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By John McGurk, Verus Systems, Inc.
Sales people are more effective when following a sales process.
In today’s competitive sales environment an organized and efficient sales force is a successful sales force. A company whose sales team understands their sales process has a greater chance of winning more deals. A sales process benefits both management and the sales team, and combined a good sales process benefits the entire organization. An important factor when implementing a sales process is the process can be tracked, followed and monitored. Today’s technology allows companies the ability to monitor and track the sales force.
What is a sales process? A sales process is a series of actions, steps, or functions bringing about a specific result. The desired result ultimately is a signed contract or an agreement to purchase services or products. A properly constructed sales process outlines each stage of the sales cycle from generating leads to closing sales. Often, companies are so number driven that they prefer to see lots of activity by the sales reps. However, the more accurate the process is defined, the less time sales reps will spend with prospects who will never purchase their product.
Developing the sales process involves collaboration between both management and the sales reps. The sales reps typically have a better feel for what the customer’s needs are and management needs to tap into their knowledge to create an effective process. Also by incorporating the sales reps feedback, the reps are more likely to take an active role in the sales process.
The reason a sales process works is simple. People follow a process. McDonald’s is a multi billion dollar company run by teenagers. How do they accomplish this feat? McDonalds has a process or system in place that makes the employee’s job very easy to follow. Sales organizations should take the same approach and build a system that all employees can easily follow. Building a sales process takes into account developing new leads, qualifying the leads, establishing goals for face to face meetings, developing presentations and closing the sale. Here are few examples of
building a sales process. Step one is obtaining a lead. One way to obtain leads is cold calling. Each sales rep has a script to follow in order to begin the process. If a sales person is cold calling prospects they should have a specific set of questions to gauge the prospects’ level of interest. If the prospect correctly answers these questions then the prospect is considered a qualified lead and moved to step 2 of the sales process which might be scheduling a face to face meeting. If step 2 is the face to face meeting, there should be specific goals that the sales
rep should perform during the meeting to move sales process to step 3. While conducting the face to face meeting the sales rep successfully accomplishes the goal of the meeting then the prospect is moved to Step 3. Step 3 for example could be sending a proposal. Now a prospect can be easily identified as to where they stand in sales process. Is the prospect at Step 1, 2, 3 etc…?
A sales process benefits the sales reps in a number of ways. One, the reps will be trained faster. This enables the sales rep to spend less time in a classroom being trained and more time out in front of prospects selling products or services. The sales rep is able to close more business because a standardized framework and proven methodology obtains results. The sales reps follow a system that guarantees a greater probability of success to close more deals and make more money. Properly qualifying prospects is an important step of the sales process. No longer will sales
people waste time on people who are not qualified. A well laid out sales
process can reduce the sales cycle in half. Often sales reps waste time thinking people will buy from them when those same people are not even the decision makers. A well thought out sales process allows the sales rep to identify buyers and also identify prospects that are not yet ready to purchase their products.
Management also benefits from a sales process. Sales managers have the ability to train a sales force faster and obtain measurable results if the sales process is properly defined and documented. This also shortens the sales cycle for the company. Also, by accurately defining the sales process, management can improve the effectiveness of sales forecasting. Forecasts are judged by where the prospect sits in the sales cycle. A good sales process prevents a sales person from keeping a prospect on the forecast if they are not able to move them from one step to another
step in the sales cycle. Frequently sales people keep old prospects on their forecasts somehow thinking that these deals will magically transpire. This leads to inaccurate forecasting and misleads management into believing what the anticipated revenue will be in the upcoming months. A process that defines each stage of the sales cycle automatically identifies where the prospect stands in the cycle and tells the rep not to forecast a sale if the prospect does not meet certain criteria.
Companies benefit from streamlining their processes and work flow. Without a road map of your company’s sales process there is confusion and inefficiencies. In the end sales teams benefit by having the sales process defined, documented and implemented.
John McGurk is a Sales Force Automation consultant with Verus Systems, Inc. located in Providence, RI.
His email address is john.mcgurk@verussystems.com
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