According to a Harvard Business survey there was “an 18% difference in revenue growth between companies that defined a formal sales process and companies that didn’t.” Many B2B companies don’t take the time to lay the foundation for building a sales process that lasts.
With this kind of potential revenue growth, how can you afford not to?
What Is A Defined Sales Process?
The typical sales process is defined in the stages of:
- Prospecting
- Qualification
- Consideration
- Decision
- Close
However, it’s rather important to define your own. If you don’t want generic sales performance, then don’t use a generic sales process.
Having a defined sales process means having clearly defined standardized stages and milestones that are understood by everyone from your sales leaders to front line sales reps. Your company is unique, so each team member can get on board with your unique process. The process guides the sales team about where a particular deal is in the process and how they should be managing deals in each stage, for your specific organization.
How Do I Begin to Build a Lasting Sales Process?
For your sales process to be effective, it should align with how your customers move through their buying process.
To create a great sales process, start from the perspective of the customer.
Answering these questions will give you a benchmark from which you can make decisions when laying the foundation:
Who is my customer?
- What are their pain points?
- What are the gains for which they would pay?
- Does my value proposition solve their pain points?
- Does my product offer features that will add value to their businesses?
Next, look at your customer’s unique buying process. In their simplest form, most buying processes look like this:
The buyer:
- Defines a need
- Does an information search
- Evaluates choices
- Makes the purchase
After identifying the steps your buyer takes in their own process, determine in detail what they do at each stage. Get feedback from your sales team, and even clients. Know your target customer’s buying attitudes and define the main decision points. This will give you the insight you need to bring your strengths to the table at just the right moment.
Now that you have a thorough understanding of your customer and their process, it’s time to work on creating your sales process.
Four Steps to Create an Extraordinary Sales Process
- Define sales stages that are specific to your company.
- Define objectives for each stage based on targeted outcomes, goals and objectives
- Choose appropriate actions for each step that will promote the customer to the next stage in the buying process.
- Choose the tools salespeople would need to achieve their goals.
This standardized process can be repeated by your whole team in an efficient manner. Evaluate the process regularly and tweak as needed. Hold meetings with sales teams for feedback to continually improve your process.
Although a B2B sales process takes a while to master and will require modifications along the way, it will deliver results for your business indefinitely.
Need someone to look at your sales process from a new perspective? Or maybe help you get started on creating one? Give us a call or set up a free consultation here!