The sudden loss of a major client or income stream can jeopardise the survival of your business. While immediate strategies to find more money and reduce your costs can dig you out of a short-term hole, your vulnerability has revealed the need for planning clients and income streams well in advance. This is sometimes referred to as building pipelines.

Pipelines bring resources from afar; pipelines ensure that what you need tomorrow is already flowing towards you today. The pipeline may carry new clients or customers, new market information, ideas for new products, or skilled people who can help you in your business. Pipelines may also bring existing clients or customers back again, and again. The other point about pipelines is that they have to be built. You have to build yours!

Pipeline building is not so much the activity of pitching for contracts or marketing your products. It looks further ahead than the current opportunities you are working in to generate future opportunities in two ways. You want to be in a position where you proactively find the work, client, income stream; but you also want to have sufficient visibility and reputation that the work also comes to you.

Let’s start with what you already know has worked for you in the past:

• How did you know your past or current clients were potential clients before you did business with them?
• Where did you find them?
• How did you make them aware of your products or services before they ever committed to business with you or bought your products? Or, another way of asking the same question: What happened in your relationship with them before you marketed or pitched to them?
• How long did it take?
• Did you have to wait for them to be ready for you in some way (a special event or project; getting to know you, trust you)?
• What other factors led you to them or them to you?
• Can you turn any or all of these past experiences into guidelines for generating new opportunities? Remember to think long term and think about the potential clients or customer groups your business could be attracting in 6 month’s time, a years time, and further ahead.
• Do you know where to find your potential customers?
• Can you use your existing networks and contacts to learn more about your potential customers? Ask others who already know you to help you.

Turn all of this into an action plan, start immediately and ensure you keep applying the plan even when things are going well – new pipelines will always be needed.