Make Your Funnel Spark Joy Today

aka … The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up Your Forecast.

Marie Kondo is a lifestyle guru.

2½ million books sold on how to clear out your stuff. Incredible.

I can see why though. As with any real expert, her delivery is indeed ‘magical’. Right down to how to properly fold socks. Into squares. Who knew?

There’s much to admire about her approach.

Such winning Japanese minimalism also has a lot to say when it comes to our own Sales organising. Most notably, your forecast.

Thought you were capable of glory simply tweaking as you go?

“If you think you have to tidy little by little every day, that’s wrong.”

“It is not an everyday event, but a special event, just like a festival”

You apparently need a shock to declutter your life.

Then declutter quickly.

A further revelation comes in the form of how you tackle clearing out that which holds you back.

Never by location. always by category. Don’t attack that entire spare room. First do all your clothes. From wherever they’re hidden. Only then shuffle out books. Before docs, miscellany and finally mementos.

This is strikingly similar to a rigorous forecast overhaul.

Especially if you sell either by the sector, or by your own lead-product.

Then there’s the killer criteria.

Does that item “spark joy”?

Hold it. Touch it. Does it give you “feelings of joy”? Can you see happiness in your face? If absent, then bin.

There are some deals we really have a close affinity towards. More than a hunch. They just feel right. Hit the sweet spot. We like working on them. We think they’ll bear fruit. For both sides.

Keep.

Then there are the ones we hang onto in blind hope. The dross. Clogging up the system. Taking energy and focus away from the real deals.

Get rid.

Pipeline management is indeed a skill. One where much of the art is knowing what not to pursue and having the resolve to remove it from your workload.

Time for your own funnel fest.