What is a sales process?
Simply put, a sales process is a series of clearly defined steps that help your sales team take people from being prospects to customers, in a consistent and effective manner.
Why should businesses have one?
According to the Harvard Business Review, around 60% of business opportunities are lost simply through the lack of a structured follow up. So while creating a sales process may seem like yet another task you could do without, ultimately, it will help you sell more.
Not only will an effective sales process help you to convert more customers, but it also helps prevent time being wasted on prospects who aren’t going to become customers.
Probably the greatest value an effective sales process can add to your business is that when correctly implemented, it will enable average salespeople to become great salespeople and great salespeople to become world-class. And unlike your best salesperson, your sales process can’t walk out of the door when you’re least expecting it!
So how do you go about creating an effective sales process?
This might seem like a daunting task as every company will have very different requirements but to help you get started, here are our five simple steps for creating a successful sales process:
STEP 1: Agree the stages
The stages of a clear sales process should map the journey from the moment someone gets in touch with your business, to the point they become a happy customer.
In chronological order these stages can be simplified as Initial Contact, Fact Find, Proposal, Follow-Up, Sale and Maintain. Although these stages will involve very different details for different businesses, this framework always applies.
STEP 2: Define the specific actions at each stage
These are the actions that your team need to take at each stage. They could include anything from completing a contact form, carrying out a credit check or creating a proposal that contains specific supporting information such as a case study.
While most SMEs do carry out these some of these actions in our experience they don’t always happen consistently and the detail can vary dramatically between sales people. Clearly defining them within your process ensures that a consistent and ultimately successful approach is put in place.
STEP 3: Detail the ‘tools’ required at each stage
Think about what tools need to be available at each stage to enable your salespeople to follow the process effectively. For example, do they need a standard enquiry form or a fact find sheet?
Maybe you need to offer a demonstration or free sample? If so, you’ll need to clearly define what you want it to be of and how it’s delivered.
STEP 4: Add ‘touches’ to each stage
These are the little things that support your offering and should always try and either provide evidence that you are good at what you do or show the prospect that you care about them.
For example, case studies are really valuable pieces of content, if they’re relevant to who they’re talking to. Make sure you have a batch of case studies that are tailored by sector and, if possible, according to who you’re targeting. These can be used at several stages, for example to support a proposal or as part of a follow up communication.
STEP 5: Create your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
The most effective way to set your KPIs is by each of the stages we mentioned in Step 1. Ask yourself what the key objectives for the sales person at each stage and what does success look like?
Monitoring these KPI’s constantly will enable you to measure the effectiveness of each stage, helping you to understand where prospects drop out and identify specific areas for improvement.
TIPS
- Define specific, concrete actions that aren’t open to interpretation by individuals
- Don’t forget the ‘touches’ as these are often the difference between winning and losing a client
- Your sales process should be reviewed regularly with your sales team
Although it might seem like a lot of effort initially, creating a successful sales process can transform your profitability. It’s exactly what happened to one of our clients, Inline Health and Beauty, whose profits doubled and sales increased by more than £1.6 million after they implemented a clearly defined sales process for their sales team to follow. (For full details about our approach and the results, check out our case study).
If you’d like to discover areas where your sales process could be improved why not book a Free Sales Process Evaluation. We will take a look at what you currently do and make some specific recommendations that you can implement yourself straight away.
Or if you’d just like a chat about it contact us on 0113 394 4559 or enquiries@nextlevelbd.co.uk