Sep
27
Creating The 4 main Elements Of A Sales Process
Filed Under Year Of Original Content, fundamentals, learning, sales, systems
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Loading ...There are at least 4 elements in every successful sales process:
- Marketing & promoting
- Qualifying & screening
- Proposing & closing
- Delivering
Some may argue that marketing isn’t part of the sales process. Well, OK. But marketing is nothing unless it’s supporting the transformation of products & services in to revenue – CASH!
Each combination of industry, market, product & service and seller will need its own variation in terms of what goes in to each of these 4 elements.
In figuring out what goes in to each of these 4 elements you simply have to start and end with your focus being on the customer. It’s not enough that you are passionate about your product or have ideas for a fantastic delivery system. If the customers don’t feel you’re meeting their needs, or they just plain don’t like you, well, you’ve got problems – and not much business…
Ideally you should do some research – talk to customers and find out the outcomes they’d love to achieve, what they want, what they need, how they want and need it, and what has to be gotten right for them to be satisfied – enough to come back for more and/or recommend you to others. Find out also what they don’t want. In short, ASSUME NOTHING!
Find out how they want to be marketed to, communicated with etc.
Identify the ideal customer profile for you – it will reflect your own values and the way you want to do business. You’ll need this when you get to qualify possible leads – how well does an opportunity fit your ideal profile? How serious is the opportunity?
When it comes to proposing and closing, again, ASSUME NOTHING. Confirm all you can. Generate alternative solutions, even look for ways to overcome price objections for example by showing how you can save the customer money elsewhere, even if they go with your solution which is costlier than the competition.
Find out how customers want to have their purchase delivered. What’s the industry ‘norm’ and what scope is there for you to be different, and in which aspects?
Then work back from successful outcomes in each of these 4 elements – as Steven Covey says – “begin with the end in mind” – and identify the steps the customer needs to go through, the decisions they need to make, to achieve a successful outcome. Identify indicators of success for each stage.
Finally, identify & develop actions and activities that you can and should undertake in order to encourage and enable the customer to do their buying actions and decisions – in your favour.
From this approach you will be able to map out in fine detail the process your business has to follow to increase the chances of sales success.
Of course, easier said, or written, than done!
This is just to give a flavour of what’s needed – specifics vary from situation to situation.
- Sales Process: Here is one question every business person wants an answer to
- Creating The 4 main Elements Of A Sales Process
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