The sales process is a series of defined steps that start with a lead and create a customer.
The sales process is about as straightforward as it sounds. It’s a series of designed steps that begin with a lead and, hopefully, end with a close of a sale or signed contract. A skilled salesperson or team should already be well versed in the five steps of a sales process and should be implementing them into their daily selling routine or strategy.
Before you can make any changes or improvements, or decide to implement a whole new sales process, you need to take a good hard look at your current existing process and be able to positively identify and address what’s working and what’s not.
Prospecting, also known as lead generation, is the process of finding potential buyers to add to the top of the sales funnel. This may include people who have expressed an interest in your product or service, or appear to be a good match based on demographics or a buyer persona.
It’s a good idea to do some market research on your competition. You can use that information to provide your prospects with some benefits your competitors are lacking.
Before anyone on the sales team can dive into the sales process with a potential buyer, make sure they are a good fit. Time is precious and you don’t want to waste any if they aren’t serious or don’t have the authority to make important purchasing decisions. For example, when a husband is making a big purchasing decision, he should probably stop and consult with his wife before proceeding any further.
When it’s determined that you and a customer appear to be a good fit, doing some additional research will help you better meet their needs and possibly even be able to offer them something before they are even aware that they want or need it.
The next step in the sales process is to demonstrate or present your product to the buyer. This is usually done as a formal presentation, so there is a bit of prep work that needs to take place prior to flashing your product on the main stage. Be prepared to not only demonstrate your product in detail, but answer technical questions too.
To close a sale by coming to a contractual sales agreement should be the main goal of every salesperson. This is where you deliver the proposal, make any final negotiations, and get them to sign on the dotted line. Hopefully by the end of this process, they have morphed from potential to actual customer.
The sales presentation should be tailored or customized to your buyer, meaning you wouldn’t introduce a bacon wrapped steak to a vegetarian.
Reviewing the sales process every few months, along with keeping track of performance metric on a daily basis will be key in making sure that your team is on the right track to success.
What happens when, despite utilizing all of the steps in the sales process, your sales team is failing to deliver the kind of results you were hoping for? While it isn’t necessary to scrap everything you’re already doing and completely reinvent the wheel, first figure out some things your team can build on in an attempt to improve the sales process.
As a team, discuss any steps in the sales process that may need improvement. Share ideas that have been both successful and not so much, and make sure to document them. Role-playing exercises may also be helpful for extra practice.
By gathering and analyzing quality data on your current prospects or customers, and comparing customer types to their buying activities, managers can track what products and communication methods seem to work best with your customers.
As the needs and desires of a buyer changes often, the sales process will never be fully complete and will always be a work in progress to some degree.
It’s common knowledge that people buy stuff. But there’s actually a method to the purchasing madness.
Every time we decide to buy something, we move through a sales cycle. How businesses respond to each stage of the sales cycle could make or break the deal.
Mastering and understanding how these simple and logical sales cycle stages work is crucial in order for any salesperson or business to truly thrive and succeed amid a competitive market.
Simply put, a sales cycle is the process that businesses go through to sell a product to a customer.
Prospecting is basically a fancy term for finding or locating potential new customers. This research process happens online in case you might be worried you were going to have to follow people around and convince them to conduct business with you (that would be a form of stalking, and is not associated with prospecting).
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Before a salesperson attempts to make contact with their potential customer leads, they might want to consider doing a bit of homework first. Gather some background info about the individual subject or business they will be dealing with. For example, when speaking to a restaurant owner, it would be wise to at least know a few basic facts or details about their restaurant. Plus, it helps to tailor a conversation and build a relationship with them first, instead of just sounding like a salesperson only interested in making a sale.
Your time is valuable and it doesn’t make sense to waste it if the person you’re speaking with doesn’t have the authority to make decisions or purchases. While you’re determining their needs you’re also qualifying them as a good fit for your product.
Even though you have someone’s attention, that doesn’t mean they are ready to be bombarded with a sales pitch. This is the time for you to ask your prospect questions to figure out what their needs are in order to determine which product, if any, would be a good solution to their problem.
By being prepared and knowledgeable you gain credibility with a customer.
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The presentation is really the root or core of the sales cycle because it’s not just about selling a product. You’re also trying to sell yourself as a likable and trustworthy person they will want to do business with. Dress the part and represent your company to the best of your ability, but also make sure to take a deep breath, relax, and be yourself.
The sales presentation should be customized and tailored to fit the customer’s needs. Presentations may include the use of PowerPoint, videos, product demonstrations, etc.
At the end of the sales presentation, it’s natural for a customer to have some concerns or objections. A good salesperson can turn those objections into a positive as it gives them an opportunity to further explain and discuss in detail how they can help the customer by addressing their concerns and responding to questions.
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