How to Create Your Sales Process

Compliments of our partner from HubSpot

 A sales process refers to a series of repeatable steps a sales team takes to move a prospect from an early-stage lead to a closed customer. A strong sales process helps reps consistently close deals by giving them a framework to follow.

How to Create Your Sales Process

• ·         Start at the end.                                        

• ·         Bring all stakeholders aboard.                                         

• ·         Outline the sale process steps.                                         

• ·         Map the buyer's journey.                                         

• ·         Implement changes, test, and measure.

Creating a sales process generally entails walking through each step in real-time and understanding how it applies to your business, sales org, and customers. It‘s a process that allows you to uncover inefficiencies, gain insight into what’s working, and align your sales process with your business goals — letting you develop a sustainable strategy for day-to-day sales effectiveness and longer-term growth.

You want to answer the “why” behind every decision you make, and for good reason — your sales process is the lifeblood of your sales org. It‘s the foundation for virtually every sales activity your org engages in. Let’s take a look at what sales process creation can look like.

4.     1. Start at the end.

To know where you're going, you must know your destination. In terms of sales process mapping, this involves setting goals for your sales team. Keep your plan specific but simple.

Example: Fred‘s Vegan Food Supply is mapping its sales process. They’ve set their destination “goal” to increase their win rate by 5% next quarter.

5.      2. Bring all stakeholders aboard.

Your sales team can't meet its goal alone. Other departments across your organization — including marketing, product, customer service, IT, and more — have a stake in your sales process and impact your customer experience. Gather these stakeholders, share your goal, and involve them in your process.

Example: Fred brings together his sales team, marketing managers, customer service leaders, product designers, and distributors. These teams touch potential and current customers and can, therefore, affect the sales team's win rate.

6.      3. Outline the sales process steps.

We covered the sales process steps above, and now it's time to walk through each step as it pertains to your business, products, and sales team. Take a look at your sales process history. What steps were effective, and where did prospects fall off? Moreover, how long, on average, did each step take? With your stakeholders on board, you can map what teams affect each step and what actions they can take — particularly your sales team.

Example: Fred's sales team maps the six sales process steps and jots down the actions they take within each stage. They also review the last 12 months of sales activity concerning each step to understand where they can improve their new sales process to meet their new goal.

7.      4. Map the buyer's journey.

Next, take a look at your sales process from the customer‘s perspective. On the same document, jot down your customers’ actions and reactions to your sales process. Keep your buyer personas handy to ensure your team stays customer-centric.

Example: Fred’s sales team now maps the buyer's journey within their established sales process. By aligning these actions, they can identify where their team is experiencing inefficiencies, what steps are working well, and where they need to improve to meet their goal.

8.      5. Implement changes, test, and measure.

Once you‘ve mapped your sales process from both the seller’s and buyer‘s perspectives, you’re ready to put it to work. You won't know if the process will help with your goal until you test it and measure the results.

Example: Fred puts his new sales process into action with his team. They walk through each stage and the appropriate actions, and they pay close attention to how their customers react. As they move through each step and towards their new goal, they tweak the parts of their process that aren't working so smoothly.

Dr. Millicent Brooks and the Elite Shedload Collective believe that it is through increasing profits – NOT REVENUE – is the single biggest factor in crushing the competition. 

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