As you plan your efficient sales process, you should consider each phase of the sale’s lifecycle, starting with prospecting through post-sale support. These are some of the most important steps that need to be included in any successful sales process:
Prospecting
Prospecting might seem like the most obvious process to put first, but surprisingly many sales organizations neglect this critical first step. By doing so, you leave a bunch of opportunities on the table because no one is calling them first.
2 . Lead Qualification
Lead qualification depends entirely on your industry and what type of leads you are generating. Lead qualification can be done in multiple ways, including automatic qualification based on company size or other criteria, phone screening by reps before they even see a list of names, manual review by an account executive team, etc.
3 . Appointment Setting
Once you’ve qualified your prospects as being worth pursuing with a sales call, you need to set up an appointment. There are many ways to do this, including sending an email or making a phone call. However, the most effective way is by arranging a time for your prospect to receive a follow-up call from one of your reps. This step can often be forgotten in the sales process, but it mustn’t fall through the cracks because deals will die without further contact after qualifying leads.
4 . Warm Up Calls
Before you’re ready for your presentation to begin–whether it’s done via video conference or in-person–you should make some type of warm-up call to let them know the meeting is about to occur and start building rapport with your future customer.
5 . Presentation
During the presentation, you need to give all of the right information for your leads to feel comfortable enough with you and your product or service, so they want to move forward with the purchase. If this final step is not done well, it’s unlikely that the business owner will choose you over another company. You should also ensure that any preparatory work has been done ahead of time, such as presentations being available online before meeting face-to-face or any reports needed for reference during the presentation are compiled before showing up at their office.
6 . Negotiation
Once everything has been presented, you need to negotiate to price and other important details regarding your companies offer. Don’t assume that the first offer you will make will be accepted because it probably won’t be. Instead, try to negotiate as best as possible while still maintaining a win-win scenario for both the business owner and your company.
7 . Post-Sale Support
Finally, after all of the hard work has been done and a sale has been made, it’s critical that you continue to support your customers with excellent service, so they feel happy enough to refer more prospects in the future. If you neglect this last step in your efficient sales process, there’s a good chance that they will turn around and purchase from another vendor next time around. It should go without saying that if one part of the sales process is done poorly or not at all, your ability to get new customers will be severely hindered.
A good way to ensure you don’t forget any step in the sales process is to complete them all within PipelineDeals CRM software. That way, you can work smarter and more efficiently while also making sure that nothing falls through the cracks.
