Anything that we do over and over again can be made more efficient and more effective by developing and utilizing a standard process. It doesn’t have to be complicated; it can be as simple as a series of steps and stages we usually work through to ensure that the outcome is as consistent, and as high quality, as possible. Using a defined sales process we can:
- Leverage a common framework and pattern for planning, reviewing, and executing sales activities.
- Communicate and strategize about sales opportunities with various team members using a common language.
- Make fewer mistakes because we are reminded of the steps that need to be taken, which reduces the chance of forgetting important steps while in the heat of the battle.
- Shorten sales cycles because we can usually work through the steps much faster if they are laid out ahead of time, than if we just ‘wing it’ or make it up as we go along.
- Shorten the ramp-up time for new hires who need to learn ‘how we engage clients’ in our market.
Shows a sample sales process that we use as an example in our workshops. Please note it is not my intention to suggest that you should adopt this as your process. On the contrary, I use this generic example to emphasize that this is not your process. Your process should reflect:
- How you find new opportunities.
- How you determine if the opportunity is worth investing your time in.
- How you engage in discovery to determine if there is a fit for, and a need for, what you sell.
- How you present your findings and your recommendations.
- How you bring business to closure.
- How you deliver what you’ve sold.
Your process doesn’t have to be six steps or stages; it can be five, seven, nine, or whatever. However, what we do know is that the more detailed and granular it becomes, the less salespeople will want to use it. It’s not because salespeople are lazy, or can’t deal with structure. It’s that every customer is different. Every sales campaign has its unique challenges, and what worked with the last client might be completely inappropriate for the next one.
It’s funny, but after we win a sales opportunity and look back at it to determine why we won, it’s usually a combination of many things that went right and all came together to make it happen. But when we lose, it often seems as if there were one or two specific things that went wrong. We think, ‘If we just could have known this, we would have done that, and maybe we could have won.’ Or worse, ‘I can’t believe we did- or didn’t do-that again! That happened to us before, and we should have learned our lesson.’ Developing an ever-evolving standard process to use as a guide helps us to be more consistent. It helps ensure that we not only do the right things, but also avoid doing the wrong things- hitting the same potholes and brick walls-over and over again.