A Sample Sales Process for a Small Business

      214 288 Shaun Alger
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      Heroes are dead. At least in sales they are. If they are not totally dead, they are on their way out, anyway.

      What am I talking about? I am talking about the lone wolf sales guy who “wings it” on a day to day basis. This type of sales person who occasionally makes a big kill, but no one can really control and, as a result, proves disruptive to most sales organizations. For more on this, read “The Challenger Sale” by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.

      So in lieu of the sales “hero,” what type of sales professional is on the rise? The one that plays nice with a formal sales process — that formal set of steps for selling products and services to potential customers.

      The problem with an unstructured sales process, is that it is difficult to repeat, analyze or perfect over time. Having a formal sales process enables sellers to control their selling style and outcomes. It creates a foundation that can be changed and improved based on customer reactions, experience and end results.  Furthermore, it allows a sales team to:
      – Present products and services better
      – Cross-sell and upsell with ease
      – Do a better job of emphasizing value to customers — so that customers need fewer discounts in order to be persuaded to buy.
      – Market.  New research shows a customer needs to be contacted 12 times before responding.  And 67% of customers do research before buying – they know more about the product or service than the sales rep.

      A sales process typically begins with identifying prospects and culminates with closing the sale.  While many steps can be included, here is a short, 4-step guide for salespeople or managers to use in writing up a sales process for just about any small business.

       

      1. Develop Product Intelligence

      Acquire extensive knowledge of every product and service you will be selling. Know all the features and benefits in addition to functions and manufacturing process. Don’t just rely on reading about the product; go tour the manufacturing facility and stores that carry the product. Study and interact with customers who are buying. Understand the role each product fills in the marketplace and how it measures up to the competition. Be prepared to be tested by a sales manager about your mastery of product knowledge.

       

      2. Target the Right Prospects

      Spend time researching members of your target demographic and how to best contact them to turn them into leads. Leads can come from your marketing department, or they can be self-sourced through actions such as networking. Spell out how you will make your contacts!

      The sales process should list some basic data to be culled about each lead at this point. For B2B sales, this might include basics such as company size, expected needs, annual revenues, main competitors, etc.

      Also important at this stage is a method for managing your sales research data, and this is where having a good CRM (customer relationship management) software such as Salesforce is invaluable. The sales process should list what data is to be recorded and what to do with this data at specified times in the future.

       

      3. Presentation and Closing

      Develop an actual script for how you will approach and offer the product to a prospect. One simple script uses three parts (although wording will differ depending on your product or service): a needs assessment, the presentation of products, and the closing.

      Discover the customer’s needs and problems. This involves effective questioning and listening more than you talk. The sales process should list the questions to be asked.

      Align the customer’s needs with a product’s features and benefits, unveiling the product characteristics in a systemic and persuasive way. Provide value, be a challenger, and help the customer build his or her business! The sales process should include rehearsing a presentation, customized for each lead.

      At every step during the discussion of how the customer’s issues can be solved by the products, always be looking for the right closing opportunity.  Sales processes should include a step where you actually strategize how a deal will be closed, complete with a list of objections and their handling if necessary.

       

      4. Plan for Future Business

      Whether the deal closes or not, each sales process needs to specify how to follow up. Will it be a thank you note after each contact? Sending a small gift? Providing a discount offer? Asking for a referral?  This has to be part of each formal sales process or the customer experience will not be consistent.

      Update your CRM software to schedule each follow up. For customers who did not close, this enables the firm to stay top of mind and eventually get the business. For who did close, future contact allows sellers to pitch different products or get referrals for friends and family. Future contact can be made through many means:
      – social media
      – phone
      – email
      – newsletters
      – notes
      – networking events

      The point is that it should all be spelled out in the sales process.

      Although basic, I hope the above helps you to start thinking about planning your sales process into logical steps and sequences instead of flying by the seat of your pants. As you do so, you will surely find some big gaps in your current process that you might not have been aware of before.

       

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      Shaun Alger

      All stories by: Shaun Alger

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