Sales Process
What is it
Sales process is a path to follow to succesfully onboard a Client. It has its pitstops you should achieve. Shortcuts are also possible but they invrease risk of failure. Being sure you carefully follow the steps - gives biggest chances to success.
Why you need one
Sales process is a company asset. It tells what steps, tools and which approach is right one for that particular company. Without it your company is on a high risk because:
it is impossible to estimate precisely predictable sales quota on facts and numbers. You can only guess based on guts and feelings.
it can be hard to get any informations regarding your sales productivity, where it needs attention
you can not measure it - you can not improve it
your sales team can not scale up
it is hard to help your team make more fun - automating or repeatable tasks
it is also big risk that if your salespersons will leave company they will take the knowledge and networking somewhere else. Probably to your biggest competitor.
it can be hard to attract good sales candidates as they might think you are unprofessional
even if you will recruit new sales persons successful onboarding can be difficult
"If you can't measure it you can't manage it" Peter Drucker
When you need one
It is needed if you want to
be organised, learn and grow
keep the knowledge within company
be professional
How to create one
Start from today by mapping your sales actions. Where you have your first touch with the client. Were is the last. Map out succesfull journey between. Review the sequence of action points with your best client/sales. You can also review the one which leads to losing the potential client. You should iterate the work but try to create process print it and analyze as much as you can. You should put changes and try to keep it simple.
Sales process examples
Have a look at simple sales process examples
Analyze your Client (the buyer) process
Have a look what your customer buying proces look like and how yours sales process fit in.