Sales Process

If you’re a sales manager handling a great team, selling an awesome product and still not hitting the numbers; let me paint a picture. Your team is performing various activities each day, across accounts and deals. The only metric tracked is the number of closed deals and their value. There is no understanding of the number of activities performed by the salesperson on a daily basis. The revenue produced by the team is dipping, and no one has a clue as to why.

Does this sound familiar? If yes, the team needs a sales process, and not just any sales process . but the one customised to their needs, the product and the market..

It is hard to analyse team performance if there are no activity metrics available. If you wish to understand how to take a deal forward, there has to be a set process which explains each stage of the process. Each salesperson should be accountable for sticking to the process and guiding the customer through a sale. With a process in place, it is easier to analyse bottlenecks and understand how each bottleneck could be tackled.

 A systematic selling process consists of following ten steps as shown in the diagram:

1. PRE-SALES PREPARATION:

Pre-Sales is the first step of getting prepared to serve customers. A good salesperson must be well prepared to treat the customer effectively. He must be aware of the customer’s buying motives and buying behavior. We have in our earlier blogs already covered that the following essentials of selling must be fully known to him-

2. PROSPECTING:

Prospecting means finding or locating potential customers. It is a process of differentiating prospects and suspects. A prospect is a potential buyer with unmet needs, ability to pay and willingness to buy. It is much easier to prospect for the right customer if you have a marketing plan that determines your target market.

There are three different segments of people in the world of prospecting-

One must qualify the prospect in terms of needs,   purchasing power and motivation to buy.

3. PRE-APPROACH:

Once prospecting has been done, the sales person has to gather complete details about the prospect. These details are necessary to prepare his sales presentation. These would include information on prospect’s nature, needs, problems, personal habits, preferences, etc.

 4. APPROACH & CONTACT:

Now that the sales person is prepared with his pre-approach, he has to seek advance appointment for the personal meeting. The approach could be different on case to case basis. Having a script for an approach call is a MUST. He must not directly jump to sales talk in the approach call. He must be able to attract the prospect’s attention and get him interested in the product.

5. PRESENTATION:

A formal sales presentation must get attention of the prospect and make him interested in the product. The sales person can do it through a lively and interesting sales talk as well as a systematic demonstration of the product. The product could be offered to feel, taste or smell depending on the nature of the product.

Leaks in your presentation– Talking too much and not asking enough questions. If it’s too many statements without questions, you’re not a good presenter. A good presenter is somebody that’s asking relevant questions because you get to find about the customer and his buying needs.

He can produce authentic evidences to prove the product’s superiority. All queries must also be adequately solved.

Qualities of a good presentation:

• Presentation is questions and knowing your craft, knowing your product and generally not B sing people whom you don’t know what you are talking about.
• Sales Presentation must be complete covering all aspects related to company, product, competitive benefits, etc.
• Sales Presentation must be clear, free from all confusions and vagueness.
• Sales Presentation must be consistent.
• Sales Presentation must be precise.
• Sales Presentation must prove superiority of products over competition.
• Sales Presentation must be confidence winning.
• Sales Presentation must be supported with evidences. A good sales person must produce testimonials, awards and guarantees issued by government or test labs, celebrities, and other reliable sources.

Be well prepared– Prepare, prepare, practice, practice and then practice more for an effective presentation. You only have one shot at making a first impression.

6. HANDLING OBJECTIONS & COMPLAINTS:

Address any concerns or objections the prospect may have. Again be prepared- Objection Handling is a step by step process that we shall take up separately in one of my future blog. A sales person, however, must always welcome objections as it shows that customer is interested in the products and is more likely to place an order.

A good sales person must interpret objections clearly and remove them tactfully. Unless the objections and complaints are satisfactorily answered, the sales cannot take place. Prospects must be convinced about benefits, superior performance and strong aspects of the products. A great deal of expertise, experience, skills, patience and practice are important to handle objections successfully.  

7. CLOSING SALES:

Closing of sales is the climax or the desired outcome of the entire sales process. Sales Process must end by getting orders. A successful sales person MUST close the sale. He should not wait for the customer to ask for the product-that will never come. He has to “ASK” for the order. A good sales person must summarize what the customer has purchased and agree the deal.

8. FOLLOW UP:

Follow up is a simple two-step process- 

• Completion of selling formalities
• Taking other post-sales actions.

A salesperson writes order, arranges for dispatch and delivery of the product and decides on the mode of payment. Billing and guarantee cards are issued.  Follow up is 100% discipline-Details are equally important. Details are important as, if you don’t remember the conversation you had with the customer in the first meeting, reflects you do not pay attention to things. But if you do have the discipline to follow up and you do remember the specific details you had with the customer in the first meeting, reflects you value his time.

9. REFERRAL:

Once you have closed sales- do not celebrate. Ask for referrals. Preparing a script for asking for referrals is also important. Asking for referral is setting yourself up for growing your business.

10. MAINTAIN CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP:

Sales person-customer relationship does not end with one transaction, but is the beginning of a long term relationship. Customers repeat orders only if they are satisfied with products and post-sales services. A great sales person must remain in live contact with the customer for future business.

Studies have proved that if you sell out of sequence, you kill the sale. There is a logical buying process that a customer goes through. You have to get your selling process in line fitting the buying process and the sale is bound to happen.