The 7 Steps of a Sales Process
Couple of weeks back I wrote about Sales Process and how important it is for your organization to have one… now let’s talk about the different steps of a sales process so that you can create one easily…
Okay… let’s step through it π
A typical sales process starts internally with training your sales agents. It then moves through prospecting, following up and closing the sale. But it does not stop there. The best sales processes include continuous nurturing the customer as the final step.
Here are the 7 steps of a typical sales process:
1) Training β Train your agents. Build product knowledge. Teach them how to handle objections. Customers today expect agents to know the answers to their questions, they don’t appreciate being referred to another “expert”.
2) Research β Research your market. Find out more about your prospects. Create buyer personas. Learn more about your competitors and their offerings. Get insights from your CRM. Arm your agents with this information so that they are ready to sell.
3) Lead Generation β Start by creating lists of prospects you can sell to. Use Google search, social media, paid ads, email campaigns, display ads, online communities and other inbound or outbound campaigns to build your pipeline.
4) Qualification β Often this is done through a qualification call. Find out of your prospect have the need for your product or service. And if they do have the need, do they have the budget? What is their timeline? Who will authorize the purchase? Dig deeper to find out their pain points.
5) Pitch your product/service β Finally it’s time to set up a sales call to pitch your product. Prepare well. Create a presentation deck. Discuss how your product or service will solve the problem of your prospects. Anticipate objections and prepare the answers.
6) Follow-up β Send post-call follow-up email. Summarize the conversation. Answer any questions they have. You may have to continue following-up a few times before the sale gets closed. Did you know that 92% of salespeople give up after 4 follow-ups? And that 80% of sales occur after 5 follow-ups? Which means that 80% of sales go to the 8% of sales people who refuse to give up after 4 follow-ups. So, follow up and close the sale.
7) Nurturing β Congratulations, you close the sale. But wait, don’t stop there. Keep in touch with your customer. Make sure they are happy. There is huge potential for upselling and cross-selling to satisfied customers. Don’t miss that opportunity.
The time and effort you have to spend on each of these steps may vary but ensuring that you do follow through these 7 steps will go a long way in helping your organization meet their revenue goals.
If you would like to know more about creating sales processes and how ConvergeHub can help you close more sales by helping you implement clear effective sales processes, talk to us.
Or, if you would like to check it out yourself, go ahead and create a free ConvergeHub account here.