Pipeline has been around since sales processes began to be modernized and streamlined. It all started with a simple, but crucial concept: understanding where each customer is in the buying process at any given time. From this basic understanding of ”the status quo” came an idea to create some type of structure to help track important data associated with those statuses, leading to the term “pipeline.” Since then it has become an integral part of everyday sales operations across the world and continues to evolve as technology advances and customer needs change.
While pipeline may not have gained widespread recognition or notoriety until recently, its roots stretch far beyond that relatively short amount of time - originally manifesting itself as just another way for businesses and sales teams alike to keep better track of their leads. As pipelines were adapted by a larger base of organisations, however, they eventually grew into something much more – from tracking deals and understand customers' personalities over time, pipelines became powerful tools capable of providing real-time insights about virtually anything a customer wanted or needed–and these days that can range from keeping tabs on how fast a product sells through spotting cross-sell opportunities quickly and easily.
Fast forward to today and pipeline has gone digital — enabling businesses (and their sales reps!) with powerful end-to-end systems able to manage everything from initial contact info collection all the way through closing deals faster than ever before imagined possible. Sure there are variations depending on individual use cases here too, but pretty much any company looking for streamlined sales management can now find what they need without having to build something custom themselves — thanks entirely in large part to our highly evolved view on pipelines developed over decades prior!
In terms of what we might see come next in the realm of pipeline advancement, only time will tell; many are predicting integration capabilities along with deeper intelligence being brought into play down the line — allowing companies access even more comprehensive portfolio level insights within their own PSTs (or Pipeline Selling Technologies). Whether or not we're already seeing glimpses if that future remain debatable...but it's certainly something we'll continue tracking closely moving forward!