visual process which organizes a project’s steps into cards and columns that are defined by status.
The Basis For A New Way Forward Kanban Principles |
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Kanban principles for sales
This offers a great way for sales teams to organize each stage of customer conversations, track leads and organize them into columns based on status. This high-level view tells your team which stage each opportunity is at. It also helps everyone divide, conquer, and close each quarter on a high note. A shared work model that leads to more consistent revenue and compensation in addition to a more even workload.
Before You Start With Kanban For Sales: Con/Pro
Training
Typically, sales professionals are viewed as individual contributors and not part of a team; moving to a team approach may be challenging. However, successful salespeople are accustomed to working within a team given today’s complex sales models — which mean working with everyone from sales engineers to consultants to management and even Legal teams. Most individual contributors realize that this is the reality of today’s business.
Sprints and Retrospectives
For sales, the sprint cycle may be much longer than recommended for a typical 2-weeks development team. Sales is a monthly or, more often, quarterly driven business. Reviews, or retrospectives, must be adjusted to a period of time that makes sense for sales team goals. This allows to determine what the team accomplished the previous month, review impediments that were not resolved, and determine team’s goals for the upcoming month/quarter.
Roles
Roles might appear fuzzy, missing the clear definition of a waterfall project management approach. A risk you can prevent easily by defining each project’s high-level goals and each person’s task ownership before you start with kanban.
Tipsographic Kanban Boards Templates for Sales Teams
Either you’re a small or medium business, you can take advantage of Tipsographic kanban boards to organize your customers and move them throughout the entire sales funnel, from the first contact point to the final purchase and onboarding stage. This will help you visually identify bottlenecks and appoint the right SDR or Account Executive to step in. You’ll also avoid sending the same emails twice since you’ll get an overview of the whole customer journey and where each customer is in the sales funnel.
Card design: companies and contact details, instead of the classical “tasks”.
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2. Basic Kanban Board for Sales Team
Basic kanban board for sales in Google Sheets and Excel
A simple kanban workflow to create sales pipelines.
Workflow: Backlog > Qualification > Proposal > Sales
Download Kanban Board Template for Sales
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3. Kanban Board for Sales Team with Negotiation Column
Kanban board spreadsheet for sales department with negotiation column
A more advanced sales workflow, covering multiple steps.
Workflow: Backlog > Qualification > Presentation > Proposal-quote > Negotiation > Closed
Download Kanban Board Template for Sales with Negotiation
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4. Kanban Board for Sales Team with Demo Column
Kanban board xls template for sales teams with demo workflow state
A more advanced sales workflow, covering multiple steps.
Workflow: Potential customers > Leads > Contacted us > Pending response > Demo arranged > Final negotiations > Closed
Download Kanban Board Template for Sales with Demo
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5. Kanban Board for Online Sales
Kanban tool for online sales
A more advanced sales workflow, covering multiple steps.
Workflow: Order received > Payment received > Order prepared and sent
Download Kanban Board Template for Online Sales
6. How to Download
If you’re new to Google Sheets, I put together a quick reference guide on how to save locally the Google Sheets version of these kanban board spreadsheets for sales team.
Important! Do NOT use the “Request Edit Access” method, because I can’t grant permission to edit the original.
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